#Woman suffrage

[uwmspeccoll]

Milestone Monday

On this day, November 18, 1872, Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) and 14 other women were arrested for voting illegally in the United States presidential election of 1872. Though all were arrested, only Anthony was indicted and brought to trial in circuit court. Susan B. Anthony was an American social reformer and advocate for women's rights, significantly contributing to the women's suffrage movement and challenging laws that restricted voting rights to men.

Susan B. Anthony's act of civil disobedience, arrest, and trial galvanized the American women’s suffrage movement. During that period, like all criminal defendants, Anthony was not allowed to testify in her own defense and had to rely on her attorneys to present her case.

The judge in the case ordered the jury to find her guilty without deliberation. She was fined $100, to which she said, “I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty.”  She delivered a now-famous speech despite the judge commanding her to cease.

Even though she was found guilty, her courageous stand and ensuing trial brought greater attention to the insufficient rights of women under the U.S. Constitution. Anthony remained dedicated to advocating for women’s suffrage, delivering speeches nationwide, and working diligently until her passing. Fifty years later, the ratification of the 19th Amendment would pass, giving women the right to vote. 

Hooray for Women’s Suffrage! Also, let’s hope we don’t see this history repeat itself!!

The photos featured come from the following books in our collection:

History of Woman Suffrage edited by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage and published in Rochester, N.Y. by Susan B. Anthony in 1887.

An Account of the Proceedings on the trial of Susan B. Anthony, on the Charge of Illegal Voting at the Presidential Election in Nov. 1872, and on the Trial of Beverly W. Jones, Edwin T. Marsh, and William B. Hall, the Inspectors of Election by Whom Her Vote Was Received published in Rochester, N.Y. by the Daily Democrat and Chronicle Book Print in 1874.

View more Milestone Monday posts.

-Melissa, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[nando161mando]

Since woman’s greatest misfortune has been that she was looked upon as either angel or devil, her true salvation lies in being placed on earth; namely, in being considered human.

— Emma Goldman, Woman Suffrage

There is no difference whatever between the goddess of fortune and the women who secure many blessings for the sake of bearing children, who are worthy of worship and who form the glory of their household.

Manu assigned to women sleep, sitting, ornament, lust, anger, dishonesty, malice and bad conduct.

— Manu, Manusmriti (9.26, 9.17)

[vculibraries]

Chicago, then and now

Some wardrobe choices are historic -  like women wearing white 

June 14, 1916 was the first day of the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri. Forming “The Golden Lane” more than 2,000 women, dressed in white and holding yellow parasols stood silently as the delegates passed.

This pamphlet is part of the Adèle Goodman Clark papers (M9, Box 48), VCU Libraries Social Welfare History Image Portal.

[resplendentoutfit]

Women's Suffrage Movement

The movement for women's suffrage took many decades to obtain voting rights. Women fought for their rights via smart political strategy. Dynamic leadership attracted several generations of women – mothers, daughters, and grandmothers formed national organizations and made alliances that brought women into the political sphere. The fight intensified during World War I due to women's work outside the home to help the war effort. Women now saw themselves as fully deserving of the same rights as men.

A trio of outfits at the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum shows the evolution from the last gasp of Edwardian bulk to the short, simple dress of the Twenties. Left, a two-piece dress of about 1907 (Daughters of the American Revolution Museum). Center, a houndstooth suit of about 1914 (loan courtesy Shippensburg University Fashion Archives and Museum). Right, black and white day dress, 1925 (Daughters of the American Revolution Museum).

Exhibition vignette with the “Bear the Banner Proudly They Have Borne Before” banner, circa 1913-1920. National Woman’s Party. Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument, Washington, DC.

Purple, white, and gold were among the colors representing the movement. White dresses were worn by women as a representation of purity of thought and high-mindedness. Purple represented the vote and loyalty, constancy, and steadfastness. Gold stood for the torch that guides our way.

Ethel Wright (1866–1939) Christabel Pankhurst (British suffragette) • National Portrait Gallery, London

[eugenedebs1920]

Tomorrow we show the world who we are. Tomorrow will decide the direction this nation traverses in the foreseeable future. Tomorrow, we choose.

We choose whether or not to cling to a past. A past set on retribution. A past focused on revenge. Revenge on those who dared to speak out against the shame being done to, and done by our country, in our name. Will we decide to harbor the anger and hate that has plagued our nation for far too long? Will we continue the trend of violence and hostility? Will we accept the discriminative dialogue of old? Will we allow our country to be overcome by a minority rule? Will we condone autocracy in the land of the free?

