Rebel feminist Emma Goldman (1869–1940) was born on this day in the small province of Kovno, Russia. She immigrated to the U.S. at 17 and became a garment worker.

“The Statue of Liberty suddenly emerging from the mist,” Goldman said. “Ah, there she was, the symbol of hope, of freedom, of opportunity!”

She married, became a U.S. citizen, then divorced three years later with $5, her sewing machine, and what she described as “youth, good health, and a passionate ideal.” She fell in love with Alexander Berkman and the pair became a vibrant part of New York’s anarchist scene.

With fearless passion, they published the “treasonable” journal Mother Earth in 1906, filled with libertarian essays, poetry, and fiction by Leo Tolstoy, Margaret Sanger, and others.

Ahead of her time, “Red Emma” spoke boldly on issues from big business to gay rights, free love, birth control, and equality. She often referenced George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine in her fiery speeches.

She believed in the power of the individual and never backed down. Her life stirred controversy and conviction. The FBI once called her “the most dangerous woman in America.”

“Anarchism aims at a new and complete freedom,” she explained. “It strives to bring about the freedom which is not only the freedom from within but a freedom from without.”

After being falsely linked to the assassination of President William McKinley, she was banned from speaking, her magazine censored, and her family ostracized.

She never wavered. Jailed in 1917 for her anti-war stance, she was deported to Russia in 1919. After her death, she was allowed to return to the U.S.—for burial in Chicago.

Fierce, intelligent, and resolute, Emma Goldman was a rebel thinker—both tender and unyielding. She once said, “It requires less mental effort to condemn than to think.”