Free Speech Canto LIII She was born Charlotte Anita Whitney (she was always called by her middle name) in Oakland, California in 1867, and she could be used as a textbook example of what was called privilege even then: several ancestors came on the Mayflower; others came only a few years later, including one who was among the founders of Harvard There were Revolutionary War officers, inventors, public officials (including by marriage a Supreme Court justice) on both sides of the family during the ensuing two-hundred-plus years She graduated not only from high school but also from college (Wellesley), placing her among the small fraction of Americans who did so And after college she continued the traditions of charitable and public-service work