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What is Freedom?: Women , Gender, and Reconstruction . Gilder- Lehrman Summer Institute July 2010. January 8, 2008 “Women Are Never Front-Runners” By GLORIA STEINEM. Steinem, “Women are Never Front Runners”.
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What is Freedom?:Women, Gender, and Reconstruction Gilder-Lehrman Summer Institute July 2010
January 8, 2008 “Women Are Never Front-Runners” By GLORIA STEINEM
Steinem, “Women are Never Front Runners” Black men were given the vote a half-century before women of any race were allowed to mark a ballot, and generally have ascended to positions of power, from the military to the boardroom, before any women (with the possible exception of obedient family members in the latter). The abolition and suffrage movements progressed when united and were damaged by division; we should remember that.
January 13, 2008 “Contested; Rights vs. Rights: An Improbable Collision Course By Mark Liebovich
Liebovich, “Contested” One bitter case from the 19th century involved a split between the abolitionist Frederick Douglass and the women's rights' pioneer Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Stanton was herself a fervent abolitionist, and a close ally of Douglass, who later confined herself to the cause of women's equality. These ideals would eventually clash, resulting in increasingly divisive rhetoric that reached a harsh climax after Stanton condemned the 15th amendment -- which gave black men the right to vote but left out women of all races -- as something that would establish ''an aristocracy of sex on this continent.''
Liebovich, “Contested” Blacks won the right to vote with the 15th Amendment in 1870; women won theirs with the 19th Amendment, in 1920, a half-century later. Each of their causes would stutter-step along at sometimes different paces, but usually in some loose if not formal concert.
Race, Gender, and Political Culture Donna Brazile Condoleeza Rice Oprah Winfrey (7:40)
Race, Gender, and U.S. History Hillary Clinton (1848) Michelle Obama (7:30)
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper“All Bound Up Together” I feel I am something of a novice upon the hands of the black were fettered, white men were deprived of the liberty of speech and the freedom of the press this platform. Born of a race whose inheritance has been outrage and wrong, most of my life had been spent in battling against those wrongs. But I did not feel as keenly as others, that I had these rights, in common with other women, which are now demanded. We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members without receiving the curse in its own soul. You tried that in the case of the negro. You pressed him down for two centuries; and in so doing you crippled the moral strength and paralyzed the spiritual energies of the white men of the country. When. Society cannot afford to neglect the enlightenment of any class of its members. At the South, the legislation of the country was in behalf of the rich slaveholders, while the poor white man was neglected. What is the consequence to day? From that very class of neglected poor white men, comes the man who stands to day, with his hand upon the helm of the nation. He fails to catch the watchword of the hour, and throws himself, the incarnation of meanness, across the pathway of the nation. My objection to Andrew Johnson is not that he has been a poor white man; my objection is that he keeps "poor whits" all the way through. (Applause.) That is the trouble with him. This grand and glorious revolution which has commenced, will fail to reach its climax of success, until throughout the length and brea[d]th of the American Republic, the nation shall be so color-blind, as to know no man by the color of his skin or the curl of his hair. It will then have no privileged class, trampling upon outraging the unprivileged classes, but will be then one great privileged nation, whose privilege will be to produce the loftiest manhood and womanhood that humanity can attain. I do not believe that giving the woman the ballot is immediately going to cure all the ills of life. I do not believer that white women are dew-drops just exhaled from the skies. I think that like men they may be divided into three classes, the good, the bad, and the indifferent. The good would vote according to their convictions and principles; the bad, as dictated by preju[d]ice or malice; and the indifferent will vote on the strongest side of the question, with the winning party. You white women speak here of rights. I speak of wrongs. I, as a colored woman, have had in this country an education which has made me feel as if I were in the situation of Ishmael, my hand against every man, and every man’s hand against me. Let me go to-morrow morning and take my seat in one of your street cars—I do not know that they will do it in New York, but they will in Philadelphia—and the conductor will put up his hand and stop the car rather than let me ride.
Harper, Eleventh National Women's Rights Convention (1866) We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members without receiving the curse in its own soul. You tried that in the case of the negro. I do not believe that giving the woman the ballot is immediately going to cure all the ills of life. I do not believe that white women are dew-drops just exhaled from the skies. I think that like men they may be divided into three classes, the good, the bad, and the indifferent. You white women speak here of rights. I speak of wrongs. I, as a colored woman, have had in this country an education which has made me feel as if I were in the situation of Ishmael, my hand against every man, and every man’s hand against me.
