Category Archives: Blog

August 21, 2015 · 1:48 pm

PART II: Charlotte Perkins Gilman & “The Yellow Wallpaper” still read today!

Editors’ Note: This is the second part of the two-part article about Charlotte Perkins Gilman by Wendy Bird, an advocate for social justice and equality of opportunity and a strategic consultant for non-profits, government, and philanthropy.

GilmanSliderby Wendy Bird

Part II 

What is One to Do?:

Like the haunting “nevermore” of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “what is one to do” in “The Yellow Wallpaper” becomes a chilling rallying cry against the injustices of the “rest cure.” Disenfranchised and isolated, the unnamed woman feels she cannot be heard over the voices of her husband and brother, both doctors. In her words, “Personally I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what is one to do?” The woman senses that her husband’s profession may actually be impeding, rather than aiding, her recovery and wellbeing, saying, “John is a physician, and PERHAPS–(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)–PERHAPS that is one reason I do not get well faster. You see he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do?” For the woman, her husband’s belief that she is not sick and, therefore, not in need of quality medical care, as opposed to just “rest,” cannot be overcome: “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression–a slight hysterical tendency–what is one to do?” As the protagonist becomes increasingly upset (“I am getting angry enough to do something desperate”) and ultimately goes insane (“I’ve got out at last”), the reader is left to wonder if something might have been done to prevent the tragedy after all.

Girl Power Matters:

Gilman adds complexity to the story by introducing Jennie, John’s sister. Rather than serve as an ally to the ailing woman, Jennie inadvertently contributes to the woman’s demise by upholding the unwanted isolation and inactivity of the “rest cure” and, by extension, the “men know best” stereotype. Before long, “Jennie sees to everything.” Like John, Jennie tries to escalate control over the woman: “Jennie wanted to sleep with me–the sly thing! but I told her I should undoubtedly rest better for a night all alone.” Just as she begins to fear her husband, the woman begins to fear her sister-in-law, saying, “even Jennie has an inexplicable look.” Without anyone to support her ideas and suggestions, the woman’s isolation extends beyond the physical into the mental and emotional.

Innovative Storytelling:

Gilman uses several strategic literary devices to advance her point of view. First, Gilman presents the protagonist as a woman without a name. By the end of the story, we know the names John, Jennie, Mary, Henry, and Julia, but not the name of the ailing woman, underscoring the woman’s sub-status treatment. Second, Gilman uses the wallpaper as a metaphor for the stifling treatment of John and Jennie, enabling the woman to criticize her family without drawing the ire of conservative readers. For example, echoing John and Jennie’s relentless oversight, the woman says, “There is a recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes stare at you upside down. I get positively angry with the impertinence of it and the everlastingness. Up and down and sideways they crawl, and those absurd, unblinking eyes are everywhere.” Finally, Gilman uses familiar language to draw readers in and win their trust, making her ultimate denouncement of the “rest cure” more compelling. Initially, for example, John and Jennie are described as “loving,” “dear,” “sweet,” and “careful,” as to be expected from family members. The woman would never prioritize her own needs over those of her husband: “of course, I would not be so silly as to make him uncomfortable just for a whim.” The woman even expresses gratitude for her husband’s treatment, saying, “it is lucky that John kept me here.” Like the woman, the reader is drawn in by the false promises of the “rest cure” and, in turn, also shocked and dismayed by its tragic consequences.

Impact:

With its masterful storytelling, Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” raised serious questions about the “science” behind the “rest cure” and amplified a voice still hear too little in women’s health care: a woman’s. Other writers such as Virginia Woolf also criticized the treatment, laying the foundation for improved understanding of women’s health needs and effective treatments moving forward.

