Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to run for the US presidency. Woodhull was born September 23, 1838, in Homer, Ohio. She was a cofounder of a New York newspaper, "Woodhull and Clafin's Weekly," published from 1870 to 1876. The publication endorsed equal rights for women, free love, and a variety of other liberal causes, gaining her a reputation as a radical feminist. In 1871 she argued for women's suffrage before the Judiciary Committee of the US House of Representatives.

In May of 1872, Woodhull was nominated for the US Presidency by the Equal Rights Party, an offshoot of Susan B. Anthony's National American Woman Suffrage Association.

--Flo Weinriter