Blair, Emily Newell (1877–1951)
Blair, Emily Newell (1877–1951)
American feminist and politician. Name variations: Emily Blair or Emily Jane Newell Blair; Emily Newell or Emily Jane. Born Emily Jane Newell, Jan 9, 1877, in Joplin, Missouri; died Aug 3, 1951, in Alexandria, Virginia; dau. of James Patton Newell (mortgage broker) and Anna Cynthia (Gray) Newell; m. Harry Wallace Blair (lawyer), Dec 24, 1900; children: Harriet and Newell Blair.
Democratic party official, joined Missouri Equal Suffrage Association (1910); became press and publicity chair and 1st editor of Missouri Woman (monthly suffrage publication) (1914); during WWI, became vice chair of Missouri Woman's Committee of Council of National Defense, and then head of news and publicity for council's national Woman's Committee; helped found League of Women Voters (1920); elected woman representative from Missouri to Democratic National Committee (1921) and appointed national vice chair; helped found Woman's National Democratic Club, serving as secretary (1922–26) and becoming president (1928); was reelected to DNC and, as the only national woman official, served as 1st vice president (1924–28); was associate editor of Good Housekeeping magazine (1925–33); became Consumers' Advisory Board member (1933) and served as chair (1935); wrote novel A Woman of Courage (1931); was appointed chief of women's interests section in War Department's bureau of public relations (1942); suffered debilitating stroke (1944).