Epitaph:

In 1935, suffering from incurable breast cancer, Gilman chose to use chloroform to end her life on her own terms. In a note she left behind, Gilman described her choice as a human right: “When all usefulness is over, when one is assured of unavoidable and imminent death, it is the simplest of human rights to choose a quick and easy death in place of a slow and horrible one” (Radcliffe Magazine). While still controversial in health care today (as recently evidenced, for example, by Brittany Maynard in “My Right to Death with Dignity at 29”), in death, as in life, Gilman exercised autonomy and the power of choice

The original collection of the “Papers of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1846-1975” is located at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. For more information and the online collection, please visit the “Charlotte Perkins Gilman Digital Collection.”

RESOURCES:

Part I of the article series on Charlotte Perkins Gilman by Wendy Bird.

FREE AUDIO of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

The Woodstock (NY) town board in August passed a resolution honoring Woodstock women in history, including Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and affirming the NYS suffrage centennial celebration in 2017. This is the first time a local community has taken such a step, and it’s likely that other towns and cities will do the same.

Suffrage CentennialsimagesFollow SuffrageCentennials.com on Facebook page, Twitter, email subscription, and the Quarterly Newsletter. Sign up for email on this web page. Stay up to date with postings, audio podcasts, and videos. Plan for your suffrage centennial event. And don’t forget to pass on women’s suffrage storytelling to the next generation. Suffrage Centennial videos on Vimeo.

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August 17, 2015 · 11:34 am

Part I: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, one of Woodstock’s wild women who wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”

Editors’ Note:

Wendy Bird, M.P.P., is an advocate for social justice and equality of opportunity and a strategic consultant for non-profits, government, and philanthropy. This is the first part of Wendy’s two-part article about Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a well-known suffrage movement writer and literary figure who had roots in Woodstock, NY. She spent two summers in retreat writing at Byrdcliffe. In August 2015, the Woodstock town board passed a resolution honoring its women in history and expressing support for the state’s 2017 upcoming women’s suffrage centennial celebration.

GilmanSlider

Charlotte Perkins Gilman: “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Raising Eyebrows & Revolutionizing Women’s Health Care in the 1800s

Part I by Wendy Bird

Celebrated suffragist Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) raised eyebrows and helped revolutionize women’s health care with her provocative and innovative short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” published in 1892 in The New England Magazine. The story chronicles the injustices and inadequacies of the 19th century “rest cure” for women, which isolated patients from family and friends and confined them to bed rest for extended periods of time. Gilman also used to the story to courageously challenge the popular notion at the time that, as doctors and husbands, men know best about women’s health and wellbeing.

In the story, an unnamed woman moves into a summer home with her husband John, a doctor, to help address her “nervous troubles” through the “rest cure.” Having recently given birth, the woman’s condition is today interpreted as a form of postpartum depression. At the time, however, there was little understanding of the condition or effective treatments. Alone and rendered completely inactive, the woman begins to see visions in the yellow wallpaper of her room and ultimately goes insane.

Gilman based “The Yellow Wallpaper” on her own negative experiences with neurologist Silas Weir Mitchell, who treated Gilman (then Charlotte Stetson) with the “rest cure” in 1887, following the birth of Gilman’s daughter Katharine (Thraikill, 2002). While a work of fiction, the real-life Weir is a looming threat in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” As the unnamed woman in the story describes, “John says if I don’t pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall. But I don’t want to go there at all.”

A PHYSICIAN ADVISED GILMAN TO GIVE UP WRITING AND TEND TO HER FAMILY

After “treating” Gilman, Mitchell advised her to give up writing, her passion, and concentrate exclusively on being a wife and mother as a way to maintain good health (Science Museum). Instead, Gilman went on to write “The Yellow Wallpaper” to dramatically illustrate the deficiencies of the “rest cure, as well as the influential non-fiction book Women and Economics (1898), which advocated for women’s economic independence and was translated into seven languages.

Dismantling the “Rest Cure”: In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman outlines how the “rest cure” systematically disenfranchises, isolates, and controls an unnamed woman in need of quality health care, resulting in her ultimate insanity.

