Elizabeth Lewis Otey (1880–1974) was an American economist and suffragist.
Elizabeth Lewis Otey | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Elizabeth Dabney Langhorne Lewis October 4, 1880 Lynchburg, Virginia |
| Died | February 28, 1974 (aged 93) Lynchburg, Virginia |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Bryn Mawr College, University of Berlin |
| Spouse |
Dexter Otey
(m. 1910; died in 1933) |
Biography
editOtey née Lewis was born on October 4, 1880, in Lynchburg, Virginia. She was the daughter of the suffragist Elizabeth Langhorne Lewis and John Henry Lewis.[2] She attended preparatory school at Randolph-Macon Woman's College, where she later returned for her higher education, in addition to Bryn Mawr College. She earned a doctorate in economics from the University of Berlin.[3] She went on to author reports on labor and employment for the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the United States Department of Commerce and Labor.[2]
In 1910 Otey became a member of the Lynchburg Equal Suffrage League, which was founded by her mother Elizabeth Langhorne Lewis.[1] The same year she married Dexter Otey on June 4, 1910 with whom she had one child named Elizabeth Lewis Otey Watson, born in 1911.[4]
Otey was a member of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia as well as serving in the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage and the Virginia National Woman's Party.[2][3] She marched in the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession[1] and in 1916 attended the Republican State Convention to advocate for the party's endorsement of woman suffrage.[2]
After the ratification of the Nineteenth amendment in 1920 Otey ran for the statewide office of superintendent of public instruction.[5] She won the Republican party's nomination, but lost the election.[3] In 1931 Otey ran for the Virginia House of Delegates as a Socialist. In 1933 she ran for United States Senate, again as a Socialist against the incumbent Harry F. Byrd and lost.[2]
In 1933, Otey went on to work for the Social Security Administration and the Foreign Economic Administration. She published a study in 1940 called “ An Outline for Foreign Social insurance and Assistance laws.” She retired in 1948.[1]
Otey died on February 28, 1974, in Lynchburg.[1]
In 2018 the Virginia Capitol Foundation announced that Otey's name would be on the Virginia Women's Monument's glass Wall of Honor.[6][3]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Tarter, Brent. "Elizabeth Dabney Langhorne Lewis Otey (1880–1974) – Encyclopedia Virginia". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ a b c d e "Elizabeth Dabney Langhorne Lewis Otey Biography". Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Etched into history: Long list of esteemed alumnae included on new Virginia Women's Monument". Randolph College News and Events. 30 October 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ Tarter, Brent. "Elizabeth Dabney Langhorne Lewis Otey (1880–1974)". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
- ^ ""Her prospects of election": Virginia Women Run for Office". The UncommonWealth. 3 March 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ "Wall of Honor". Virginia Women's Monument Commission. Retrieved 6 April 2022.