Hulda Barker Loud (September 13, 1844 – April 6, 1911) was an American newspaper editor and publisher in Massachusetts who was an advocate for labor rights and equal rights for women. Career Hulda Barker Loud was born in East Abington (now Rockland), Massachusetts, to Reuben Loud and Betsey (Whiting) Loud. She went to public schools until, at eighteen, she became a schoolteacher. She taught in her home town the next twenty-two years, and for fifteen years she was the principal of a grammar school. A strong advocate for equal rights and pay for women, she convinced the school board that she should be paid the same salary as a man. In 1884, a local paper was founded and she became editor-in-chief. She named the paper The Independent. Five years later, she bought the business, which encompassed both the newspaper and a job-printing shop. She used the paper to champion equal rights for women and labor rights. Loud served on the school board for three years (1887–90) and addressed the town meetings on local issues. She represented the Knights of Labor at the 1888 International Council of Women meeting in Washington, D.C. Loud died in Rockland on April 6, 1911 at the age of 66. Family Loud lived on her mother's farm. In 1891, she adopted two grand-nephews, Ralph and Carl Powers. References Further reading Donald Cann and John Galluzzo, Rockland. Arcadia Publishing, 2003 External links 1844 births 19th-century American newspaper editors American school principals Year of death missing Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century Knights of Labor people People from Rockland, Massachusetts American women educators 19th-century American women