Kill That Snake": Anti-ERA Women and The
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2014 “Kill That Snake": Anti-ERA omeW n and the Battle Over the Equal Rights Amendment in Louisiana, 1972-1982 Yvonne Brown Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Brown, Yvonne, "“Kill That Snake": Anti-ERA omeW n and the Battle Over the Equal Rights Amendment in Louisiana, 1972-1982" (2014). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 636. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/636 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. “KILL THAT SNAKE”: ANTI-ERA WOMEN AND THE BATTLE OVER THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT IN LOUISIANA, 1972-1982 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by Yvonne Brown B.A., University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2004 M.A., University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2006 December 2014 In memory of my twin sister, Yvette 1956-2004 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to thank the history department at LSU for giving me the opportunity to earn a doctorate in history. The department provided me with an assistantship that greatly facilitated my first two years of study. Dr. Victor Stater, former graduate coordinator, Dr. Gaines Foster, former department chair, and Dr. Christine Kooi, present graduate coordinator, were always generous with their time and expertise. My committee chair, Dr. Alecia Long, deserves a special note of thanks. She gave me good guidance, but also leeway to pursue my own path, which is what a good committee chairman does. She also went an extra mile—or two—when she helped me with living arrangements and with support through a grant, which allowed me to finish vital coursework. The incisive comments, criticisms, and suggestions of my dissertation committee, including Dr. Gaines Foster, Dr. Charles Shindo, and Dr. Jas. Sullivan, challenged me, but also gave me hope that a future iteration of this work will be more mature, focused, and exciting. Words hardly seem adequate to acknowledge the debt I owe to my kind and enduring husband, Stanley, and my brilliant and brave daughters, Joanna, Elizabeth, and Ruth. I say in truth that my daughters inspire me with their accomplishments, and not the other way around. Lastly, I must acknowledge God’s grace in my life, through the incomparable love, mercy, and forgiveness of His Son, without which, none of this would have been possible. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………iii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………v INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………..1 CHAPTER 1. FROM WOMAN MOVEMENT TO WOMEN’S LIB: A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FIRST AND SECOND WAVE FEMINISM IN THE NATION AND IN LOUISIANA…………………………………………..12 2. SECOND WAVE FEMINISM AND THE CHANGING STATUS OF LOUISIANA WOMEN IN THE 1970s………….………………………………52 3. THE RISE OF ORGANIZED ANTI-ERA WOMEN IN LOUISIANA: CLASHES OVER GENDER, CULTURE, AND POLITICS IN THE 1970s……………………………………………………….108 4. WOMEN, RELIGION, AND THE ERA IN LOUISIANA……………………..156 5. THE LOUISIANA LEGISLATURE, LOUISE JOHNSON, AND LOSING THE ERA………………………………………………………………203 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………………238 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………243 VITA…………………………………………………………………………………………254 iv ABSTRACT This dissertation analyzes the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) ratification battle in Louisiana and the women who helped defeat it. The study emphasizes the role of anti-ERA women in the amendment’s defeat, but the views of pro-ERA women are also featured. Historical evidence shows that ERA advocates underestimated anti-ERA women. They dismissed anti-ERA women as either ignorant of their oppression or as pawns of male interests. This study challenges the idea that female ERA opponents in Louisiana behaved irrationally, worked against their own interests, or acted at the behest of men. Organized women led in opposition to the ERA in Louisiana. Several factors motivated them, including their religious beliefs. Anti-ERA women had different worldviews than pro-ERA women regarding the meanings of gender and equality. Although they came from different faiths, most ERA opponents believed in a created order based on gender difference. In their view, a law that forced equality by demanding men and women be treated the same would not only fail, it would generate disastrous social consequences, including women being drafted into the military, moral decline, and family breakdown. The desire to preserve their class and social status also motivated them. Most anti-ERA women were wives who depended on their husbands financially. They received economic rewards from their marital status, but also psychological and social rewards. Anti-ERA women believed the ERA would diminish and