Fanny Bixby Spencer: Long Beach's Inspirational Firebrand

By Marcia Lee Harris

Book Overview

The last daughter born to Jotham Bixby, the Father of Long Beach, Fanny Bixby Spencer (1879-1930) carved her own singular and eccentric path across California history. Born to wealth and power, she chose a boldly independent, egalitarian lifestyle in an age when women's lives were largely confined to domesticity. Fanny served with the Long Beach Police Department as America's first policewoman. She was a founder of the city of Costa Mesa in Orange County. Her humanitarian efforts reached across ethnicities and social standing. Yet beyond her civic accomplishments, Fanny was provocative as a poet, artist, pacifist, suffragist, child advocate, foster mother and humanitarian. Marcia Lee Harris captures this fascinating woman's remarkable life, enhanced by Fanny's own poetry and soulful reflections.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1609498755
• ISBN13: 9781609498757
• Release Date: February 2013
• Publisher: History Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.9"