Margaret Higgins Sange A Birth Control Activist - 729 Words

Margaret Louise Higgins, who later became Margaret Higgins Sange, was born on September 14, 1879 In Corning, New York. She was a birth control activist,nurse, and sex educator. Margaret’s parents were Michael Hennessey Higgins, an Irish stonemason and Anna Purcell a catholic Irish-American. Margaret’s mother Anne and her family immigrated to canada when she was young. Margaret’s father Michael moved to America and enlisted into the US army during the Civil War at the age of15. Margaret’s father was also a catholic turned atheist and also an activist for woman’s suffrage. Anne Higgins went through 18 pregnancies and only 11 of her children were born alive. Margaret was the sixth child of eleven. She spent a lot of her childhood years helping with household chores and also had the responsibility of caring for her younger siblings. Margaret went to school at the Claverack College and Hudson River Institute. She wanted to further her education so in 190 0 she enrolled in the White Plains Hospital as a nurse probationer. Margaret was married to a dashing man who was called William Sanger. Margaret was plagued by an active tubercular condition but still managed to birth three children and settle down to a quaint life in Westchester, New York. In 1911 Margaret and her family gave up their suburban home after a fire destroyed it and moved to New York City. Margaret then worked as a visiting nurse in the slums of NewYork’s East Side. Margaret’s husband was an architect and worked