possibly eliminate their roles as housewives. An emerging conservative movement, which began to take shape in the context of the Cold War and the 1960s social revolution, also influenced and motivated anti-ERA women in Louisiana. A significant number of Louisiana women rejected many of the tenets of this social revolution, including feminism and the ERA. v INTRODUCTION On June 30, 1982, approximately one-hundred men and women gathered for a luncheon at the Royale Rouge Hotel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The participants gathered to celebrate the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) at the national and state level. When Congress passed the ERA in 1972, it set a seven year ratification period, which would have ended in 1979. When it became clear the amendment would not be ratified by that date, Congress granted a three-year extension. Even with more time, however, the ERA fell three states short of the thirty-eight needed for ratification. The state of Louisiana refused to ratify, despite a hard fought campaign by the state’s small but dedicated cadre of feminists. Gail Cox, head of a group called “A Better Way than the ERA,” presided over the June program, which honored Louisiana legislators who fought against the amendment. The mood of the event was one of rejoicing, but there was unmistakable gloating in the air. Participants sang a song called “Down the Ole Drain” to the tune of “Tammy,” a hit song from 1957 recorded by popular singer and actress Debbie Reynolds. The last verse went, “Does Ellie Smeal really feel like she could die? My heart beats so joyfully. I think I know why. I wish that she knew what I’m thinking of—ERA, ERA, glug, glug, glug, glug.”1 Former state representative Louise Johnson of Bernice received accolades for her leadership in defeating passage. In her words, she “made national headlines in 1972 when she was the first woman legislator in the country to come out against the amendment.” Beatrice Hawthorne Moore was the first woman elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1940, but Johnson made history in 1972 as the first woman elected to the 1Lynn Dias, “Anti-ERA forces rejoice in amendment’s death,” State Times (Baton Rouge, La.), July 1, 1982, the song “Tammy” can be accessed online at www.last.fm/music/Debbie+Reynolds/_/Tammy. 1 Louisiana House from a north Louisiana parish, Union Parish. Despite her status as a female political pioneer, Johnson swore to defeat the ERA at the same time she swore her oath of office. Leaving little doubt as to her intent, Johnson stood a homemade sign on her desk in the chamber featuring a slithering reptile and the words, “Kill That Snake.” The fact that a woman presented the ERA as a snake and vowed to kill it presents interesting opportunities for analysis. In the view of anti-ERA women, just as the first snake in the Garden of Eden fooled Eve into abandoning her place in paradise, the second snake, the ERA, promised equality to women, but robbed them of the cherished protections and privileges of womanhood instead.2 This dissertation analyzes the Louisiana ERA ratification battle in the 1970s and the women who helped defeat the amendment. It also presents the views of pro-ERA women in detail. The historical evidence shows that ERA advocates underestimated anti-ERA women in Louisiana. They often dismissed ERA opponents as pawns of male interests or as ignorant and anachronistic. Organized women, however, led in opposition to the ERA in the state. They were motivated by several factors, including their religious beliefs. Most opponents were evangelical Protestants or traditional Catholics, with small numbers of Mormon women also active in the movement. Anti-ERA women had different worldviews than pro-ERA women regarding the origins and definitions of gender and of equality. Not all anti-ERA women and men believed in the same story of man’s origins, but they believed in a created order based on gender difference and specificity of purpose. In their view, a law that forced equality by demanding men and women be treated the same was not only 2Lynn Dias, “Anti-ERA forces rejoice in amendment’s death,” State Times (Baton Rouge, La.), July 1, 1982, Joan Kent, “Can ERA friend and foe find happiness,” New Orleans States Item, May 2, 1975; and Louise B. Johnson, Women of the Louisiana Legislature (Farmerville, LA: Greenbay Publishing, 1986). 2 doomed to fail, it would generate unintended and even disastrous social consequences. These consequences included the draft for women, changes in marital laws regarding spousal support, child custody, and alimony, moral decline, and family breakdown. The desire to preserve their class and social status also motivated them. Most anti- ERA women were dependent financially on their husbands, but their economic status allowed them to be part of social networks and volunteer women’s organizations.