Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) was born in New York, New York, and died in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. She was an author and women's rights activist, famed for penning the "Battle Hymn of The Republic" in 1861. Howe helped found the New England Woman Suffrage Association (1868) and she later served as president of it, as well as the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association. She founded the New England Women's Club in 1868, and in 1870, helped found The Woman's Journal, serving on its editorial staff from its inception until 1884. Howe regularly conducted speaking tours throughout the United States and overseas in Europe and the Middle East. She served as president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs in 1890. In 1908, Howe became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

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