A Herstory of

August twenty-sixth marks the fifty-fourth anniversary of women's suffrage in this country. Getting the vote was one of the first steps toward political power for women. It was also a significant part of the whole feminist struggle. Our foremothers had a lot more rights to win than the vote. In fact, if they had had a choice between winning the vote and changing the whole status of women as equal and independent citizens, they would have let the vote pass by. As a political tool, the vote is strong only if the voter can choose her own representative. As we well know, few political figures are empathetic to women's causes. However, it is to our advantage to know the courageous women and the causes which shaped this movement and laid the foundation for our present day Women's Liberation movement.

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The earliest record of women organizing for political activity was during the American Revolution, as they made clothes and furnished supplies for Washington's army. They acted as aides in this role, but previously, colonial life had kept the housewife from her neighbors, and close to home. This activity heralded the Sanitary Commission of the Civil War and the Red Cross.

In a letter to her husband, Abigail Adams commented on the wording of the Declaration of Independence, referring only to men, saying, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation. These words were prophetic.

We had, of course, a few exceptions in history who took a man's role in the Revolutionary War, and are so remembered. Among them are Molly Pitcher, who took her wounded husband's place loading a cannon, and Deborah Gannett who dressed as a soldier and fought until she was discovered. The rest of the women made clothes and bandages.

The Declaration of Independence evoked many questions from women, such asIf all men are created equal, what about women? Aren't we entitled to the same rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Women were boycotting English goods, and marching in the streets for civil rights. Plans were made to educate women as informed citizens. The indentured servant was shipped to America to civilize the colonies, and then slave ships came. While a new chapter of history was being written for white women who were now work. ing as indentured servants or as pioneer women organizing new frontiers, black women were page6/What She Wants/ August 1974

being snatched from their homes and sold into slavery. They provided the priceless labor for cotton and tobacco plantations. A conservative estimate is that some 20 million people were shipped from Africa and somewhere between one-half and one-third survived the voyage. Women often gave birth while being chained to corpses.

Upon arriving in the "New World" a grueling and near hopeless existence awaited the slave woman. Changes in the owners' fortunes often caused the separation of whole families. The female slave faced particular hardships on account of her sex. She was used for breeding purposes as both she and her male companions were referred to as "studs" and "breeders". She also had no defense against the sexual advances of the white man, as shown by the mulatto census of 588,000 in 1860. This particular aspect of slavery had an impact on white women and family life and morality. The Grimké sisters are quoted as saying: It is not the slave alone who suffers from the licentiousness of the Master and his sons, but the wronged and dishonored wife and daughters who are deeply injured and weep in secret places.

With the constant change in family life, a · slave woman's relationship to her children was clear, while the father's was often not. In addition to her capacity as a worker, the owner profited by her rearing her young. She was therefore less apt to be sold out of hand than the male, and was a more stable element in slave family life. She was considered head of the household. Neither economic necessity nor tradition had instilled in her the spirit of subordination to masculine authority. The black. slave woman therefore, achieved one kind of authority many white women did not have.

The deplorable condition of slavery brought women into the political arena and started the feminist movement. In 1837 the first National Female Anti-Slavery Society convention was held. The women refused to have a male speaker as presiding officer, saying that they had minds and could transact their own business.

Violence accompanied the women's meetings, as they were overstepping time-honored, maledominated bounds. They were threatened, stoned, and jailed for their beliefs.

LUCRETIA MOIT

The Grimké sisters won women's right to speak in public before any and every kind of audience. They paved the way for women orators like Lucy Stone, Lucretia Mott, Frances Harper, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony and many others. They gained insight from the opposition they encountered, and began to link the two issues of slavery and the position of women. Sarah Grimké in particular answered religious assaults of the bible in the pamphlet The Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Women. She held that the scriptures were not divine imorigin but reflected the agricultural, patriarchal society which produced them. Women came to hear these ideas in throngs, and walked two, four, even eight miles to attend a meeting.

Women sponsored the petition to Congress to prevent the admission of more slaves into the union. While they were in the process of engaging in a political act women were also securing political power to be used later in

their own behalf,

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Another area of discrimination to be confronted was education for women. It was almost universally believed that a womans' brain was

smaller than a man's. If a woman was to learn anything, it was to be a better housewife and mother. This myth started to shatter when women began working outside the home as servants and governesses, and women were pioneers in the frontier. The first power-driven loom was operated for production by Deborah Skinner in 1814. She proved that women were capable of handling a business.

The creed of education was preached by Frances Wright, who told women to examine, inquire and search for the grounds for theirs and others' opinions. Women should know why they believe, and understand what they believe, she said. This motto has been carried down through the history of feminism, and it is still the basis for consciousness-raising today.

The first college to offer courses to women comparable to men was Oberlin College in Ohio. "Co-eds" were still taught courses as future wives and mothers, and feminists like Lucy Stone and Antoinette 8rown were in constant conflict with the patriarchal administration.

Brave Prudence Crandal! organized the first Negro school for women at Conterbury, Conn., amid a state of seige. When the white citizentry realized Negroes were being taught near their own home town, they threatened not only the school, but the students and teachers as weli. Prudence closed the school for their safety, but her struggle gave thoughts of perseverance to women who were contemplating a fight for their rights.

The next area of discrimination that dealt with involving organized political activity was fair wages for working women. In 1833 it was er