On this day in 1838: Mary T. Lathrap, known as the "Daniel Webster of Prohibition," was born in Jackson, Michigan. She was a teacher turned evangelist who championed temperance and co-founded Michigan's Women's Suffrage organization. Although she passed in 1895, her poem "Judge Softly" inspired the saying, "Before you judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes."
TRANSCRIPT
Today in 1838, the quote “Daniel Webster of Prohibition,” as she was called, was born in Jackson, Michigan. MaryT.Lathrap. At first a teacher in Detroit, she turned to evangelism as a Methodist Episcopal church, where her main cause was temperance, stopping people from consuming alcoholic beverages. She also helped Michiganto adoptmore scientific-focused instruction in theschools, andwas a co-founder ofthe Women’s Suffrage organization in Michigan.Although sinceMaryT.Lathrap passed in 1895, she saw neither the 18thnor the 19thamendments, enacting prohibition and securing women’s votes, respectively, during her own lifetime.Her poem “Judge Softly” written in her last year, would also eventually give rise to a still popular English saying: “Before your judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes.”