Jane Swisshelm

Who was Jane Swisshelm?

Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm was an American journalist, publisher, abolitionist, and women's rights advocate. She was active as a writer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and as a publisher and editor in St. Cloud, Minnesota, where she founded a string of newspapers and regularly wrote for them.

While working for the federal government in Washington, DC during the administration of President Andrew Johnson, Swisshelm founded her last newspaper, Reconstructionist. Her published criticism of Johnson led to her losing her job and closing the paper. She published her autobiography in 1881.