  • Disenfranchisement: Throughout the story, the woman asserts her ideas that writing and companionship would greatly improve her health, but is dismissed. In one example, she says, “I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me.” However, her husband advises her to “check the tendency.” When the woman asks for the room downstairs that “opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window,” her husband refuses, choosing the nursery with barred windows upstairs instead. When the woman complains of the ripped up wallpaper in the room, her husband refuses to fix it, saying he doesn’t want to “give way” to her “fancies” or spend money renovating a rental. When the woman says the “treatment” isn’t helping and asks to leave, her husband again refuses, citing the lease agreement: “I told him that I really was not gaining here, and that I wished he would take me away. ‘Why darling!’ said he, ‘our lease will be up in three weeks, and I can’t see how to leave before.'”

FIREWORKS IN HER PILLOWCASE

  • Isolation: Despite allegedly good intentions, John’s actions increasingly isolate the woman in the story. Twice, he prevents her from having the company of sought-after cousins Henry and Julia. The first time, the woman says, John “would as soon put fireworks in my pillow-case as to let me have those stimulating people about now.” The second time, the woman says, “I tried to have a real earnest reasonable talk with him the other day, and tell him how I wish he would let me go and make a visit to Cousin Henry and Julia. But he said I wasn’t able to go, nor able to stand it after I got there.” Meanwhile, John is away a good deal of the time on medical cases (“John is away all day, and even some nights”), a clear juxtaposition — and contributing factor — to the woman’s increasing isolation.
  • Control: Finally, as the summer goes by, John’s behavior becomes increasingly controlling, and the woman begins to question his true intentions. According to the woman, he “hardly lets me stir without special direction.” The woman is forced to lie down alone for increasing periods of time. As she describes, “I lie down ever so much now. John says it is good for me, and to sleep all I can. Indeed he started the habit by making me lie down for an hour after each meal. It is a very bad habit I am convinced.” As her condition worsens, the woman says, “I believe John is beginning to notice. I don’t like the look in his eyes.” As the summer draws to a close, the woman believes John is only “pretending” to be loving and kind. Eventually, these questions turn to cold fear: “The fact is I am getting a little afraid of John.”

COMING SOON: PART II OF ARTICLE BY WENDY BIRD. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is available online to read or to listen to an audio reading. A one-woman show of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is perfect for suffrage events and celebrations. Check out the Woodstock town board resolution honoring suffrage centennials and women in local history.

Suffrage CentennialsimagesFollow SuffrageCentennials.com on Facebook page, Twitter, email subscription, and the Quarterly Newsletter. Sign up for email on this web page. Stay up to date with postings, audio podcasts, and videos. Plan for your suffrage centennial event. And don’t forget to pass on women’s suffrage storytelling to the next generation. Suffrage Centennial videos on Vimeo.

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August 12, 2015 · 12:52 am

Woodstock, NY: The town that loves its women! Resolution supports suffrage centennial celebrations!

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Woodstock, New York: Traveling to this distinct Hudson Valley town! on Vimeo.

The town of Woodstock, NY is planning special events during 2016 to honor its women’s history and prepare for the state’s 2017 suffrage centennial. Consider Woodstock as a travel destination!

On August 11, 2015 the Woodstock, NY town board unanimously passed a resolution to support New York State’s 2017 suffrage centennial by making a priority of sharing the story of Woodstock women with a larger audience. The resolution sketched out a plan for the town to promote and participate in the state’s centennial observance by sponsoring events and making a priority of educating the public about Woodstock’s women and how New York State is the “Cradle” of the U.S. women’s rights movement in the United States.

The Woodstock town board resolution expands local public support for the state centennial in 2017. Woodstock joins New York City which has made a similar commitment to the 2017 centennial through its Department of Records and Information Services. The city agency has plans to sponsor suffrage-related events and exhibits from now through 2020, the nation’s observance of 100 years of American women voting. During its 2015 session, both houses of the NYS Legislature passed bills to create a state suffrage centennial commission for 2017.

