Emily Bissell

Emily Perkins Bissell
1907 Portrait of Emily Bissell
Born	(1861-05-31)May 31, 1861 Wilmington, Delaware
Died	1948 (aged 86–87)
Pen name	Priscilla Leonard
Occupation	Writer and charitable worker
Language	English
Nationality	United States

Emily Perkins Bissell (May 31, 1861 – 1948) was an American social worker and activist, best remembered for introducing Christmas Seals to the United States.

Born in Wilmington, Delaware, she made a name for herself at a young age as the founder of that city's first public kindergarten and for her efforts to introduce child labor laws in that state. In 1883, she founded an organization, now known as the West End Neighborhood House that originally provided social services to Wilmington's immigrant Irish and German families. Bissell wrote under the pseudonym Priscilla Leonard.

Bissel was closely identified with the anti-suffragist movement. She wrote "The vote is part of man's work. Ballot-box, cartridge box, jury box, sentry box all go together in his part of life. Women cannot step in and take the responsibilities and duties of voting with assuming his place very largely".

In 1896 Bissell published an essay called The Mistaken Vocation of Shakespeare's Heroines, taking the form of a report of a lecture to suffragettes. The purported speaker launches an attack on the Elizabethan playwright Shakespeare for placing his female characters in unsuitable situations, where they are not allowed to demonstrate their true abilities. For example, instead of having Ophelia as his wife, Hamlet would have been much better served by the more forceful Lady Macbeth, while Macbeth himself would have been better served by Portia. The audience greets her attack on Shakespeare with delight, ending up shouting "Down with Shakespeare". The spoof was supposed to show that it was absurd for women to seek careers.

In 1900, she testified before the United States Senate Committee on Woman's Suffrage, arguing that women had no place in politics. In March 1903 she addressed a packed meeting in Concord, New Hampshire speaking against a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would strike out the word "male" from the suffrage clause. The amendment failed to pass.