Grant Peeples did a wonderful Clay Tablets livestream last night, with special guest Eliza Gilkyson, on the topic. Here's a link to Episode 6, now archived.
The New York Times presented a comprehensive online overview yesterday, Suffrage at 100: A Visual History, which I hope you can access.
Below is my "book report" for our March bUUkies (UU book club) meeting to discuss The Woman's Hour (see link below), which I chose to skip because it was scheduled for March 18, when the proverbial sh*t was hitting the proverbial fan, COVID-wise. (NOTE: we have only gathered online since then... 😢 )
As a long-time feminist and activist, I was aware of the historical outcome, but nowhere near informed on the specifics that got us there. Much information to digest, such that I continue to be "entertained and ephiphanated" (my new favorite phrase by Brian Doyle). It reads like an unfolding mystery novel, as the 36th star of ratification finally appears on the banner.
As I was reading, I couldn't help but channel my 10-year-old self, watching Mary Poppins and having to ask what a suffragette was*** (and I still know all the words to the song).
***["The battle for woman’s suffrage was in full force in both Britain and the United States in the early 1900s. Reporters took sides, and in 1906, a British reporter used the word “suffragette” to mock those fighting for women’s right to vote. The suffix “-ette” is used to refer to something small or diminutive, and the reporter used it to minimize the work of British suffragists.
Some women in Britain embraced the term suffragette, a way of reclaiming it from its original derogatory use. In the United States, however, the term suffragette was seen as an offensive term and not embraced by the suffrage movement. Instead, it was wielded by anti-suffragists in their fight to deny women in America the right to vote."]
And, if we were still bringing snacks tonight (and I of course understand why we aren't), I was going to use this plate (photo attached), given to me by my dear friend/college roommate, Linda... 💗
And I would have worn white... :-)
SONG: Sister Suffragette from Mary Poppins
BOOK: The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine Weiss
POEM: 19th Amendment Ragtime Parade by Marilyn Chin
Birthday, birthday, hurray, hurray
The 19th Amendment was ratified today
Drum rolls, piano rolls, trumpets bray
The 19th Amendment was ratified today
Left hand bounces, right hand strays
Maestro Joplin is leading the parade
Syncopated hashtags, polyrhythmic goose-steps
Ladies march to Pennsylvania Avenue!
Celebrate, ululate, caterwaul, praise
Women’s suffrage is all the rage
Sisters! Mothers! Throw off your bustles
Pedal your pushers to the voting booth
Pram it, waltz it, Studebaker roadster it
Drive your horseless carriage into the fray
Prime your cymbals, flute your skirts
One-step, two-step, kick-ball-change
Castlewalk, Turkey Trot, Grizzly Bear waltz
Argentine Tango, flirty and hot
Mommies, grannies, young and old biddies
Temperance ladies sip bathtub gin
Unmuzzle your girl dogs, Iowa your demi-hogs
Battle-axe polymaths, gangster moms
Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Lucy Burns and Carrie Chapman Catt
Alice Paul, come one, come all!
Sign the declaration at Seneca Falls!
Dada-faced spinsters, war-bond Prufrocks
Lillian Gish, make a silent wish
Debussy Cakewalk, Rachmaninoff rap
Preternatural hair bobs, hamster wheels
Crescendos, diminuendos, maniacal pianos
Syncopation mad, cut a rug with dad!
Oompa, tuba, majorette girl power
Baton over Spamalot!
Tiny babies, wearing onesies
Raise your bottles, tater-tots!
Accordion nannies, wash-board symphonies
Timpani glissando!
The Great War is over!
Victory, freedom, justice, reason
Pikachu, sunflowers, pussy hats
Toss up your skull caps, wide brim feathers
Throwing shade on the seraphim
Hide your cell phones, raise your megaphones!
Speak truth to power
and vote, vote vote!
WARNING:
Nitwit legislators, gerrymandering fools
Dimwit commissioners, judicial tools
Toxic senators, unholy congressmen
Halitosis ombudsmen, mayoral tricks
Doom calf demagogues, racketeering mules
Whack-a-mole sheriffs, on the take
Fornicator governators, rakehell collaborators
Tweeter impersonators, racist prigs
Postbellum agitators, hooligan aldermen
Profiteering warmongers, Reconstruction dregs
Better run, rascals better pray
We’ll vote you out on judgement day!
Better run, rascals better pray
We’ll vote you out on election day!
QUOTE: “If your voice held no power, they wouldn’t try to silence you.” - unknown
Love the plate. And may we vote in large numbers this year, until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.
ReplyDeleteLinda! How sweet of you to read/check-in. Agreed about the voting. After these last four nights (today's post, to be uploaded soon), let's hope we are all motivated/inspired to make it happen. As one of the Roll Call states said (Tuesday, I think), "It's Joe Time!"... :-)
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