March - Women's History Month:  Women's Suffrage, Recognizing Women Leaders

by Mary Freeman, DWCF Region V Representative and
DWCF 2016 Convention Chair

Women's History Month gives us a special opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments and achievements -- and sacrifices -- of American women and to be empowered by hearing women’s stories.  DVDs, books and websites help us gain appreciation of the long struggle which gained American women the right to vote, and then to share that history with children and young adults to help them appreciate what our country has achieved so far.  

Two particularly excellent DVDs focus on the women's suffrage movement in the US, and both are available in the libraries of the Pinellas County Library system. 

First, Iron Jawed Angels was directed by Katja von Garnier and stars Oscar-winner Hilary Swank and Anjelica Huston (who received the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in this HBO film); it tells the story of Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, two young women's rights activists participated in the suffrage battle -- through White House pickets, imprisonment, hunger strikes, and force-feeding. Recommended for viewers 13 and up.

Second, Ken Burns' Emmy Award-winning documentary Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony recounts the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of two pioneers striving to give birth to the women's movement and their drive to secure the right to vote for American women.

If you wish to introduce children and youth to the amazing women of the US suffrage movement, check out the reading recommendations this Mighty Girl website post: How Women Won the Vote: Teaching Kids About the U.S. Suffrage Movement. Many specialized historical resources may be found on the Women's History Month webpage for teachers.

One current noteworthy campaign relating to women's history is the effort to put a woman's picture on the $20 bill. The website Women on 20s urges that decision be implemented by 2020, the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment which gave American women the right to vote.

On that website, you  may vote for 3 of any of the following American women leaders (there will be a later run-off vote and the names are listed here in the same order as they are presented for voting):  Shirley Chisholm; ‎Betty Friedan; ‎Frances Perkins‎; Rosa Parks; ‎Rachel Carson; ‎Sojourner Truth‎; Barbara Jordan‎; Patsy Mink‎; Eleanor Roosevelt; ‎Susan B. Anthony‎; Alice Paul‎; Elizabeth Cady Stanton‎; Harriet Tubman‎; Clara Barton‎; and/or Margaret Sanger‎.  A brief biography of each woman is on the website.

It's a perfect project for Women's History Month, so go cast your votes!

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Inspiration:  Noteworthy Women / 2015 Black History Month Observed 

by Nancy Hamilton, Corresponding Secretary, and Diane Lebedeff, Recording Secretary

African American women have been remarkable women leaders in both politics and letters.  At our February 2015 meeting, we saluted four such women.

Sojourner Truth (1797– 1883), an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist, was born in slavery, escaped to freedom in 1826 and took the name Sojourner Truth in 1843. 

Her best-known speech -- "Ain't I a Woman?" -- was delivered in 1851 at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.

Shirley Chisholm (1924 – 2005) represented  New York's 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to 1983; by reason of her 1968 election, she was the first African-American woman elected to Congress. From 1977 to 1981, she was Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus.  In 1972, she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination.  She received 152 first-ballot votes at the 1972 Democratic National Convention.

Shirley Chisholm authored two books and, after her retirement from Congress, was a professor at Mount Holyoke College.   One of her notable statements was: "In the end, anti-black, anti-female, and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing -- anti-humanism."

Barbara Jordan (1936 – 1996) was an American politician and a leader of the Civil Rights movement. She was the first African-American elected to the Texas Senate, the first southern black female elected to the United States House of Representatives, and the first African-American woman to deliver the keynote address at a Democratic National Convention.

Her 1976 convention speech is often regarded as one of the top 100 American speeches of all time.  Many of her remarks still ring true today, such as this one: "But this is the great danger America faces. That we will cease to be one nation and become instead a collection of interest groups: city against suburb, region against region, individual against individual. Each seeking to satisfy private wants."

Maya Angelou  (1928 – 2014) was an American author, poet, dancer, actress, and singer. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees.  Her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition.

Her poems are known for a lovely cadence; many can be found here.  She shall be honored by a portrayal on a US "Forever" stamp.

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We close with this Maya Angelou observation:  "in diversity, there is beauty and there is strength."

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