March is right around the corner and hence WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH. Almost every year I have watched Ken Burns documentary:NOT FOR OURSELVES ALONE, the story of the battle fought by thousands of women with the leadership of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony to win the right to vote for women.
In case you have forgotten why this had such urgency in the 1800's, it helps to remember that women had NO Legal protections of any kind. A married woman was considered 'chattel' that is, property of her husband. He could collect her wages, take her children, and if her father tried to leave her property (since her mother wouldn't have been able to own any to leave) he husband got that too. A bad husband could thereby impoverish his wife even if she came into the marriage with something of her own. Even her body didn't belong to her, and there were no laws against spousal rape or violence. It was acceptable for a man to use physical force to discipline his wife - wife battering. And a husband had control of the children.
One of the driving forces behind Temperance was that in the Colonial period and the 1800's, alcoholism and drinking in general were at an epidemic rate. American Heritage ran an article once that showed that for all the damage of prohibition, it stopped the epidemic of alcoholism and drinking never returned to the previous level. Therefore women were totally at the mercy of alcoholic and abusive husbands and fathers. At first Temperance women thought getting rid of alcohol was the answer, that if men didn't drink, they wouldn't abuse and batter. Suffragists, correctly saw a bigger issue, legal rights, and they thought the answer was to get the vote and then be able to get representation for their rights, as well as to ge to college, get professions, including law degrees, and gain independence that way.
At the time of the wave of Suffrage activity in the 1800's (It had been going on before in other places - England for example) women in America couldn't go to college, enter a profession, speak in public, or serve on a jury.
Every year when I watch a Suffrae history movie, I am shocked anew by the level of prejudice shamelessly used against women. As a woman with 3 college degrees, all with honors, it shocks me to hear an argument that we don't have the rational minds to make decisions, or that our minds are to frail to withstand an education.
This year I added a new film to my groin roster:
The original is the Ken Burns documentary NOT FOR OURSELVES ALONE, about the foundation wave that finally brought us to the gates of victory.
My next favorite was a docudrama called IRON JAWED ANGELS, next generation of Suffragist that took us through the gates, leader Alice Paul, our own New Jersey hero.
The newest addition to the roster was a documentary I found last night on the Australian women's fight for the vote. They won theirs 50 years before we won ours. I found it by diligently searching the amazon prime back list of films. I can't remember the title now. But if you looked under Women Get the Right To Vote, you can find it. It was old fashioned in its filmmaking style but nonetheless inspiring and interesting.
BIG NEWS: My Art project, done in cooperation with another retired teacher friend, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Suffrage was accepted into the nationwide project BRAVE 100! It will be on display in March. More info on that when I post again!
I would list books on Suffrage but it would take many blog posts to do them all. I believe I have posted some earlier.
Happy Trails
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
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