WOODSTOCK, NY TOWN BOARD RESOLUTION, 2015.

Resolution passed August 11, 2015: To Mobilize Recognition of Woodstock Women during the year 2017 and from now through 2020 to celebrate the New York State and National Suffrage Centennials.

“WHEREAS Woodstock, New York has a long tradition of artistic, literary and activist expression by women, and New York State is considered the “Cradle” of the women’s rights movement in the United States, and WHEREAS 2017 is the centennial observance of the 1917 victory of women winning voting rights in New York State; and WHEREAS 2020 is the National centennial observance of the ratification of the19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that guaranteed American women the right to vote;

 “AND WHEREAS local exhibits, programs, events and celebrations pertaining to women and their campaigns for equal rights contribute to overall happiness, raise spirits and morale, and contribute to local economic development through sustainable cultural heritage tourism and affirm the community’s commitment to equality that is part of our town history and heritage;

“BE IT RESOLVED that the Town of Woodstock, New York prepare for the State 2017 and National 2020 women’s suffrage centennial celebrations by encouraging individuals and businesses, arts, cultural, governmental, service and political organizations and groups to plan and coordinate events pertaining to women and their accomplishments to be held during the years 2017 and from now through 2020, in addition to participating in regional and statewide networks promoting such initiatives, including the New York State Path Through History tourism network.”

THE WORD GETS AROUND: Hudson Valley Magazine. New York History blog.

Other SuffrageCentennials travel suggestions!

Combine Travel with Cultural Heritage Tourism on Vimeo.

Suffrage CentennialsimagesFollow SuffrageCentennials.com on Facebook page, Twitter, email subscription, and the Quarterly Newsletter. Sign up for email on this web page. Stay up to date with postings, audio podcasts, and videos. Plan for your suffrage centennial event. And don’t forget to pass on women’s suffrage storytelling to the next generation. Suffrage Centennial videos on Vimeo.

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August 8, 2015 · 12:05 am

Young people will energize campaign for national suffragist memorial!

Happy New Year from Suffrage CentennialsThe Turning Point Suffragist Memorial Association (TPSMA) has launched a new program to engage college-age students in order to honor the generations of activists who persevered through the 72-year struggle for women’s suffrage. The TPSM University Affiliates Program urges students to assume an active role in the development of the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial and encourages student involvement and activism on U.S. college and university campuses nationwide.

TPSMA is a non-profit organization committed to building a national memorial commemorating the suffragists by 2020, the year that will mark a century since the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. This goal can only be accomplished if the necessary awareness and funds are raised, especially in this year of the 95th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.

Students can join the affiliates program as individual members or as members of a campus-based TPSM student group. Annual dues, once paid, secure the new affiliate’s membership along with opportunities to participate in fundraising events and awareness-raising campaigns. As affiliates, students will be invited to enter contests, submit content for publication on TPSMA’s blog and social media pages, help educate their peers about women’s rights and history, and reflect on the women’s suffrage movement in a variety of ways.

Registration of student affiliate members and student groups for the 2015-16 academic year opened on August 3, 2015 and will be accepted on a rolling basis. Annual membership dues are $19 per student. For more information or to register, contact Whitney Stohr and Lauriane Lebrun at wstohr@suffragistmemorial.org.

Be on the Cutting Edge with your Support of the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial on or before the 2020 suffrage centennial on Vimeo.

Suffrage CentennialsimagesFollow SuffrageCentennials.com on Facebook page, Twitter, email subscription, and the Quarterly Newsletter. Sign up for email on this web page. Stay up to date with postings, audio podcasts, and videos. Plan for your suffrage centennial event. And don’t forget to pass on women’s suffrage storytelling to the next generation. Suffrage Centennial videos on Vimeo.

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August 2, 2015 · 1:52 pm

August 26th is the women’s 4th of July! Celebrate the 95th anniversary of women voting!

