Florence Luscomb

Florence Hope Luscomb (February 6, 1887 – October 13, 1985) was an American architect and women's suffrage activist in Massachusetts.

When Florence was one and a half years old, her parents separated and she moved with her mother to Boston, while her older brother, Otis Kerro Luscomb, lived with their father.

Due to the entrance of the United States into World War I in 1917, new construction slumped and her architectural career was put on hiatus.

[2][5] Luscomb accepted a position as executive secretary for the Boston Equal Suffrage Association for Good Government.

[5] From 1911, she considered herself a citizen of the world, traveling to nations across Europe and Asia for conferences, yet she retained pride in her Yankee heritage.

She wrote an early anti-Vietnam War leaflet and later, would advise some of the founders of the American feminist movement, encouraging them to include the poor and women of color.

[5][3] In 1999 a commemorative series of six tall marble panels with a bronze bust in each was added to the Massachusetts State House.

The busts are of Luscomb, Dorothea Dix, Mary Kenney O'Sullivan, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, Sarah Parker Remond, and Lucy Stone.

Florence Luscomb holding her cat, Needles, c. 1893