DOCSLIB.ORG

Consent of the Governed

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Consent of the Governed Doris Stevens. Jailed for Freedom: American Women Win the Vote. Troutdale, Ore.: NewSage Press, 1995. 220 pp. $12.95, paper, ISBN 978-0-939165-25-4. Reviewed by Cynthia Harrison Published on H-Pol (September, 1997) On August 6, 1918, one hundred women ments derive their just powers from the consent dressed in white, holding pro-suffrage banners of of the governed." (In that case, the formal charge purple, white, and gold, assembled in the square was "obstructing traffic.") While in the work‐ across from the White House around the base of house, these well-bred matrons had been stripped the Lafayette monument. As Dora Lewis, a promi‐ naked, beaten, fed rancid food riddled with nent Philadelphian, began to speak, a policeman worms, denied soap and water for washing, and seized her, making her the frst of forty-eight placed in solitary confinement on bread-and-wa‐ women arrested at the demonstration. After a ten- ter diets. The guards occasionally compelled black day delay, while the Government's attorney fg‐ women prisoners, arrested on other charges, to ured out what to charge them with, twenty-six beat the white women. Suffragists who fasted in women were tried and convicted of "holding a protest had been force-fed. Nevertheless, hun‐ meeting in public grounds" and "climbing on a dreds of suffragists continued to engage in public statue," receiving sentences of ten or ffteen days. protest, submitting to arrest and imprisonment The twenty-six convicts were immediately re‐ repeatedly for the sake of political liberty for moved to a prison building that had been closed women. for nine years, having been declared unfit for hu‐ Jailed for Freedom, a memoir written in 1920 man habitation. They were the only inhabitants of by Doris Stevens, tells this electric story. Stevens, a the cold, damp, cells, which were outfitted with leader of the National Woman's Party (NWP)--the iron cots; the water from the unused pipes made ringleader of the radical suffragist wing--herself the women ill. helped plan these protests. Arrested twice, But suffragists had faced horrendous condi‐ Stevens served three days in the Occoquan work‐ tions in prison before. Some had served sixty-day house, after which she was released by virtue of a terms at the Occoquan workhouse, for the offense pardon from an embarrassed President Wilson. of holding a banner with the words: "Govern‐ With Stevens' narrating, the mainstream women's H-Net Reviews suffrage movement gets short shrift, although its can Women and The Vote, 1837-1965 (Massachu‐ slow, steady, accumulation of women enfran‐ setts, 1997); Sara Hunter Graham, Woman Suf‐ chised by state action made federal action plausi‐ frage and the New Democracy (Yale, 1997); Susan ble. But the NWP parades, protests and arrests E. Marshall, Splintered Sisterhood: Gender and certainly generated the excitement in the fght to Class in the Campaign Against Woman Suffrage win the vote and this frst-person account conveys (Wisconsin, 1997); Kristi Andersen, After Suffrage: the determination and courage of the women who Women in Partisan and Electoral Politics before took part. the New Deal (Chicago, 1996); Lee Ann Banaszak, In this edition of the memoir,* Carol O'Hare Why Movements Succeed or Fail: Opportunity, has edited and substantially abridged the original, Culture, and the Struggle for Woman Suffrage which ran to almost four hundred pages with ap‐ (Princeton, 1996); Suzanne M. Marilley, Woman pendices; with new back matter, this volume Suffrage and the Origins of Liberal Feminism in comes to 220 pages. While the original text bears the United States, 1820-1920 (Harvard, 1996); Mar‐ editing, O'Hare's treatment amounts in places to jorie Spruill Wheeler, ed., Votes for Women! The rewriting and nothing distinguishes Stevens' orig‐ Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the inal words from O'Hare's additions. As a result, South, and the Nation (Tennessee, 1995) and One this edition suits a popular audience more than Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suf‐ an academic one. The helpful new introduction by frage Movement (NewSage, 1995); Genevieve G. Edith Mayo, Curator of Political History at the McBride, On Wisconsin Women: Working for Smithsonian Institution, and historical and bio‐ Their Rights from Settlement to Suffrage (Wiscon‐ graphical notes added after the text, will assist an sin, 1993); Marjorie Spruill Wheeler, New Women uninitiated reader in understanding the place of of the New South: The Leaders of the Woman Suf‐ the National Woman's Party in the suffrage cam‐ frage Movement in the Southern States (Oxford, paign and later. (The introduction, though, in‐ 1993); Mary Martha Thomas, The New Woman in cludes one inaccurate statement--that the 1964 Alabama: Social Reforms and Suffrage, 1890-1920 Civil Rights Act "assured ... that hard-won protec‐ (Alabama, 1992); and Steven Buechler, Women's tive laws [applying only to women] ... would not Movements in the United States: Woman Suffrage, be abolished but, instead, extended to men and Equal Rights, and Beyond (Rutgers, 1990). Other women on equal terms" [p. 32]. In fact, many la‐ new editions include Eleanor Flexner and Ellen bor laws were eliminated rather than extended.) Fitzpatrick, Century of Struggle: The Woman's Photographs from the collections of the Smithso‐ Rights Movement in the United States, enlarged nian, the National Woman's Party, and other edition (Belknap Press of Harvard, 1996). sources further enhance the appeal of this vol‐ Copyright (c) 1997 by H-Net, all rights re‐ ume. While college teachers will want to ask stu‐ served. This work may be copied for non-profit dents to read portions of the original rather than educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ this redacted version, this edition will make a tru‐ thor and the list. For other permission, please con‐ ly heroic story accessible to a larger audience be‐ tact [email protected]. yond the college classroom. *This volume joins numerous recent publica‐ tions concerning suffrage, including Ellen Carol DuBois, Harriot Stanton Blatch and the Winning of Woman Suffrage (Yale, 1997); Ann D. Gordon with Bettye Collier-Thomas, eds., African Ameri‐ 2 H-Net Reviews If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-pol Citation: Cynthia Harrison. Review of Stevens, Doris. Jailed for Freedom: American Women Win the Vote. H-Pol, H-Net Reviews. September, 1997. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=1268 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 3.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • View of the Many Ways in Which the Ohio Move­ Ment Paralled the National Movement in Each of the Phases
    INFORMATION TO USERS This was produced from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. While tf.; most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the material submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or notations which may appear on this reproduction. 1. The sign or "target” for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Missing Page(s)”. If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting through an image and duplicating adjacent pages to assure you of complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a round black mark it is an indication that the film inspector noticed either blurred copy because of movement during exposure, or duplicate copy. Unless we meant to delete copyrighted materials that should not have been filmed, you will find a good image of the page in the adjacent frame. If copyrighted materials were deleted you will find a target note listing the pages in the adjacent frame. 3. When a map, drawing or chart, etc., is part of the material being photo­ graphed the photographer has followed a definite method in "sectioning” the material. It is customary to begin filming at the upper left hand corner of a large sheet and to continue from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. If necessary, sectioning is continued again—beginning below the first row and continuing on until complete.
    [Show full text]
  • Carol Inskeep's Book List on Woman's Suffrage
    Women’s Lives & the Struggle for Equality: Resources from Local Libraries Carol Inskeep / Urbana Free Library / [email protected] Cartoon from the Champaign News Gazette on September 29, 1920 (above); Members of the Chicago Teachers’ Federation participate in a Suffrage Parade (right); Five thousand women march down Michigan Avenue in the rain to the Republican Party Convention hall in 1916 to demand a Woman Suffrage plank in the party platform (below). General History of Women’s Suffrage Failure is Impossible: The History of American Women’s Rights by Martha E. Kendall. 2001. EMJ From Booklist - This volume in the People's History series reviews the history of the women's rights movement in America, beginning with a discussion of women's legal status among the Puritans of Boston, then highlighting developments to the present. Kendall describes women's efforts to secure the right to own property, hold jobs, and gain equal protection under the law, and takes a look at the suffrage movement and legal actions that have helped women gain control of their reproductive rights. She also compares the lifestyles of female Native Americans and slaves with those of other American women at the time. Numerous sepia photographs and illustrations show significant events and give face to important contributors to the movement. The appended list of remarkable women, a time line, and bibliographies will further assist report writers. Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women’s Rights Movement by Sally G. McMillen. 2008. S A very readable and engaging account that combines excellent scholarship with accessible and engaging writing.
    [Show full text]
  • 2010 Women's Committee Report
    Report of the CWANational Women's Committee to the 72nd Annual Convention Communications Workers of America July 26-28, 2010 Washington, D.C. Introduction The National Women's Committee is deviating from our usual reporting format this year to celebrate and acknowledge two historic anniversaries in the women's suffrage movement. First, this year marks the 90th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women full voting rights. The committee members are wearing gold, white and purple sashes like the ones worn by the suffragettes in parades and demonstrations. The color gold signifies coming out of darkness into light, white stands for purity and purple is a royal color which represents victory. The committee members will now introduce you to six courageous women who fought to obtain equal rights and one which continues that fight today. 1 Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm I November 30, 1924 - January 1, 2005 Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was born Novem- several campus and community groups where she ber 30, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York, to Barbadi- developed a keen interest in politics. an parents. Chisholm was raised in an atmosphere that was both political and religious. Chisholm After graduating cum laude from Brooklyn received much of her primary education in her College in 1946, Chisholm began to work as a parents' homeland, Barbados, under the strict nursery school teacher and later as a director of eye of her maternal grandmother. Chisholm, who schools for early childhood education. In 1949 returned to New York when she was ten years she married Conrad Chisholm, a Jamaican who old, credits her educational successes to the well- worked as a private investigator.
