Mary Coffin Ware Dennett (April 4, 1872 – July 25, 1947) was an American women's rights activist, pacifist, homeopathic advocate, and pioneer in the areas of birth control, sex education, and women's suffrage. She co-founded the National Birth Control League in 1915 together with Jessie Ashley and Clara Gruening Stillman. She founded the Voluntary Parenthood League, served in the National American Women's Suffrage Association, co-founded the Twilight Sleep Association, and wrote a famous pamphlet on sex education and birth control. A famous legal case against her eventually became the catalyst for overturning the Comstock laws. Biography Early life Mary was born April 4, 1872 in her hometown Worcester, Massachusetts. Mary Coffin Ware was the second child of four born to George and Vonie Ware. Mary was a precocious, talkative, and assertive child, "scolding [her older brother] for striking her, often quoting the Bible." At age 10, her father died of cancer. Her mother supported the family by organizing European tours for young women. While her mother was absent on tours, Mary and her siblings often lived with their Aunt Lucia Ames Mead, a prominent social reformer. Mary enrolled in the School of Art and Design in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1891 and graduated with first honors, then took a teaching position at the Drexel Institute of Art in Philadelphia in 1894. She also had a position at Drexel Institute teaching design and decoration from 1894-1897. Marriage and children Mary Coffin Ware married William Hartley Dennett, an architect, in 1900. They shared the ideal of the Arts and Crafts movement and soon bought a farmhouse in Framingham, Massachusetts. They founded an architectural and interior design firm. In addition to her work as an interior designer and guadamacile maker, Mary Dennett continued to lecture and write about the Arts and Crafts movement. The Dennetts’ first child was born in December 1900, after a difficult labor that nearly killed the mother. After another difficult labor, their second child was born in 1903 and died 3 weeks later. A third child was born in 1905, again after a difficult labor. This time the doctor told the Dennetts that they should not have any more children, but did not give them any information on birth control. Later Dennett wrote of their lack of information on birth control: Divorce and notoriety In 1904, Mary's husband Hartley Dennett began work on a house for