A Different Point of View

Archived Newsletters: Summer 2004

The Freedom to Vote is a Triumph

Throughout the month of October television viewers will have the opportunity to watch Iron Jawed Angels, an original movie made for and showing on HBO. The movie dramatizes the struggle of the suffragists at the turn of the 19th century, and graphically reminds women that the right to vote should not be taken for granted. American women have not had that right even for a century; the 19th Amendment granting American women the right to vote was ratified August 26, 1920, and that ratification was hard-won.

Alice Paul, the principle subject of Iron Jawed Angels was a key player of that struggle, often putting herself in physical danger. As a leader of the suffragist movement, Paul was asked to co-chair the Congressional Committee for the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) with Lucy Burns, also a subject of Iron Jawed Angels.

Carrie Chapman Catt, the president of NAWSA, had been working with suffragists across the country to win the vote state by state. Some states had already granted the vote; but the state-by-state strategy was laborious, and Catt was concerned that men in some of those states would never agree to women’s equality. In 1916 Catt presented a plan to NAWSA focusing their entire strategy and resources on the federal amendment. This plan required that no other women’s issues be addressed by NAWSA until women had the vote, a recommendation that caused strife between Catt and other organizational leaders, a price she was willing to pay.

This strategy also came with a price on Catt’s own ideals. She was a devoted pacifist, having identified with many anti-war efforts, and this plan was developed as World War I became a reality. Catt chose to sacrifice her anti-war efforts, even to serve on President Woodrow Wilson’s Woman’s Committee of the council of National Defense, to strategically place herself in a position to lobby for the 19th Amendment. Observing “There is no power on earth that is going to stop that war until there has been perhaps the most terrible battle that the world has ever seen,” she made the decision to make woman’s suffrage sole priority of the organization. It was her hope that ultimately women would be able to end war as registered voters.

Catt and the leadership of NAWSA tried to control the work of Paul and Burns, focusing on the political strategy. However, Paul and Burns were so militant in their approach the Congressional Committee was expelled from NAWSA. Not to be deterred, they continued their work independently, eventually merging with the western Women’s Party to become the National Women’s Party (NWP). The militant suffragists were well organized, disciplined, and highly tactical. The group heckled President Wilson during his speeches, asking pointed questions. They burned copies of his speeches and other writings that included the word “democracy” as a means of demonstrating that democracy did not include half of the American population. Picketing was a big part of their strategy, and as the movement progressed the picketing became more aggressive, provoking police and mobs to violence towards the suffragists. Even though their actions were peaceful, a primary example of civil disobedience, they were considered “unladylike” and were even known as “unnatural women.” In mid-September of 1917 Paul was arrested for picketing and placed in a psychopathic ward. She went on a hunger strike with socialist Rose Winslow, and both were force-fed, which was cruel and dangerous: the force feedings involved a metal funnel that was rammed down the throat and liquid poured through it, often causing choking and vomiting.

Thirty-three women were arrested on November 14, 1917, for picketing the White House. The charge was “obstructing traffic,” a misdemeanor, but the women were taken to Occoquan Workhouse where they were subjected to brutal beatings and other harsh treatment. Because Burns had been so vocal, she was beaten and then left for the night with her wrists handcuffed high on her cell door.

However, the bully tactics were not successful deterrents. When they were finally released on November 27 and 28 the women’s resolve had only become stronger. The militant suffragists continued picketing, becoming louder and more confrontational and less cooperative when arrested.

Catt feared that the actions of the NWP were undermining political strategy. In an effort to diffuse what she considered to be their negative impact, she would quietly warn the White House of demonstrations that she learned of from her friends in the militant group.

It appeared that NAWSA and the NWP were working against each other, and there was an icy relationship between them after ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. In later years Catt reluctantly admitted that neither organization would have been successful without the other, an issue that is still debated by historians.

These women were willing to sacrifice their health, their traditional roles in society, and their own values and ideals, in order that all American women can go to the polls and legally cast a vote. Be sure you exercise your right to vote – it is a right that did not come easily. As Alice Paul said in June 1919, “Freedom has come not as a gift but as a triumph, and it is therefore a spiritual as well as a political freedom which women receive.”

August 26th: Women’s Equality Day Commemorating the Anniversary of the 19th Amendment and Women’s Strike for Equality

August 26th is the anniversary of national women’s suffrage.  Across the seventy-two years between the first major women’s rights conference at Senecca Falls, New York, in 1848, and the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, thousands of people participated in marches through cities like New York and Washington DC, wrote editorials and pamphlets, gave speeches all over the nation, lobbied political organizations, and held demonstrations with the goal of achieving voting rights for women.  Women also picketed the White House with questions like, “Mr. President, what are you going to do about woman’s suffrage?” “Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?”  This was the first time in history that the President of the United States was picketed. 

The women’s suffrage Amendment was introduced for the first time to the United States Congress on January 10, 1878, and it was re-submitted numerous times until finally, by June 1919, the amendment received approval from both the House of Representatives and the Senate.  Over the following year the suffragettes spent their time lobbying states in order to have the amendment ratified by the required two-thirds of the states.  On August 24th, Tennessee, the final state needed, narrowly signed the approval by one vote.  The vote belonged to Harry Burn, who heeded the words of his mother when she urged him to vote yes on suffrage.  The U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby signed the amendment into law on August 26, 1920.