Or will we move forward? Will we break the shackles of a past that marginalized those of color, and the fairer sex, women? Will we stand for a future where the middle class gets relieved of some of the weight of taxation that we have been burdened with, insisting that corporations and the wealthy contribute more than the fraction we do? Will we embrace tomorrow with hope in our hearts, and joy in our eyes. Seeing the diversity around us for the beautiful thing that it is? Will we condemn fascism? Will we demand that our leaders have grace and class? Will we hold tight to a moral compass that has guided us through the rugged road of oppression to a pasture of inclusion? Will we stop seeing our fellow American as the enemy, and respect their opinion, whether we agree or not. Back to a time not long ago. When civility was the way to interact, where courtesy was commonplace, where kindness was the norm.

That’s the America I want to live in. One of tolerance and love. Of togetherness and hope. One where we can come together and celebrate this country, that so many gave so much for us to enjoy. We are not enemies friends. We are countrymen. United by our admiration for freedom, for liberty, for tomorrow. We are The United States. We are the land of the free. The home of the brave. The ones who stand for democracy. For dignity, for progress.

Tomorrow. We show the world who we are. Let’s show them the fearless, honest, powerful, righteous, intelligent, diverse, beautiful, kind people we have come to be.

Tomorrow. Vote Kamala Harris for President of the United States of America. Vote the only healthy party in America right now, and vote blue down ballot.

Let’s show them who we are!

🇺🇸

[philosophybits]

By every fact and by every argument which man can wield in defence of his natural right to participate in government, the right of woman so to participate is equally defended and rendered unassailable.

Frederick Douglass, "Woman Suffrage Movement (1870)"

[scotianostra]

July 13th 1900 saw the birth of Elizabeth “Bessie” Watson in Edinburgh.

Born just off the Grassmarket, at 11 The Vennel to Agnes Newton and Horatio Watson, Bessie did not take long to make her mark in the world, at the tender age of 9 she combined her two greatest loves: bagpiping and woman’s suffrage, the latter makes her arguably the youngest in Scotland, if not the world.

When she turned seven, Bessie’s aunt Margaret contracted tuberculosis – an incident which would change the youngster’s life forever. Margaret lived with the family, and Bessie’s parents, worried that she might fall ill to the contagious disease, encouraged her to take up the bagpipes in a bid to strengthen her weak lungs. Her first set of pipes was specially-produced according to her diminutive stature as she was too small to properly inflate an adult-sized bag. The half-sized set of pipes was purchased from Robertson’s pipe makers at 58 Grove Street. “I hurried home from school and carried it, in a brown paper parcel down to my (music) teacher”, Bessie recalled. As one of the very few female bagpipe players in the world at that time – not to mention one of the youngest – Bessie took to her new instrument with great enthusiasm.

Bessie had more than her bag pipe playing to make her worthy of a post here, while walking with her mother through the streets of Edinburgh, Scotland, Bessie stopped to look at the window of the Women’s Social and Political Union office. Bessie became excited about the idea of women receiving the right to vote, even though she wouldn’t be able to vote for many years.

Bessie realized that her talents could help promote votes for women. She would run from school each day to play her bagpipes outside of the Calton Jail in Edinburgh for fellow suffragettes in prison.

At the first suffrage pageant she performed at, she wore a sash with the words “Votes for Women” as she performed with her bagpipes. At the height of the suffragette movement, Bessie was playing at major demonstrations and parades for the Women’s Social and Political Union, including the famous procession through Edinburgh on 9th October 1909. On that day a large crowd watched as hundreds of banner-laden ladies, wearing the suffragist colours of purple, white and green, marched down Princes Street before congregating at Waverley Market for a rally led by Emmeline Pankhurst. Watson rode on a float beside a woman dressed as Isabella Duff, Countess of Buchan in her cage! Isabella is famed for crowning Robert the Bruce at Scone when he seized the Scottish crown, she was later captured with the Bruce family and held prisoner in a cage in the open air at Berwick for four years.

