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Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm, by Joel Emmons Whitney, circa 1865.
Credit: Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, S/NPG.2007.202
In the 1840s, Pittsburgh’s Jane Swisshelm emerged as a strong voice in both the abolition movement and Pennsylvania women's struggle to change state law so that they could retain ownership of their property after marriage. For the next forty years she remained a compelling advocate of women’s rights.