Betsy Mix Cowles

Betsy Mix Cowles (February 9, 1810 – July 25, 1876) was an early leader in the United States abolitionist movement.

She counted among her friends and acquaintances people such as Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Henry C. Wright, and Abby Kelley Foster.

Beginning in 1835, Cowles served as the secretary of the Ashtabula Female Anti-Slavery Society, one of the larger such organizations in the state with more than four hundred members.

She began giving public speeches about abolitionism, gaining a reputation for her ability to articulate the importance of the anti-slavery cause.

In addition to working for the end of slavery in the United States, Cowles was very critical of what she viewed as the hypocrisy of many Ohioans.

Cowles's election as convention president reflected her prominence and the amount of respect she had earned by this time.