    [Show full text]
  • “Mr. President, How Long Must Women Wait for Liberty?”1
    “Mr. President, How Long Must Women Wait for Liberty?”1 Mallory Durlauf Junior Division Individual Historical Paper Women, it rests with us. We have got to bring to the President, individually, day by day, week in and week out, the idea that great numbers of women want to be free, will be free, and want to know what he is going to do about it. - Harriot Stanton Blatch, 19172 An important chapter in American history is the climax of the battle for woman suffrage. In 1917, members of the National Woman’s Party escalated their efforts from lobbying to civil disobedience. These brave women aimed their protests at President Woodrow Wilson, picketing the White House as “Silent Sentinels” and displaying statements from Wilson’s speeches to show his hypocrisy in not supporting suffrage. The public’s attention was aroused by the arrest and detention of these women. This reaction was strengthened by the mistreatment of the women in jail, particularly their force-feeding. In 1917, when confronted by the tragedy of the jailed suffragists, prominent political figures and the broader public recognized Wilson’s untenable position that democracy could exist without national suffrage. The suffragists triumphed when Wilson changed his stance and announced his support for the federal suffrage amendment. The struggle for American woman suffrage began in 1848 when the first women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York. The movement succeeded in securing suffrage for four states, but slipped into the so-called “doldrums” period (1896-1910) during which no states adopted suffrage.3 After the Civil War, the earlier suffrage groups merged into the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA), but their original aggressiveness waned.4 Meanwhile, in Britain, militant feminism had appeared.
    [Show full text]
  • “Inciting a Riot”: Silent Sentinels, Group Protests, and Prisoners’ Petition and Associational Rights
    “Inciting a Riot”: Silent Sentinels, Group Protests, and Prisoners’ Petition and Associational Rights Nicole B. Godfrey* CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................1113 I. THE SUFFRAGISTS’ PROTESTS ..........................................................1118 A. Alice Paul and Lessons Learned from the Suffragettes ..............1119 B. The Silent Sentinels’ Protests .....................................................1120 C. In-Prison Petitions and Protests ................................................1123 II. THE FIRST AMENDMENT AND PRISONER PETITION AND ASSOCIATIONAL RIGHTS .....................................................................1130 A. Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners’ Labor Union, Inc.................1132 B. The Flaws of Deference to Prison Officials ...............................1135 III. IMPORTANCE OF PROTECTING PRISONER ASSOCIATIONAL AND PETITION RIGHTS .................................................................................1139 A. “Inciting a Riot” .........................................................................1140 B. Modern Prisoner Protests ...........................................................1143 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................1145 INTRODUCTION In January 1917, a group of women led by Alice Paul began a two- and-a-half year protest in support of women’s suffrage.1 As the first activists to ever picket the White House,2 these women became known as * Visiting
    [Show full text]
  • Creating a Primary Source Lesson Plan
    Women’s Fight for Equality Katy Mullen and Scott Gudgel Stoughton High School London arrest of suffragette. Bain News Service. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, reproduction number LC-DIG-ggbain-10397, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ggbain.10397/ This unit on women in US History examines gender roles, gender stereotypes, and interpretations of significant events in women’s history. This leads students to discover gender roles in contemporary society. Overview Objectives: Students will: Knowledge • Analyze women’s history and liberation • Analyze the different interpretations of significant historical events Objectives: Students will: Skills • Demonstrate critical thinking skills • Develop writing skills • Collaborative Group work skills Essential “Has the role of women changed in the United States?” Question Recommended 13 50-minute class periods time frame Grade level 10th –12th grade Materials Copies of handouts Personal Laptops for students to work on Missing! PowerPoint. Library time Wisconsin State Standards B.12.2 Analyze primary and secondary sources related to a historical question to evaluate their relevance, make comparisons, integrate new information with prior knowledge, and come to a reasoned conclusion B.12.3 Recall, select, and analyze significant historical periods and the relationships among them B.12.4 Assess the validity of different interpretations of significant historical events B.12.5 Gather various types of historical evidence, including visual and quantitative data, to analyze issues of
    [Show full text]
  • National Women's Party Lesson Plan
    The National Women’s Party: Jailed for Freedom Lesson Plan by Erica W. Benson; M.A. North American History, M.A. Secondary Education: Teaching, B.A. History, B.S. Journalism Objective: • Was the justice system fair and Constitutional in its treatment of the National Women’s Party picketers? • What role did the Occoquan Workhouse play in the women’s suffrage movement? Grade Level: 9th- 12th Time Frame: • At least one 45/50-minute class period, if you plan it for a longer class period you have the opportunity to show clips of the HBO film Iron Jawed Angels. • Question 13 can be assigned for homework and submitted online or written by hand. Pre-requisites: It is helpful if students have studied WWI so they can understand the context of the final push for suffrage and the messaging and strategy used by the NWP to pressure President Wilson. Materials: • Primary Source Document sets for pair groupings (upload online if students have computers or print) • Phased guided questions/position questions – one copy for each student • A projector to play film clips (you can typically find Iron Jawed Angels for free online, or you can purchase the DVD – you won’t regret it!) Procedures: Step-by-step plan of instruction: 1. Open the class with a 3-minute quick write: “What free speech rights do Americans have? Is it ever limited, if so, when?” After a few minutes post/reveal the 1st Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” a.
