September 6

Catharine Esther Beecher was born on the 6th in 1800, in the rustic town of East Hampton, New York, on the eastern end of Long Island. She was an educator who vigorously fought to increase the opportunities available to women who wished to be educated. She was also a vocal proponent of kindergarten for children of both sexes. Her family was chock full of extraordinarily talented siblings. Her sisters were Isabella Beecher Hooker[i], a prominent suffragist, and author Harriet Beecher Stowe[ii] and her brothers, Henry Ward Beecher[iii] and Charles Beecher[iv] were renowned ministers.
[i] Isabella was an author and outspoken advocate of women’s suffrage.
[ii] She wrote the groundbreaking novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin
[iii] He is buried in Brooklyn, New York’s Green-Wood Cemetery
[iv] He would become the state of Florida’s superintendent of public education.