Margaret Sanger (1879 - 1966)

Sun Sep 14, 1879

Image: A studio portrait of Margaret Sanger, c. 1915 [time.com]

Margaret Sanger, born on this day in 1879, was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term "birth control", opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established organizations that evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Sanger also worked with African-American leaders who saw a need for birth control in their communities. In 1930, she opened a clinic in Harlem, staffed with black doctors, by securing funding from the Julius Rosenwald Fund.

Sanger did not tolerate bigotry among her staff, nor would she tolerate any refusal to work within interracial projects. The clinic was publicized in the African-American press and churches, and it received approval from W.E.B. Du Bois. Sanger's efforts were also later lauded by MLK Jr.

Although Sanger rejected racist bigotry, she did endorse the ableism of the then-popular eugenics movement, writing in 1921 that "the most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective".

"Birth control is the first important step woman must take toward the goal of her freedom. It is the first step she must take to be man's equal. It is the first step they must both take toward human emancipation."

- Margaret Sanger

• Date: 1879-09-14
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.womenshistory.org, time.com, www.plannedparenthood.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org