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Plan for August 26th, the women’s 4th of July! on Vimeo.

The year 2015 is the 95th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This means a birthday party for American women who in 2015 have been full U.S. citizens with voting rights for 95 years. The year 2020 marks the centennial of citizenship for American women, and an increasing number of people aren’t letting the holiday pass without recognition, and yes, a celebration.

This video points out some of the resources you can access online as you’re getting ready to sponsor an event for friends, family or your organization. The Library of Congress is one such resource.

SuffrageCentennials.com is a clearinghouse for women’s suffrage news, views, events and celebrations. SuffrageCentennials.com is also a multi-media platform that’s a resource for voters, policymakers, educators, students and citizens of all kinds. SuffrageCentennials.com has been publishing since 2013.

Get your 95th anniversary button from the gift shop at the National Women’s History Project. It’s only $2.

95th anniversary of 19th Amendment

Suffrage CentennialsimagesFollow SuffrageCentennials.com on Facebook page, Twitter, email subscription, and the Quarterly Newsletter. Sign up for email on this web site. And sign up for the Inez Milholland centennial 2016 newsletter. Stay up to date with postings, audio podcasts, and videos. Plan for your suffrage centennial event and don’t forget to pass on women’s suffrage storytelling to the next generation. Suffrage Centennial videos on Vimeo.

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July 23, 2015 · 12:34 pm

“Equal Means Equal” film upcoming, plus lots of suffrage centennial news notes

"Equal means Equal" film“Equal Means Equal” is a documentary film about the status of women in America that will put suffrage centennial celebrations into perspective. It’s expected to be released in 2016. We’ll be featuring efforts to push for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by 2020, the nation’s suffrage centennial celebration of 100 years of American women voting.

Welcome this weekend to delegates attending the AAUW state summer convention on July 24-26, 2015 at Cazenovia College.  The AAUW state organization in New York is a long-time friend of women’s suffrage centennial events and celebrations. A big thank you to the NYC Department of Records & Information Services for mentioning SuffrageCentennials.com on Facebook and Instagram. The city records department has committed to planning five years of programs featuring women’s history topics and special events associated with the upcoming 2017 New York suffrage centennial. Check our Twitter feed for ongoing announcements. To sign up for news about the 2016 suffrage centennial observance honoring America’s suffrage martyr Inez Milholland, check out this link. We’re featuring women’s history and suffrage events from a variety of organizations as a regular feature on our Twitter feed.

Celebrate the 95th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on August 26, 2015, Women’s Equality Day, by downloading a file with pertinent information from the National Women’s History Project.

IN OTHER NEWS: Women’s Equality Party formed in UK to bring women’s issues out into the public. Save the Sewall-Belmont House says the National Park Service. There’s a list of possibilities as to how this important historic site can be operated in order to keep its doors open. Women’s history artifacts in the collection of the New York State Museum publicized. Story of the July 4th co-conspirators in 1876. If you missed Convention Days in Seneca Falls, NY this summer, set aside some time for a pilgrimage to the Finger lakes region of NYS this coming fall. Another “save the date” reminder for the October 1 conference promoting cultural heritage tourism and suffrage through the NYS Cultural Heritage Tourism Network. A recent press release from NYS Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that New York is the most visited state by overseas travelers for 14th year in a row. Will New York be ready for its 2017 suffrage centennial? Funding sought for recently-passed New York suffrage centennial commission, but the observance is approaching quickly. Stay tuned!

Suffrage CentennialsimagesFollow SuffrageCentennials.com on Facebook page, Twitter, email subscription, and the Quarterly Newsletter. Sign up for email on this web page. Stay up to date with postings, audio podcasts, and videos. Plan for your suffrage centennial event. And don’t forget to pass on women’s suffrage storytelling to the next generation. Suffrage Centennial videos on Vimeo.

