In 1889, she left her husband and moved to New York City to join the lively culture of political meetings, labor demonstrations, and intellectual debate. Her eloquence and dedication quickly made her a popular speaker and a prominent member of New York’s immigrant anarchist community. She lectured in German and Yiddish to immigrants anxious to improve the miserable working conditions and long hours that choked their lives. She also began to lecture in English to diverse audiences including middle-class men and women, intellectuals, and even farmers attracted by her unconventional opinions and her charisma.

During this period, Goldman was linked to a general fear of anarchists as provokers of violence. This fear was based primarily on the 1892 assassination attempt on steel magnate Henry Clay Frick by Goldman’s closest comrade and lover, Alexander Berkman, and on the subsequent death of President William McKinley in 1901, shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz, who claimed to have been inspired by Goldman. Contrary to public perception, Goldman’s primary form of political action was education, not violence. She preferred to use the spoken word to challenge the current political order.

Throughout her career, Goldman spoke out boldly about the particular problems faced by women and demanded their economic, social, and sexual emancipation. She became a prominent figure in the struggle for free access to birth control. Goldman was also a strong advocate of free love for women and men, heterosexuals and homosexuals. She believed individuals should enter into and leave personal relationships with no constraints, and that love and sexuality were crucial to personal and professional fulfillment.

Goldman’s determination to speak out on her controversial views led to frequent arrests. The ultimate gag order on Goldman’s ideas came when the United States entered World War I, and her anti-conscription lectures and organizing were considered a threat to national security. She spent 18 months in federal prison, after which she, Berkman, and a boatload of other foreign-born radicals were deported to the Soviet Union.

In Russia, Goldman was shocked by the ruthless authoritarianism of the Bolshevik regime, its repression of anarchists, and its disregard for individual freedom. After less than two years, she and Berkman left Russia in despair.

Emma Goldman died on May 14, 1940, in Toronto. After her death, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service allowed her body to be re-admitted to the United States, where she was buried in Chicago near the Haymarket anarchists who had so inspired her.