Alva Belmont: Feminist

1931 The Sooner Magazine 201

Muna Lee (Mrs Luis Mu- noz Marin), ex '12, internationally famous poet and feminist leader, and a contributing editor of this magazine, begins in this issue the first of a series of articles on leading feminists. Miss Lee is the author of -Sea Change-, the director of the bureau of international relations of the University of Porto Rico, and is at present on leave of absence for one year, to serve as director of national activities of the National Wo- man's Party of the United States, with headquarters in Washington

BY MUNA LEE,'12

The dedication of Alva Bel- One strongly unifying idea is demon- 1374. Her subsequent leadership of New mont House, on Capitol Hill, in the City strated : the idea of equality and freedom. York society developed and perfected the of Washington, as the national head Born Alva Smith, in Mobile, Alabama, qualities of initiative, independence, and quarters of the National Woman's Party, Mrs Belmont's was the typical sheltered executive genius which were later trans- in January of this year, was a significant luxurious childhood of the Southern cot- ferred from the narrow social sphere to tribute to the leadership of Mrs O. H. ton exporter's household, and even at the great field of international feminism. P. Belmont, president of the Woman's the age of five, her spirit of rebellion She showed, then as well as later, a fine Party, whose refusal to accept as bind- was evidenced : "It was our clothes," she sense of dramatic values, a capacity for ing traditional restrictions, and whose explains, smiling. "In our home, we re- detail, and a mastery of organization, fiery impatience with discriminations ceived a great box of Paris frocks twice which have never desented her. Her against her sex, have been largely re- a year . And what anguish we suffered manifold interests have come to converge sponsible for the greater social as well in having to wear these clothes, quite upon an unflinching determination to as political freedom enjoyed by women proper as to style, the latest thing in give women equal rights with men in today. It is a fascinating study to put fashion, but utterly unlike what our little every sphere . She was the first woman together the different segments of Mrs friends were wearing. In those days," in America to obtain a divorce from a Belmont's career, seemingly so diverse she added, "like all children, we were prominent man, and her poise and valor in motivation and expression, and re- conformists, and to be like the rest was in meeting the ensuing turmoil were alize that through it all, in the historic our chief desire." It is an amusing and notable. Perhaps in this experience might Costume ball which, opening Marble inconsistent incident to record at the be- be found the roots of her subsequent ef- House, in Newport, became one of the ginning of a life which has been so strik- forts to remove discriminations against most glamorous episodes in the history ing, an exemplification of that "divine women. In any event, her first recogni- of American society, just as much as in discontent" with existing! conditions tion of herself as a feminist came years her declaration, after the passage of the which is said to be the chief incentive later, at a tea in a friend's house, when suffrage amendment, that, "Women must to progress . she heard a suffrage talk and realized reach their full stature as human beings!" She married William K . Vanderbilt in on the moment, with that magnificent 202 The Sooner Magazine March capacity for instantaneous decision which is one of her leading characteristics, that Mrs Oliver H . P. Belmont, president of on the progress of women depends the the National Woman's Party progress of civilization . of the United States and a She married Oliver H. P. Belmont in leading protagonist for 1896. inequalities political eliminateeliminating Mrs Belmont is actively interested in against women architecture, and is a member of the American Institute of Architecture . Her homes-Marble House, in Newport; Port Washington, Long Island; her villa on the Riviera ; her fourteenth century cha- teau in D'Augerville which was the home of Joan of Arc's lawyer; and her beautiful Paris house-are internationally famous. Just as Mrs Belmont was one of the first women in the country to visualize the importance of securing suffrage by national amendment rather than by the slow process of obtaining the vote state by state, so has she been a pioneer in international - feminism, advocating an equal rights treaty to be ratified by every nation of the world. When the National Woman's Party, centering upon federal suffrage, was formed, Mrs Belmont as its officer demonstrated her generalship. She is, above all, past-mistress of strategy. She contributed, moreover, in addition to sagacious counsel, hundreds of thousands nation to suf- of dollars to educate the atory where the elements which will form women . It epitomizes Feminism, of Her gifts to the Woman's Party frage. the future are determined and tested . course, since it is the home of the most have been likewise munificent . Even a cursory reading of Mrs Bel- advanced feminist group in the country ; Belmont's three children are Wil- Mrs mont's commentaries on the place of wo- it recalls her devotion to architecture, for S. Vanderbilt, and liam K. and Harold man in a constantly changing world re- so long one of her chief delights, since Jacques Balsan, formerly the Duch- Mme veals her as both an individualist and an Alva Belmont house is a classic example ess of Marlborough. She is the exponent of organization . In other of the gracious dignified Georgian man- grandmothertnother ofthepresent Marquis ofBland- words, she holds-as the Woman's Party sion. Research, Mrs Belmont's insistence ford ; and her tiny great-grandaughter, has always held-that women will be able upon exactitude, her intellectual pleasure Lady Sara Spencer Churchill, is also a to accomplish their utmost only when in concrete knowledge of the subject in the National Woman's Party member of they are banded together, working, as hand, is realized in the exhaustive and of the United States. women, for women; and she believes at fully documented studies on the status 40 the same time, and has often declared, of women being carried on by the Wo- man's Party . Her flair for gardens- Her interest in the advancement of that the individual woman must develop and her gardens have been international- women is of almost religious intensity. fully if womankind, and consequently ly famous-is simply but beautifully ex- For years she has dedicated herself to humankind, are to achieve their destiny. emplified in the roses and lilacs, the pop- the realization in her own lifetime of her "The important thing," to cite her own lars and laurels and iris-beds, which vision of a world wherein men and words, "is to break down the barriers give this house so much of its Old World women shall be equal, in responsibilities which prevent women from utilizing, for charm ; just as her staunch patriotism and in opportunities. And to the hasten- the good of the human race, all their en- cannot but be pleased to recall the hon- ing of the epoch when that world shall ergies, capabilities, and talents." And, orable connection of the place with the be a reality, she is devoting the magni- again, in the ringing declaration of prin- only defense made of the city when the ficent resources of one of the most alert ciples which she gave the world in 1922, British rode against Washington in 1814. and vigorous minds of our generation . "I am working only to put women in a A gallant and valiant figure, unflinch- position where they can make of them- Even more than her china and silver ing in her demand that every woman selves whatever they choose to be and in the dining-room, her girlhood desk in be permitted to grow to her full stature, can be!" It is in this same declaration the drawing-room, the marble bust in it was fitting that Mrs Belmont should that she made use of the frequently quot- the entrance hall and the bronze plaque see her own name bestowed with ap- ed and now famous phrase, "Almost on the rosy brick Georgian wall, it is propriate ceremonies on the beautiful na- any woman with a broom gives, to my the spirit pervading the house, the spirit tional headquarters of the party of which mind, a better picture of action than any of the Woman's Party, the spirit of Fem- she is president. Alva Belmont House man with a musket ." inism, which makes Alva Belmont house will be, through the years to come, a The various interests that have played so appropriate, so adequate, and so sat- museum and a laboratory of Feminism : an important part in Mrs Belmont's life isfying a name for the colonial mansion a museum in that most vital sense of the are finely synthesized in the national which houses the national headquarters word, a storehouse of the past lending headquarters which, bearing her name, of the Woman's Party of the United inspiration for the present; and a labor- is dedicated to the greater freedom of States .