What is Ethel Byrne?
[[File:Ethel_Higgins_Byrne.png|thumb|Ethel Higgins Byrne]] '''Ethel Higgins Byrne''' (1883-1955) was an American [[Progressive Era]] [[Radical feminism|radical feminist]]. She was the younger sister of [[birth control]] activist [[Margaret Sanger]], and assisted her in this work. == Background == Michael Hennessey Higgins and Anne Higgins had a family with eleven children.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/secrethistoryofw0000lepo|title=The Secret History of Wonder Woman|last=Lepore|first=Jill|date=2014|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|isbn=978-0-385-35404-2|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/secrethistoryofw0000lepo/page/81 81]|url-access=registration}}</ref> They had an Irish American background. Ethel and Margaret were two of the children. Her mother preferred Ethel. Margaret did not like this, and it caused problems in their relationship..<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/margaretsangerli0000bake/page/73|title=Margaret Sanger: A life of Passion|last=Baker|first=Jean H.|date=2011|publisher=Hill and Wang|isbn=978-0-80-90-9498-1|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/margaretsangerli0000bake/page/73 73]}}</ref> Ethel had a short and unhappy marriage to Jack Byrne, a glassworker.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/margaretsangerli0000bake/page/27|title=Margaret Sanger: A life of Passion|last=Baker|first=Jean H.|date=2011|publisher=Hill and Wang|isbn=978-0-80-90-9498-1|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/margaretsangerli0000bake/page/27 27]}}</ref> They had two children, Jack and Olive. In 1906, Ethel left her children in the care of their paternal grandparents to protect them from their abusive father;<ref>{{Cite book|title=The secret history of wonder woman|url=https://archive.org/details/secrethistoryofw0000lepo_r2r9|last=Lepore|first=Jill|date=2015|publisher=Vintage|isbn=9780804173407|pages=[https://archive.org/details/secrethistoryofw0000lepo_r2r9/page/81 81]–83|oclc=941724731}}</ref> Ethel only visited her daughter once in six