Wilhelmina Jacoba Pauline Rudolphine "Mina" Kruseman (25 September 1839 – 1922) was a 19th-century Dutch feminist, actrice and author who used to call herself Oristorio di Frama.

In 1854, the family returned to the Netherlands, where Mina developed a deep aversion against the cold, small-city narrow-minded homeland and the restrictions that were imposed by decency, convention and religion.

[citation needed] Other than her home country, she also spent a considerable part of her life in Belgium, France and United States.

The start was difficult, but under the alias of Stella Oristorio di Frama, she achieved critical acclaim with several performances in the south of the United States.

[7] In 1883, Frederike van Uildriks would similarly credit Kruseman's 1872 lectures with 'the honour of having signalled the start of the women's movement.

During her first appearance in The Hague November 1872, she read the audience a chapter from her forthcoming feminist novel, Een huwelijk in Indië ("A Marriage in the Dutch East Indies").

[4] From March to May 1873, her fame in the rest of the Netherlands grew as she toured together with Betsy Perk, another Dutch feminist pioneer, with a series of lectures.

[4] Due to health issues, Perk withdrew from the public eye after the tour, while Kruseman used her new notability in pursuit of her acting career.

It tells the story of 5 almost adult sisters, the education of girls and women's lives afterwards: waiting for a spouse, and when a marriage was not provided, a life as a spinster.

Kruseman's tantalizing appearance and her widely acclaimed performance art was quite a happening in the early years of feminist Holland.

In addition, Kruseman expressed severe criticism on the level of art-criticism in The Netherlands: real talents were driven out of the country: with Eduard Douwes Dekker, Multatuli as a prominent example.

Kruseman desired to be an actrice, so she started a lobby to bring Dekker's play Vorstenschool (School of Princes) into the theatre.

In 1875 Kruseman managed to sign a contract with a starting theatre company in Rotterdam "De nieuwe Rotterdamsche Schouwburg".

[citation needed] Kruseman was furious about how Multatuli had sidelined her, as she sought to prove that it was only thanks to her efforts that the play could even be performed in the first place.

[12] To convince public opinion of her point of view, she published lengthy quotations from her personal correspondence with Multatuli; these not only revealed that he did admire her acting talent initially, but also hinted at having had amorous feelings for Kruseman, which she rebuffed as she was only interested in 'friendship'.

[12] Although some critics argued it was inappropriate to publicly defend oneself against defamation (which some considered a 'confession of guilt'), and many friends and relatives of Kruseman and Perk urged them to henceforth write anonymously to prevent further scandals, the women had virtually no other options to earn a living exactly because their names had been blemished, and so they wrote their autobiographies to simultaneously rehabilitate themselves and stay financially afloat.

[13] Kruseman in particular emphasised her copyright as the author of her writings, and to receive royalty payment for any subsequent reprints, which some publishers tried to pocket for themselves.

[citation needed] In one of the last pages of her book she wrote: I can look back on my past without repentance, I am happy with my present, my future I will meet without illusions, but also without fear.

[citation needed] For her role as feminist she was honored by a large number of municipalities in the Netherlands, that have named a street after her including: Arnhem, Coevorden, Delft, Enschede, Hoorn, Leiden, Spijkenisse, Tiel, Venray, Venlo, Tilburg, Waalwijk, Zaanstad, a lane in Deventer, a channel in Veenendaal, a road in Tilburg or a square in Dordrecht.