death_date death_place birth_place name birth_date image article_title birth_name
13 july 1952 portland , oregon , u.s. new bedford , massachusetts , u.s. marie equi 7 april 1872 marie_equi _ % 281872-1952 % 29.jpg marie equi
 marie diana equi
marie equi

dr. marie equi -lrb- april 7 , 1872 , -- july 13 , 1952 -rrb- was an early american medical doctor in the american west devoted to providing care to working-class and poor patients .
she regularly provided birth control information and abortions at a time when both were illegal .
she became a political activist and advocated civic and economic reforms , including women 's right to vote and an eight-hour workday .
after being clubbed by a policeman in a 1913 workers ' strike , equi aligned herself with anarchists and the radical labor movement .
equi was a lesbian who maintained a primary relationship with harriet speckart for more than a decade .
the two women adopted an infant and raised the child in an early example of a same-sex alternative family .
for her radical politics and same-sex relations , equi battled discrimination and harassment .
in 1918 , equi was convicted under the sedition act for speaking against u.s. involvement in world war one .
she was sentenced to a three-year term at san quentin california state prison .
she was the only known lesbian and radical to be incarcerated at the prison .