Charlotte Forten as Teacher • ... You have doubtless, heard ...General Saxton's noble Proclamation for ... to the people of Port Royal. I know...will be fully appreciated by you...this was observed as a day of thanksgiving an praise. • General Saxton was followed by Mrs. Frances D. Gage, who spoke for a few moments very beautifully and earnestly. She told them the story of the people of Santa Cruz, how they had rise and conquered their masters, and declared themselves freemen, and nobody dared to oppose them; and how, a short time afterward, the Danish Governments rode into the marketplace, and proclaimed freedom to all the people of the Danish Islands. Then she made a beautiful appeal to the mothers, fearing that they might be killed, but to send them as she had done hers, willingly and gladly to fight for freedom. • It was something very novel and strange to them, I suppose, to hear a woman speak in public, but they listened very attentively, and seemed much moved by what she said. Gen. Saxton made a few more remarks, and then the people sang, "Marching Along," with great spirit. • ...Our school is kept in the Baptist church. There are two ladies teaching in it beside myself. They are earnest workers, and have done and are constantly doing a great deal for the people here...One of them, Miss T., is physician as well as teacher. She has a very extensive medical practice, and carries about with her everywhere her box of homoeopathic medicines....
Women and Military Service – Hannah Johnson Buffalo [N.Y.] July 31 1863 Excellent Sir My good friend says I must write to you and she will send it My son went in the 54th regiment. I am a colored woman and my son was strong and able as any to fight for his country and the colored people have as much to fight for as any. My father was a Slave and escaped from Louisiana before I was born morn forty years agone I have but poor edication but I never went to schol, but I know just as well as any what is right between man and man. Now I know it is right that a colored man should go and fight for his country, and so ought to a white man. I know that a colored man ought to run no greater risques than a white, his pay is no greater his obligation to fight is the same. So why should not our enemies be compelled to treat him the same, Made to do it. My son fought at Fort Wagoner but thank God he was not taken prisoner, as many were I thought of this thing before I let my boy go but then they said Mr. Lincoln will never let them sell our colored soldiers for slaves, if they do he will get them back quck he will rettallyate and stop it. Now Mr Lincoln dont you think you oght to stop this thing and make them do the same by the colored men they have lived in idleness all their lives on stolen labor and made savages of the colored people, but they now are so furious because they are proving themselves to be men, such as have come away and got some edication. It must not be so. You must put the rebels to work in State prisons to making shoes and things, if they sell our colored soldiers, till they let them all go. And give their wounded the same treatment. it would seem cruel, but their no other way, and a just man must do hard things sometimes, that shew him to be a great man. They tell me some do you will take back the Proclamation, don't do it. When you are dead and in Heaven, in a thousand years that action of yours will make the Angels sing your praises I know it. Ought one man to own another, law for or not, who made the law, surely the poor slave did not. so it is wicked, and a horrible Outrage, there is no sense in it, because a man has lived by robbing all his life and his father before him, should he complain because the stolen things found on him are taken. Robbing the colored people of their labor is but a small part of the robbery their souls are almost taken, they are made bruits of often. You know all about this Will you see that the colored men fighting now, are fairly treated. You ought to do this, and do it at once, Not let the thing run along meet it quickly and manfully, and stop this, mean cowardly cruelty. We poor oppressed ones, appeal to you, and ask fair play. Yours for Christs sake Hannah Johnson
Annie Davis to Abraham Lincoln Belair [Md.] Aug 25th 1864 Mr president It is my Desire to be free. to go to see my people on the eastern shore. my mistress wont let me you will please let me know if we are free. and what i can do. I write to you for advice. please send me word this week. or as soon as possible and oblidge. Annie Davis Annie Davis to Mr. president, 25 Aug. 1864, D-304 1864, Letters Received, ser. 360, Colored Troops Division, Adjutant General's Office, Record Group 94, National Archives. A Bureau of Colored Troops notation on the outside of the letter reads merely "file," and no response to Annie Davis appears among the copies of letters sent by the bureau or by other offices in the War Department. Published in The Destruction of Slavery, p. 384, in Free at Last, p. 349, and in Families and Freedom, p. 227.
