Who led the campaign to ban the use of feathers in fashion and helped to establish the oldest Audubon Society in the US?

A Boston socialite, with a love for birds, discovered the widespread slaughter of birds whose feathers were used to decorate ladies hats. Some of the birds were close to extinction due to this fashion. She talked to the women who purchased the hats and asked them to stop buying the hats. Of course, they were more interested in their fashion. She then asked the women how they would explain to their children why the birds were extinct so mommy could have feathers on her hat. The women vowed to stop wearing the hats and in 1913 an international law was passed to prohibit the trade and transportation of the feathers.

More Info: americacomesalive.com

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Richard D. Boyle

This is a wonderful story but the explanation just touches the tip of it. These two women were responsible for an international law stopping a pursuit of unregulated greed that was too vicious to describe. We get no sense of just how cruel the practice was. These women should be celebrated.

dvdeaton

While men have contributed to some movements, it is usually women who get them going, like "Mother (Mary Harris) Jones" fighting against child labor, even marching to President Teddy Roosevelt's door at the White House with deformed and disabled children whose injuries had resulted from factory work and other labor...