Louise Olivereau poster

A daughter of French immigrants, Louise Olivereau was an organizer for the IWW in Seattle and was among an active but marginal group of US citizens who stood in opposition to the first World War. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison for mailing out circulars encouraging potential soldiers to become conscientious objectors. She was found guilty of violating part of the Espionage Act, making it a crime to use the mail system to encourage insubordination among the armed forces. She chose to represent herself in court so that she could adequately represent her anarchist ideals to the jury; because of her avowed Anarchism, the IWW chose not to support her. She served 28 months before being paroled, after which she lived a mostly private life.