Fifty years later on August 26th, 1970, Betty Friedan and the National Organization of Women (NOW) organized a nationwide Women’s Strike for Equality.  Moderates and radicals alike joined together to demand equal opportunities in employment, education, free abortion on demand, and twenty-four hour child-care centers.  This was the largest protest for gender equality in U.S. history.  There were demonstrations and rallies in more than ninety major cities and small towns, in forty-two states.  Over 100,000 women participated across the country, including the 50,000 who marched down Fifth Avenue in New York City. 

Several other acts occurred on that day to help the cause and prompt more press coverage on the women’s movement.  For example, women in New York City took over the Statue of Liberty.  In preparation for the take over, several women climbed up to measure the wind velocity.  Later they returned to the Statue with two forty-foot banners to hang from the crown.   One read: "March on August 26 for Equality." The other: "Women of the World Unite.”  An organized group stopped the ticker tape at the American Stock Exchange, and they held signs with slogans like, “We won’t bear any more bull.”  Another action taken during the day was a lawsuit filed against the New York City Board of Education to gain equality for women in educational administration. The case lasted about ten years and finally resulted in a larger increase in female principals. 

While the strike did not halt the activities of the nation, it drew national attention to the women’s rights movement.  For example, The New York Times published their first major article on the feminist movement by covering the events of the day.  It even included a map of the route the marchers took through New York City.  NOW’s membership rapidly expanded as chapters sprung up around the country. 

The following year in 1971, a bill introduced by Representative Bella Abzug from New York passed, designating August 26th of each year as Women's Equality Day.  Part of the bill reads that Women’s Equality Day is a symbol of women’s continued fight for equal rights and that the United States commends and supports them.  It decreed that the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation annually in commemoration of women’s suffrage and the 1970 Strike for Equality.  The National Women's History Museum would also like to commemorate the brave and determined women of the past century and encourage those of the current century to continue on with their vision of making the world better for ourselves and future generations. 

Letter from our President

“There are people who have murdered other people
who have been sentenced to less time.”

This quote comes from Rep. John McHugh who had spent nine years trying to pass legislation to overhaul the postal service. At NWHM, we can understand and share his frustration as we pursue legislation to convert an abandoned federal building into productive use as a museum – a function that will educate and inspire, and have an impact far beyond any other possible use. 

But there are many reasons to be optimistic. The dedication of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) last week serves as a reminder that the vision to create a national museum can be realized. Legislation to establish NMAI was passed in 1989 and public donations were required to match the federal contribution of $ 200 million dollars. Even though the fundraising and planning processes have taken what looks to be a long time, the end result is well worth the effort.

Measured against this example, NWHM is making real progress and on a fast track. The Senate unanimously passed legislation – backed by our women Senators—that provides a building to NWHM for use as a women’s museum. And we are working with members in the House to move forward, hopefully in this Congress. When it seems like a frustratingly slow process, I remind myself that the Black History Museum was first proposed in 1906  -- almost 100 years before legislation was enacted to realize that dream.

Our national museums have always been the product of individual initiative—a person (starting with James Smithson) or group.  In the case of NWHM, we have the support of a national membership that is growing on a daily basis. We will need your ongoing support as we move forward. One day soon when we open our doors, we will be able to demonstrate that exploration of women’s lives and contributions will the most compelling museum experience Washington D.C. has ever seen.

 

Celebrate These Women Born in Summer

The first African-American woman to become an international star was Josephine Baker (6/03/1906).  Overcoming racial limitations, she became one of the world’s most multitalented entertainers as she performed on stage, screen and in recordings.  Abroad, she received awards for undercover work for the French Resistance during World War II.  In the U.S., she supported civil rights, refusing to perform for segregated audiences.  During her life she married five times and adopted twelve children from around the world whom she called her “Rainbow Tribe.”  In 1975 she died in her sleep in Paris and became the first American woman to receive French military honors at her funeral.    

Lucy Salmon (7/27/1853) was born in New York. After graduating from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1876, she worked as assistant principal, then principal of a high school in Iowa.  She earned an M.A. in history from the University of Michigan in 1883, and taught at Indiana State Normal School and Vassar.  Vassar’s first history teacher, she became a full professor in 1889.  Due to her efforts, the number of history courses offered significantly increased and she helped create a large scholarly library for the college.  Her pioneering use of statistical reports in her study Domestic Service (1897) made it an important contribution to history.  Between 1915-19 she was the first woman to sit on the executive committee of the American Historical Association.  She stayed at Vassar until her death in 1927.    

An influential women’s suffrage supporter and the first woman admitted to the Texas state bar was Hortense Sparks Ward (7/21/1872).  While a stenographer and court reporter, Ward became interested in law.  In 1910 she successfully passed the bar exam in Texas.  Ward then practiced law with her second husband in the civil law firm of Ward and Ward.  In 1915 they were both admitted to practice before the Supreme Court.  Ward championed women’s rights lobbying in Texas and wrote numerous newspaper articles and pamphlets.  Other issues she lobbied for were a fifty-four hour workweek for women, a women’s division of the state department of labor, and a domestic relations court.  She practiced law until the death of her husband in 1939, and she died in 1944.     

Writer Susan Bogert Warner (7/11/1819) was born in New York City to a prosperous family, enabling her to receive a private education.  She became an author in 1851 when she published a novel called The Wide, Wide World.  Sentimental and moralistic, her book became popular; it sold in several translations and was reputedly the first book by an American author to sell one million copies.  One of her other numerous novels was The Hills of the Shatemuc (1856), which sold 10,000 copies on the day of its publication.  In addition to the novels, Warner wrote books for children and works on Biblical topics.  Her younger sister Anna was also a successful author and they co-wrote many volumes.  Susan Warner died in 1885.           

 

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