An anti-vivisectionist, she served on the board of the New England Anti-Vivisection Society; she was also active in the Animal Rescue League of Boston. According to Carol J. Adams, in “Feminism, the Great War, and Modern Vegetarianism,” Freshel was a member of the Christian Science church but resigned when the church lent its support to the entry of the US into World War I. In Freshel's estimation, the violence of war was not only inseparable from all other kinds of violence (including against animals) but war legitimates the idea that killing can be justified (246). Her intersectional understanding of veg*nism led her to criticize those who approached carnism as an isolated issue. In the introduction to The Golden Rule Cook Book she writes: “There are many reasons why thoughtful, cleanly, humane people should not feed upon animals, but there is a surprising deafness to this fact shown by the majority of those active in humane charities. … Mere thoughtlessness can make the kindest act cruelly inconsistent, for I once saw a woman presiding at a meeting held to discountenance the wearing of aigrettes with a sheaf of them decorating her bonnet. This looks much like receiving stolen goods while denouncing theft” (13).

 

In 1912 Freshel founded the Millennium Guild, the first animal rights organization in the United States, named after the prophecy in Isaiah 11:1-10 of a day when killing would cease and all creatures would live together peaceably. The goal of the organization was to “teach [that] the foremost among the unnecessary evils of the world, and one which underlies most of the other evils, is the mutilation and slaughter of our fellow creatures for food and other selfish ends” (see Adam Shprintzen). Carol Helstosky names the stage actress Minnie Maddern Fiske as the Guild's most notable supporter, though Freshel was closely associated with prominent veg*ans such as George Bernard Shaw and Leo Tolstoy. The Guild promoted the ethical refusal of flesh foods and faux fur as an alternative to fur fabrics; members wore cotton clothes and avoided all animal-based clothing. J. Keri Cronin reports that “The sale of the cruelty-free outerwear that Freshel sewed helped to fund the activities of the Guild. … Freshel told [a] reporter that members of the Millennium guild 'have found splendid substitutes for furs, feather hat trimmings and kid gloves, and know we are better off without eating meat. We practice the convictions of our minds and hearts.'” An annual vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner was hosted by the Guild at the luxury Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston. Curtis Freshel founded the Millennium Food Company to produce meat substitutes; its most successful product was Bakon Yeast, made from hickory smoke, which is still available. Her veg*an activism took multiple forms: in 1907 she authored the very popular vegetarian cookbook The Golden Rule Cook Book (first published in 1908); she hosted vegetarian dinners and showed films of slaughterhouses at her home, which was known as Providence House.