Born in Lima, Ohio, on January 28, 1870, Squire moved in 1909 to Chicago, where she taught music. She was active in the suffrage movement and wrote articles for the Chicago Tribune, Harper’s Bazaar, and Woman’s World. In 1911, Squire wrote the book The Woman Movement in America: A Short Account of the Struggle for Equal Rights.  

Squire was an active suffragist who along with Ida B. Wells co-founded the Alpha Suffrage Club for Black suffragists. As a white woman, Squire stood opposed to the segregation of Black suffragists within mainstream suffrage organizations. In 1913, she proudly marched alongside Wells in an effort to integrate the Congressional Union’s Washington, D.C., suffrage parade. In her fight for the vote, Squire also launched a tax protest, refusing to pay property taxes until women were granted the vote. 

Squire remained unmarried, declaring that she would rather have a vote than a husband. She noted the inequalities women faced in society and challenged the institution of marriage, pointing out that married women surrendered their power to their husband once they married. Though she remained single, Squire insisted on being called Mrs. Squire since the title Mrs. was more respected for women than the title Miss. In 1924, Squire moved to France, where she continued to work as a writer. Ten years later she returned to Chicago, passing away there on April 17, 1939.  

For more on Squire, see Wendy Rouse, Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Suffrage Movement (New York: New York University Press, 2022). For an OutHistory exhibit that addresses Squire, see The Queer History of Women's Suffrage: Scholarship and Censorship in 2025, by Wendy Rouse.