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July 16, 2015 · 12:41 am

The 95th anniversary of the 19th Amendment on August 26, 2015. . . plus news notes

This coming August 26th, Women’s Equality Day, is the 95th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that extended the right to vote to American women. There are many media references to 2020, the nation’s suffrage centennial or the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. And five years to go might seem like a long time, but the time is passing quickly. The Women on Money campaign this year set 2020, the national suffrage centennial, as its goal for the U.S Treasury to place a woman’s image on national currency. And advocates for the revival of the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) are also looking toward 2020 for the completion of the ERA’s ratification. There’s still plenty of time to plan something special for August 26th. Check out the audio recording to find out about the designation by the U.S. Congress in 1971 to create Women’s Equality Day on August 26th.

OTHER NEWS NOTES: New York State residents are urged to contact their state representatives in the NYS Assembly and Senate to fund the New York women’s suffrage centennial commission that will be planning events and celebrations in 2017. The New York Council for the Humanities has made available a web site link that makes this easy for the state’s citizens. New York State women won the right to vote in November 1917. The year 2015 is the centennial observance of the 1915 NYS suffrage referendum that may have lost, but an infrastructure was created that led to the 1917 victory. For more information. October 1, 2015 is the date for a conference sponsored by the NYS Cultural Heritage Tourism Network at the Holiday Inn Waterloo/Seneca Falls, 9-4 p.m., to address issues including: Working with “I Love NY” to promote 2017 events, the connection of Native-Americans, African Americans, and religious groups to the women’s rights movement, and how to attract visitors to the state during 2017. For more information.

Suffrage CentennialsimagesFollow SuffrageCentennials.com on Facebook page, Twitter, email subscription, and the Quarterly Newsletter. Sign up for email on this web page. Stay up to date with postings, audio podcasts, and videos. Plan for your suffrage centennial event. And don’t forget to pass on women’s suffrage storytelling to the next generation. Suffrage Centennial videos on Vimeo.

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July 11, 2015 · 2:56 pm

Buckle your seat belt for suffrage centennial celebrations that could knock your socks off!

Suffrage centennials are taking the nation by storm! on Vimeo.

New York State is positioning itself to be a frontrunner in cultural heritage tourism that could demonstrate to the nation the type of sustainable economic development that’s possible on the ground. Current shifts toward favorable public opinion about the history of women’s voting rights and upcoming suffrage centennial celebrations suggest that such observances can be meaningful as well as economically advantageous for local communities, regions, states and the nation.

In recent years, the following states celebrated their centennials of women winning the vote prior to 1920: Wyoming (1890), Colorado (1893), Utah (1896), Idaho (1896), Washington (1910), California (1911), Arizona (1912), Kansas and Oregon (1912). Montana and Nevada observed one hundred years of women voting in 2014 with special events, projects and activities. New York’s centennial celebration is scheduled for 2017, with Michigan, Oklahoma and South Dakota to follow. And there’s the upcoming national suffrage centennial in 2020.

SUFFRAGE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS HAVE THE POTENTIAL OF GOING VIRAL

Opportunities for New York State are in the early stages and they follow the best practices of states that have already held suffrage centennial observances. The pieces are in place to develop cultural tourism networks and infrastructures. There’s a state suffrage centennial commission recently passed in the NYS Legislature, the involvement of state agencies, the result of long and dedicated work by citizens and organizations working together.  New York City and upstate communities are involved. Passionate grassroots advocates have taken leadership roles. Funding is available. And the internet is exploding nationwide and around the world with stories of amazing women, today and in the past. A major motion picture, “Suffragette,” will direct public attention to voting rights struggles. It’s a matter of bringing all of this together that will make the difference between blowing an opportunity and the potential of suffrage centennial celebrations going viral.