    [Show full text]
  • Lucy Burns(1879-1966) and Doris Stevens(1892- 1963) By: Aspen Marquette & Austin Nickel Biography of Doris Stevens
    Lucy Burns(1879-1966) and Doris Stevens(1892- 1963) By: Aspen Marquette & Austin Nickel Biography of Doris Stevens ● Born in 1892 in Omaha, Nebraska ● Graduated from Oberlin College in 1911 ● Worked as teacher and social worker ● Arrested for picketing at the White House "Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, Doris Stevens | A Tribute to the National Woman's ● Served as vice chairman of NWP of New York Party." ● Died on March 22, 1963 in New York Biography of Lucy Burns ● Born in 1879 in Brooklyn, New York ● Raised as a Catholic ● Attended Columbia University, Vassar College, Yale University, and Oxford University ● Became an English teacher ● Interest in women’s right to vote started in England ● Died in 1966 in Brooklyn, New York (“Burns, Lucy”) How did Doris contribute? ● In 1914 she became a full time organizer for NAWSA (“Doris ● Executive Secretary for CU Stevens”) ● Organized the first convention for women voters How did Lucy contribute? ● Created the Congressional Union for Women’s Suffrage ● Later known as National Women’s Party ● Powerful speaker ● Organized political campaigns ● Arrested 6 times (“Lucy Burns.”) Doris Quote "Her talent as an orator is of the kind that makes for instant intimacy with her audience."- Doris Stevens ("Lucy Burns") Doris Quote “All the officers here know we are making this hunger strike that women fighting for liberty may be considered political prisoners; we have told them. God knows we don’t want other women ever to have to do this over again.” - Doris Stevens ("Starving for Women's Suffrage: ") Lucy Quote “To pay the fine would be admitting guilt.
    [Show full text]
  • List of Suffrage Prisoners
    Suffrage Prisoners The following individuals depicted in Women of Protest were among the many National Woman’s Party activists who were arrested and imprisoned for their role in suffrage protests. An asterisk next to the individual’s name indicates that an image portrays them under arrest, in jail, wearing prison garb, or as speakers on the “Prison Special,” the cross-country speaking tour to several major American cities undertaken by 26 former inmates in February-March 1919 to inform audiences about their experience as political prisoners. Among those listed below who participated in the "Prison Special," are Pauline Adams, Edith Ainge, Berthe Arnold, Lillian Ascough, Abby Prisoners Doris Stevens, Allison Turnbull Hopkins, Eunice Dana Scott Baker, Lucy G. Branham, Lucy Burns, Sarah T. Colvin, Brannan. Associated Press Photos. 1919. Lucy Ewing, L. W. E. Havemeyer, Vida Milholland, Mary About this image Nolan, Elizabeth S. Rogers, Mabel Vernon, and Sue Shelton White. *Adams, Pauline Ainge, Edith *Arniel, Annie Arnold, Berthe Image 1 | Image 2 Arnold, Virginia Image 1 | Image 2 Ascough, Lillian *Baker, Abby Scott Image 1 | Image 2 | Image 3 Boyle, Catherine *Branham, Lucy Gwynne Image 1 | Image 2 | Image 3 | Image 4 *Brannan, Eunice Dana Image 1 | Image 2 *Burns, Lucy Image 1 | Image 2 | Image 3 Calderhead, Iris Colvin, Sarah Tarleton Crocker, Gertrude L. Image 1 | Image 2 Dubrow, Mary Image 1 | Image 2 | Image 3 Emory, Julia Image 1 | Image 2 Ewing, Lucy Fendall, Mary Gertrude Image 1 | Image 2 *Flanagan, Catherine M. Image 1 | Image 2 | Image 3 Fotheringham, Janet Gardner, Matilda Hall Gram, Betty Gray, Natalie H.
