My Own Story (Paperback or Softback)

My Own Story (1914) is a memoir by English political activist and suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. Written at the onset of the First World War,

My Own Story brings attention to Pankhurst’s cause while defending her decision to cease activism until the end of the war. Notable for its descriptions of the British prison system, My Own Story is an invaluable document of a life dedicated to others, of a historical moment in which an oppressed group rose up to advocate for the simplest of demands: equality.

Born in a politically active household, Emmeline Pankhurst was introduced to the women’s suffrage movement at a young age. In 1903, she founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), an organization dedicated to the suffragette movement. As their speeches, rallies, and petitions failed to make headway, they turned to militant protest, and in 1908 Emmeline was arrested for attempting to enter Parliament to deliver a document to Prime Minister H.H. Asquith. Imprisoned for six weeks, she observed the horrifying conditions of prison life, including solitary confinement. This experience changed her outlook on the struggle for women’s suffrage, and she increasingly saw imprisonment as a means of radical publicity. Over the next several years, she would be arrested seven times for rioting, destroying property, and assaulting police officers, and while in prison staged hunger strikes in order to gain the attention of the press and political establishment. My Own Story is a record of one woman’s tireless advocacy for the sake of countless others.

This edition of Emmeline Pankhurst’s My Own Story is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) was an English political activist and suffragette. Born in Manchester to politically active parents, Pankhurst grew up familiar with radical politics and militant activism, eventually founding the Women’s Franchise League. An early advocate for universal women’s suffrage, Pankhurst was barred from the Independent Labour Party due to her sex and worked for a time as a Poor Law Guardian, where she witnessed the horrible realities of life for Manchester’s working poor. In 1903, she founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), an organization dedicated to achieving suffrage for women by any means necessary. Imprisoned for destruction of property and assaulting police officers, Pankhurst and her followers staged hunger strikes and forced the press and political establishment to acknowledge their demands. During the First World War, Pankhurst and the WSPU put their activism on hold to enter the workforce and assist in the war effort. In 1918, Parliament passed the Representation of the People Act, granting women over the age of 30 the right to vote. Following this success, Pankhurst formed the Women’s Party, advocating for women’s involvement in political life and rejecting the Labour Party and Bolshevism in favor of a conservative nationalism. Only weeks after her death in 1928, the British Parliament passed the Representation of the People Act 1928, granting all women over the age of 21 the right to vote. Recognized as a pioneering advocate of women’s suffrage, Pankhurst is remembered for her fiercely militant activism in the face of political oppression, leaving a legacy for her daughters Sylvia, Adela, and Christabel to carry on in her absence.