Though prominent enough in her time to merit her own chapter in Anthony's History of Woman Suffrage, Nichols has been overlooked since 1900 and only recently have her contributions to equal rights undergone a reassessment.

Born in West Townshend, Vermont in 1810, into a prosperous New England family, Clarina Nichols fell on hard times after a disastrous early marriage.

Supporting herself and her children on "women's wages" — one-half to one-third what men received for similar work — she began writing for a newspaper in Brattleboro, Vermont, the Windham County Democrat in 1845.

In October 1852, she helped organize the first of several petitions submitted to the Vermont legislature to give women the right to vote in school meetings.

During the course of an ever-busy life, Clarina Nichols served as teacher, lecturer, editor, writer, farmer, lay doctor and lawyer, government clerk, matron in a home for destitute black children and widows, and conductor on the Underground Railroad.