Back to oor Bessie, who just a ten year-old she travelled to London to play her bagpipes in a women’s march on June 17th, 1911. J ust a few weeks later, for George’s state visit to Edinburgh, Bessie, leading the 2nd Edinburgh Company of the Girl Guides, received recognition from the king himself as she raised her salute. Having secured regal acknowledgement in time for her 11th birthday, Scotland’s youngest female piper continued in her quest to support women’s rights, accompanying inmates bound for Holloway Prison to Waverley Station and playing the pipes as their trains departed.

For the part she played in Edinburgh’s historic women’s rights pageant of 1909, young Bessie received a special gift from one very prominent individual. Christabel Pankhurst (daughter of Emmeline) came to Edinburgh to address a meeting at the King’s Theatre and Bessie was invited to attend. During the evening she was presented with a brooch representing Queen Boadicea (Boudica) in her chariot, as a token of gratitude for her help in the pageant.

During WWI, Bessie was just a teenager and used her talents to make a difference in other ways. She began helping the Scots Guard to recruit army volunteers by playing her bagpipes

In 1926 Bessie moved with her parents to a new house on Clark Road, Trinity where she would remain for the rest of her days. Following her marriage to electrical contractor John Somerville at the end of the Second World War, Bessie devoted her life to teaching music and foreign languages. Former neighbours recall that, even into her late eighties, Bessie continued to play her bagpipes at 11am every morning. It was something she had always done.

Bessie died in 1992, two and a half weeks short of her 92nd birthday. Over the course of her long life she had experienced almost a century of social progression and upheaval, and had played her part in changing the world for the better.

A pictorial tribute was unveiled at The Vennel in Edinburgh on August 1st 2019 in memory of Bessie, the University of Edinburgh also have a lecture room named in her honour.

[lloveorloved]

I've kinda went m.i.a t, but i'm conducting a study about the public perseptions of the female suffrage movement for my b.a thesis and could i ask you to please fill it out for me? it'll take you like 5 minutes and it's really important for me. (also i'd really appreciate if you can share it with your friends/family since i want to have answers from people from with different nationalities, but it's totally optional). thank you in advance!!! 💜 reblogs are also appreciated!

https://forms.gle/9iZHbFguJpEbgoBt8

[antis-hero]

Photos of the Preparedness Parade on May 13th, 1916. A first aid station was opened by anti-suffragists at Broadway and Fourteenth Street (pictured on the right).

Found in The Woman’s Protest, June 1916.

[leohtttbriar]

The Vote, American Experience 2020

[kosmik-signals]

“Bertha Pitts Campbell, right, with Osceola Macarthy Adams, was a co-founder of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority at Howard University. The sorority members were told to stay in a segregated section when they joined the march for suffrage in 1913.” (Washington State Archives)

(via Deltas: Black sorority faced racism at suffrage parade in Washington in 1913 - Washington Post)

[glsneeg-enthusiast]

sneeg and niki siblings is real to me

[vculibraries]

Financial independence! No small thing.

Mrs. Ellen Gertrude Tompkins Kidd, creator of the famous Pin-Money Pickles, vice president and treasurer of the Virginia League of Women Voters, and resident of the entire sixth floor of the Shenandoah Building. 

In 1868, 16 year-old Ellen Tompkins began making delicious award-winning pickles in her Richmond kitchen. In 1873 she founded Pin-Money Pickles, a thriving business that she ran until 1925. Pin-Money Pickles could be purchased at “leading grocers everywhere!” and were served at the White House, on Pullman Railroad Cars, and at restaurants across the nation. 

Lillian Whitney Babcock of Boston described Pin-Money Pickles as “made from very small cucumbers which are covered with sharp points like a baby porcupine.”

Learn more about Ellen G. Kidd in volume 3 of Virginia; Rebirth of the Old Dominion, available in VCU Libraries. Advertisement from Instruction in Cooking with Selected Receipts. 

[brehaaorgana]

I just met an older black woman named cookie who told me she was traveling (which she "never does!") from (or after?) the family matriarch's funeral and before I could even finish my condolences she lit up and said "she lived to be 104!" And I was like "WOW she really lived life. Good for her!" Also like wow, imagine what she saw.

Cookie was so proud of family matriarch. Me too, honestly. (Another table opened up for her and her husband so they moved one over.)

When she got up, she said to me she's off to the wild unknown (traveling! A thing she doesn't much do!) and to wish her luck so I did.

Idk whose grandma and grandpa I just met but I love them. if you happen to have a grandma cookie please let her know she is a delight.

[winnix85]

Mrs Lewis Nixon (1902) and Mrs Stanhope Nixon (1945)