This Day in History - Women Fight For The Right To ...... Smoke?

While it is temptingly easy to write about the most significant historical event to occur on January 22, the 1905 “Bloody Sunday” murder of over 200 Russian citizens that sparked the revolution that overturned the Romanov autocracy, much can be learned from mining history for the lesser known events and people.

Katie Mulcahey would be one example. Alcohol prohibition captures most of the attention when US history is examined for evidence of its Puritan traditions, but tobacco smoking has been targeted vice since the 18th century. States banned the sale of tobacco to minors, employers refused to hire smokers, and smoking was often portrayed as an unhealthy habit for both body and mind. This sentiment coupled with the pervasive Victorian sentiments of society in the late 19th century led to the 1908 ordinance that forbid women smoking in public spaces within New York City. Katie Mulcahey’s name is remembered for her arrest for violating this law one day after it took effect. She spent a night in jail for her protest of the restriction of women’s freedom, reportedly telling the judge “No man shall dictate to me”. The law was vetoed by the mayor only two weeks later.