Voltairine de Cleyre

Voltairine de Cleyre
Voltairine de Cleyre in Philadelphia, 1901
Born	Voltairine De Claire (1866-11-17)November 17, 1866 Leslie, Michigan, United States
Died	June 20, 1912(1912-06-20) (aged 45) Chicago, Illinois, United States
Resting place	Waldheim Cemetery 41°52′12″N 87°49′11″W / 41.869909°N 87.8197364°W / 41.869909; -87.8197364
Occupation(s)	Writer, lecturer, tutor
Era	Second Industrial Revolution
Movement	Anarchism, feminism, individualism
Children	Harry De Cleyre
Parents	Hector De Claire (father) Harriet De Claire (mother)
Relatives	Adelaide D. Thayer (sister)
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Voltairine de Cleyre (November 17, 1866 – June 20, 1912) was an American anarchist known for being a prolific writer and speaker who opposed capitalism, marriage, and the state, as well as the domination of religion over sexuality and over women's lives, all of which she saw as interconnected. She is often characterized as a major early feminist because of her views.

Born and raised in small towns in Michigan and schooled in a Sarnia, Ontario, Catholic convent, de Cleyre began her activist career in the freethought movement. Although she was initially drawn to individualist anarchism, de Cleyre evolved through mutualism to what she called anarchism without adjectives and prioritized a stateless society without the use of aggression or coercion above all else.

De Cleyre was a contemporary of Emma Goldman but maintained a relationship with her respectfully despite disagreement on many issues. Many of de Cleyre's essays were collected in the Selected Works of Voltairine de Cleyre, which was published posthumously by Goldman's magazine, Mother Earth, in 1914.