We can’t take anything for granted in a controversial climate that has marginalized women’s history over the past century. We could miss opportunities and assume that someone’s in charge, when in fact, a grassroots collaborative initiative is underway that could be taking on more than it can handle. The good news includes the efforts of visionaries who have set 2020 as the goal of achieving equality for women in the United States. There are stirrings in the U.S. Congress to revive the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) by 2020. A woman on U.S. currency is now a possibility. Special projects are downright exciting, including the building of a statue of women in NYC’s Central Park, a nationwide women’s trails initiative, upcoming conferences, literary initiatives, a proposed suffragist national memorial outside of Washington, DC, and a core of dedicated activists who view sustainable economic development of cultural heritage tourism as key to the process.

COMPARED TO THE 2017 WORLD WAR I CENTENNIAL OBSERVANCE, WOMEN’S CELEBRATIONS COULD TURN OUT TO BE A FLASH IN THE PAN

Compared to the big bucks being invested in the national centennial observance of World War I in 2017, the story of women and our accomplishments could turn out to be little more than a flash in the pan. Getting our story out to the nation takes dedicated and persistent work. Local communities must set priorities about how to honor this extraordinary opportunity. There’s a cultural struggle underway in light of the 2016 presidential elections and a great deal of past neglect of women’s history to overcome. A great deal of our history has been buried or marginalized. We can blow these openings and opportunities. And we can built infrastructures and constituencies that will last longer than any planned centennial celebrations.

WE NEED ALL HANDS ON DECK!

Are you on board? The move to celebrate suffrage events and centennial celebrations is about insisting on taking our place in the sun, assuming leadership, and spreading the word about how we stand on strong shoulders with not only women’s issues but our shared national activist history. Marriage equality was once thought impossible. One commentator recently called the activist who took down the Confederate flag in South Carolina as someone who had committed “patriotic civil disobedience.” Women’s suffrage history has a strong tradition of patriotic protest. We can connect the past and present and future by supporting efforts to build sustainable lifestyles and practices necessary for life in the 21st century and beyond. We’re moving mountains, but we can’t take anything for granted yet. Let’s make the most of every door that opens to us. We can sail through the challenging times ahead if we pull together. We’re on our way. Onward!

Suffrage CentennialsimagesFollow SuffrageCentennials.com on Facebook page, Twitter, email subscription, and the Quarterly Newsletter. Sign up for email on this web page. Stay up to date with postings, audio podcasts, and videos. Plan for your suffrage centennial event. And don’t forget to pass on women’s suffrage storytelling to the next generation. Suffrage Centennial videos on Vimeo.

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July 10, 2015 · 1:11 pm

New York State could blow its 2017 suffrage centennial celebration or it can lead the way to 2020!

Goal of 200 storytelling videos about women’s suffrage movement makes learning American history easy for young people on Vimeo.

Just because New York State has an opportunity to market its unique position as the “Cradle” of the women’s rights movement in the United States doesn’t mean it will be successful. All the pieces are in place for New York to walk into the sunset with the entire nation and the world paying attention. This requires a correct balance of circumstances and attitude. If New York State believes it can bus people in from China and Australia and have them leave excited, it’s possible. And it’s more likely that the intentions will be good but there won’t be the necessary followup and input and grassroots support to make it work. The key is in bringing the right balance of excitement and connection together, to link the past and present and redefine the “Spirit of 1776” for a new time and place and set of conditions in this contemporary world.

WE COULD BLOW THIS OPPORTUNITY, OR ALL THE PIECES COULD COME TOGETHER!

Today the internet is exploding with stories of suffrage activists. Sometimes they’re called suffragettes. Other times they’re referred to as suffragists. In the past, some women preferred one term over the other which is why we here on SuffrageCentennials.com refer to votes for women advocates as suffrage activists. It’s important to not leave anyone out. Many different types of people were involved in shaking up the status quo during this time in history, including men and those who opposed the idea of women voting altogether.

Women vote in high numbers today. More than at any other time in history, there’s a fascination with storytelling about the votes for women movement. We even find descendants of the anti-suffragists lamenting the day women won the right to vote. It’s essential the entire story of the suffrage movement be told: the warts, the compromises, the courage, especially the parts revealing the movement’s weaknesses and prejudices.