    [Show full text]
  • How Women Won the Vote: Additional Print & Online Woman Suffrage
    How Women Won the Vote Additional Print & Online Woman Suffrage Resources In recognition of Equality Day, and following up on the “How Women Won the Vote” Gazette, the NWHP has posted on its website an extensive new List of Resources on suffragists and the suffrage movement. The Suffrage List offers “Cookbooks, Patterns, Songs and Surprises – Leads to a Variety of Votes for Women Resources,” with items in three dozen categories. The Reference Lists cite sixty-six biographies of suffragists, many of which are recent, and more than 500 books and links that offer more information. There is material on each state’s suffrage history that adds to the information in the Gazette. [link] The National Women’s History Project’s 2017 Gazette, How Women Won the Vote, celebrates suffragists and activity in all the states and covers plans for the 2020 suffrage centennial. However, with limited space, it did not list any books or other media. So here are selected books, resources and additional links to encourage further research into individual suffragists and the multifaceted suffrage movement. The supplemental resources specifically for Suffragists Active in Every State appear at the end. Also check out resources on the web. There is a wealth of information, books and lesson plans on suffrage and women’s history now available online. These resources are divided into four sections: The Suffrage List Cookbooks, Patterns, Songs and Surprises – Leads to a Variety of Votes for Women Resources Suffrage Films, Books & Resources by Topic Biographies, Autobiographies
    [Show full text]
  • Tactics and Techniques of the National Woman's Party Suffrage
    TACTICS AND TECHNIQUES OF THE NATIONAL WOMAN’S PARTY SUFFRAGE CAMPAIGN Introduction Founded in 1913 as the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (CU), the National Woman’s Party (NWP) was instrumental in raising public awareness of the women’s suffrage campaign. The party successfully pressured President Woodrow Wilson, members of Congress, and state legislators to support passage of a 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (known popularly as the “Anthony” amendment) guaranteeing women nationwide the right to vote. The NWP also established a legacy defending the exercise of free speech, free assembly, and the right to dissent–especially during wartime. (See Historical Overview) The NWP had only 50,000 members compared to the 2 million members claimed by its parent organization, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Nonetheless, the NWP effectively commanded the attention of politicians and the public through its aggressive agitation, relentless lobbying, creative publicity stunts, repeated acts of nonviolent confrontation, and examples of civil disobedience. The NWP forced the more moderate NAWSA toward greater activity. These two groups, as well as other suffrage organizations, rightly claimed victory on August 26, 1920, when the 19th Amendment was signed into law. The tactics used by the NWP to accomplish its goals were versatile and creative. Its leaders drew inspiration from a variety of sources–including the British suffrage campaign, American labor activism, and the temperance, antislavery, and early women’s rights campaigns in the United States. Traditional lobbying and petitioning were a mainstay of party members. From the beginning, however, conventional politicking was supplemented by other more public actions–including parades, pageants, street speaking, demonstrations, and mass meetings.
    [Show full text]
  • Reclaiming Our Voice Levin G
    Women at NJ Women's Party headquarters in Newark doing both suffrage and war work. When the United States entered World War I, suffragists and anti-suffragists worked with the Red Cross in relief work, organized women to sew, knit, and prepare surgical dressings for the military, and, like the women in this photo, raise money in Liberty Loan drives. Suffragists believed their active loyalty and support would make woman suffrage inevitable. Reclaiming Our Voice | Carol Simon Levin | www.GardenStateLegacy.com GSL 47 March 2020 n March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams was minding farm, family, and Ofinances in Massachusetts when she wrote a letter to her husband John, a delegate at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia: I long to hear that you have declared independence—and by the way in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation . Abigail Adams (1744-1818) Two weeks later, on April 14, 1776, her husband replied that she was by Crina Magalio “so saucy” and he could not “but laugh” at her “extraordinary code of laws.” After commenting that freed northern slaves, apprentices, and the poor were demanding equal rights, he worried “Another tribe Abigail Adams and the other drawings of women's rights [women], more numerous and powerful than all the rest,” would also be activists are the work of some of the talented artists arguing for equality.
    [Show full text]