Vida Dutton Scudder was an American educator, writer, and social activist active during the social gospel movement. Born in 1861 in India to missionary parents, she later moved to Boston, where she was raised in the Anglican tradition. After studying at Smith College and the University of Oxford, she became a professor of English literature at Wellesley College. Her life's work integrated her Anglo-Catholic faith with socialist principles, leading her to advocate for labor rights, settlement houses, and the welfare of the working class.