Beyond the Fifteenth Amendment:Black Women in Public Culture
The Seating of Miss H.C. Johnson Frederick Douglass, Esq. of New York, Presiding. *** Mr. G.B. Vashon, Chairman of the Committee on Credentials, reported following names as Delegates from Allegheny city, Pennsylvania: Rev. Abraham Cole, S.A Neale, B.F. Pulpress, J.W. Devin, Miss H. C. Johnson, and William Peterson; also. T.S. Boston, and Richard Smith, Massachusetts. Mr. F. Cook [John F. Cook of the District of Columbia] objected to admitting women, as he understood the call for the Convention to be expressly for colored men. Dr. H.J. Brown, of Maryland, was in favor of admitting Miss Johnson, the learned and accomplished lady of Allegheny. He wanted them to know that this was a progressive age, and that women would yet have a vote. Mr. Mabson arose, when the Chair state that he wished to announce the names of committees. Mr. [Henry Highland] Garnet insisted on having the question of admitting Miss Johnson settled immediately. *** A motion was then made to adopt the report of the Committee on Credentials. Mr. Mabson [George L. Mabson, North Carolina] insisted that while the men had the helm in their own hands they should retain it, and moved that the report be adopted, excepting the name of Miss Johnson. Dr. Brown moved to lay the motion on the table. Mr. [J.C.] Bowers, of Pennsylvania, agreed with Mr. Mabson. Mr. [George T.] Downing [of Rhode Island] cautioned them as to how they acted in regard to admitting or rejecting the lady. He was sorry that she had presented herself, but could not vote against admitting her to a seat. Mr. Brown, of Pennsylvania, said that as a Delegate, he owed his election to 50 ladies of Philadelphia, and hoped that the lady would be admitted. Mr. J.M. Simms [of Georgia] called their attention to the fact that on Wednesday they had passed a resolution admitting all duly elected Delegates. Mr. I.C. Weir [of Pennsylvania] stood as an advocate of woman's suffrage, and to exclude them from seats in this Convention would be too much like the actions of the occupants of the White House, who had excluded the colored race for two hundred years. Rev. J. Sella Martin, of New York, hoped the Convention would throw away all prejudices aside and admit the lady, as a Delegate to the Convention. They were not tied down to an conventionalities--they had no right to exclude any Delegate, as it was a Convention of men, and the term "men" in the Bible meant men and women. Mr. Alexander Clark favored the admission of Miss Johnson or any other lady. Mr. Weir called the previous question, and it was put and carried.
Eliza Ann Gardner (1884) • "I hardly know what to say, only to reiterate what my sisters have uttered. Were it not that I might be accused of showing the white feather I might refuse to say anything. Probably if I had been called upon a few days ago, when the brethren seemed at a loss to determine our status in the conference, when the spirit of rebellion was rife within me, I might have been able to express myself more freely. Then for a few moments I thought that my hands would hand down. I do not think I felt quite so Christian-like as my dear sisters. I come from old Massachusetts, where we have declared that all, not only men, but women, too, are created free and equal, with certain inalienable rights which mean are bound to respect. [Loud applause.] • I am inclined to think that some of my brethren here will regard this as rank heresy. But you will remember that I come from a state where such sentiments prevail. Not only this heresy, but temperance reform, the anti-slavery cause, and many other good movements had their birth in the old Bay State; God bless her. [applause] I have been thrilled with inspiration from the lips of William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips; I have sat at the feet of Edna Cheney, Abbie May and Julia Ward Howe, whose names are household words in many of the school houses of the South. You should not wonder if a title of their spirit is within me. If I would go back to Boston and tell the people that some of the members of this conference were against the women, it might have a tendency to prejudice our interests in that city with those upon whom we can rely for assistance. • Zion has every been very dear to our family; my sainted mother was a member of this church some fifty years ago, and I am so earnest for its progress and success, that I could not let my hands hang down if I wanted to.. We are in earnest in the work. If you will try to do by us the best you can; if you will encourage the hearts of the vice presidents in your respective districts, you will strengthen our efforts and make us a power; but if you commence to talk about the superiority of men, if you persist in telling us that after the fall of man were put under your feet and that we are intended to be subject to your will, we cannot help you in New England one bit. We assure you that we will pray for you; and when we go up to make our report next year to the Annual Conference, if you will assist us with your influence and by your cooperation, we will be able to do the work committed to our care. • I do not know that I have anything more to say. My heart and my sympathies are with you all. May eternal God bless you and yours.
Rewriting Reconstruction:African American Women and National Memory
