Portrait of Gail Laughlin
Gail Laughlin (1868-1952) was one of Maine’s first female lawyers and a nationally known activist for women’s suffrage. After traveling the West advocating for women’s right to vote, she returned to Maine in 1924 to practice law in Portland. In 1927, she became one of the first women elected to the Maine State Legislature. She served three terms in the Maine House of Representatives (1927-1934) and three terms in the Maine Senate (1935-1941).
Maine State Museum 2015.39.1
Abigail “Gail” Hill Laughlin was one of nine children born in Robbinston, Washington County, Maine, to Robert Laughlin and Elizabeth (Stuart) Laughlin. She graduated as Portland High School’s 1886 Valedictorian. She then went on to Wellesley College in Massachusetts and graduated from Cornell University Law School in New York State in 1898.
This portrait of Gail Laughlin was commissioned in 1961, nearly ten years after her death. She wears lapel pins that mark her achievements. She summarized her life’s work as working for women’s “absolute equality in custom and law.”