Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

Flynn, Elizabeth Gurley (1890–1964), labor leader, political activist, and first woman leader of the Communist Party in the United States. Flynn attended Socialist meetings with her family as a child, and at the age of 16 joined the Industrial Workers of the World. She helped form the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in 1920 and joined the Communist Party in 1937, becoming chairperson in 1961. Flynn was imprisioned from 1955 to 1957 under the Smith Act, which made it a crime to advocate or belong to a group that advocated overthrow of the U.S. government.