LET’S TELL THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT…!

Women of the 20th century didn’t invent racism, classism, and sexism. They inherited it. We’re all born into this social and economic system where discrimination and prejudice is profitable, which is why women’s suffrage storytelling can bring us together as we peel back the layers. The storytelling about this remarkable social movement of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers, other family members and ancestors has the potential of completing the unfinished American Revolution, hopefully in our lifetimes.

There are so many stories to tell. Women’s suffrage storytelling was featured on Suffrage Wagon Cafe on July 8, 2015. Storytelling features the women of the past reaching out through time to meet us where we are today. Transferring the messages and spirit and content into upcoming women’s suffrage events and celebrations is up to us. Let’s get together to celebrate suffrage centennial celebrations, whether in New York State in 2017 or the national observance of the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 2020!

Suffrage CentennialsimagesFollow SuffrageCentennials.com on Facebook page, Twitter, email subscription, and the Quarterly Newsletter. Sign up for email on this web page. Stay up to date with postings, audio podcasts, and videos. Plan for your suffrage centennial event. And don’t forget to pass on women’s suffrage storytelling to the next generation. Suffrage Centennial videos on Vimeo.

 

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July 5, 2015 · 9:03 pm

Save the Sewall-Belmont House says the National Park Service!

Torch from Library of CongressThe situation is urgent notes the report from the National Park Service (NPS) in a special 75+ page report that makes recommendations about the future of the Sewall-Belmont House in Washington, DC that’s presently owned and operated by the National Woman’s Party (NWP). The historic site is described as “one of the premier women’s history sites in the country.” The feasibility study notes how financial constraints in recent years have “… decreased the capacity of the NWP to preserve and interpret the site and its extensive museum and archival collections, creating the need to explore options for increased National Park Service assistance.”

Sewall-BelmontHouse4

But all is not lost, the report reveals, even though the NPS admits it is extremely limited in funding. “Since the economic downturn of 2008, the NWP has experienced challenges in raising necessary funds to operate and properly maintain the property. As a consequence, the site is currently only open to the public on a limited basis. The NPS is not currently authorized to provide additional financial assistance to the NWP after surpassing a legislated cap set in 1988, a loss of roughly $100,000 in annual funding.

“A recent condition assessment determined that the house itself is largely in good condition. However, without attending to deferred preservation maintenance needs in the near future, the condition of the structure is likely to deteriorate. Of particular concern is protection of the portion of the NWP collection stored in the library on the first floor of the house; the library is not climate-controlled and lacks a fire-suppression system.”

The study analyzes different management options to address the site’s financial and preservation challenges:

“Model 1, where the NPS takes on the greatest management role and staffing commitment, is projected to cost the bureau $636,000 annually. In contrast, in Model 3 the NWP continues most operations and maintenance with increased NPS financial assistance totaling $312,000 annually. Model 2 presents two variations of an option in which the NPS and the NWP jointly operate the site. This model is probably the most feasible given a balanced distribution of responsibilities between the two entities and the comparably moderate annual cost to the NPS, at $511,000 for Model 2a and $445,000 for Model 2b. These variations, particularly Model 2a, are the preference of the NWP, which sees the responsibilities required of the NWP most in line with its capacity and mission.”

The feasibility study’s report contains photographs, analysis, charts and more information than you could possibility imagine. For those of us who follow women’s history, suffrage centennials and related observances, this is an excellent opportunity to become informed about the challenges and possible solutions, especially as the national women’s suffrage centennial approaches in 2020.

Suffrage CentennialsimagesFollow SuffrageCentennials.com on Facebook page, Twitter, email subscription, and the Quarterly Newsletter. Sign up for email on this web page. Stay up to date with postings, audio podcasts, and videos. Plan for your suffrage centennial event. Suffrage centennial Vimeo channel.

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