Transcripts For CSPAN3 C-SPAN Cities Tour- Womens Suffrage 2

As the beginning of the womens Suffrage Movement. However, it took until 1920, over 72 years later, for women to earn the right to vote. During those years, organizations such as the National American womens Suffrage Association and National Womens party would form, creating a national movement. Yet, it was women in every community who lead the effort in their towns and states to demand rights. Through the work of cspan cities tour, we will introduce you to some of these women who dedicated their lives to this cause, from a pro suffrage newspaper publisher in oregon, to a 23yearold montana and arrested for protesting on the white house lawn. You will learn why western territories and states were on the leading edge of the movement, and you will hear how a letter from a mother to her son would help lead to the ratification of the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote. We begin in syracuse, new york, where author Carol Faulconer talks about one of the movements lesser known figures, lucretia. She is the most important white female abolitionist, and one of the most important women in American History. Yet, she has not received the same amount of historical attention as someone like Elizabeth Katie stanton has, for example. She is not a household name. My biography of lucretia mosh is titled lucretia months heresy, abolition and womens rights in 19th century america. The heresy refers, first of, all to her own activist strategy. She always said to other activists, we must agitate. Whether the abolitionist or feminists, she advised reformers to stand out in our heresy, to confront social injustices, political injustices, legal injustices, and not be afraid to be labeled a heretic or an infidel or a non conformist, someone who is willing to go against the tides of society for their beliefs. Thats what Lucretia Mott did. Lucretia mott was the 19th century american abolitionist, womens rights activist, and quaker minister. She lived from 1793 to 1880. She lived a very long life. She was born on the island of nantucket, but she lived most of her adult life in philadelphia, and that was the city from which she based her activism, which stretched across the United States and the atlantic as well. Lucretia mauve definitely defined herself as a feminist and womens rights activist. Hand she traced her commitment to womens rights to her childhood, really, on the island of nantucket. It was a Community Based on the whaling industry, so the men in the community would often go off on three, four, fiveyear voyages, leaving the women to manage the household, do the household finances, and a lot of them on and to get rand businesses. For mauve, womens independence and capability was self evident. As the quakers, the society of friends, were also one of the first denominations to allow women to preach, she had always seen female ministers in her childhood and eventually became one herself in 1821. So i think that sort of capacity for religious authority also informed her commitment to womens rights. She got married to her husband, james mott in 1811. And in the 18 teens and early 18 twenties, there was nothing necessarily to indicate that she would become a great activist. She eventually had six children, five of them lived through adulthood. She taught in a quaker school. She became a quaker minister, but none of this was unusual. I think the key moment in Lucretia Motts life that turned her into an activist was the excite controversy in the society of friends. This occurred in the 18 twenties. By 1827, the society of friends in the United States had split into two competing hostile groups known as the excite and orthodox quakers and lucretia mod was a excite quaker named after their Leader Alliance hicks. And the hicksites, one of the issues they focus on as they believed the leadership of the society of friends had become complacent on the issue of slavery. They had done away with their ownership of slaves long before, and the view that is enough to have removed themselves from direct contact. But alliance hicks and lucretia mauve believed you had to several ties to slavery. And for wealthy merchants in philadelphia, that was asking quite a lot, because they all had economic ties to the south. They all dealt in cotton, and even james mott, he struggled for a while to find a profession, to find a career that would support his family. Eventually, he succeeds, but it is as a cotton merchant. And so Lucretia Mott puts a lot of pressure on, him actually, to give up that business, and eventually he became a wool merchant by 1830. So i think that was a radicalizing decade for her, and she would speak on womens issues and antislavery issues when she became a minister, and that was sort of the formative period for her. But i think in the early 18 thirties and philadelphia, philadelphia had the largest population of free blacks in the north. Lucretia mott would have known and interacted with them in free produce societies, for example, probably trying to speak an African American churches and otherwise connected with them. And there were a lot of race riots in philadelphia and nearly 18 thirties. So the intensity of northern racism was very visible to her. And when she attended the founding meeting of the American Anti Slavery Society in 1833 and thereafter founded the philadelphia female anti Slavery Society, she believed that their goal should be not only fighting slavery, but also racial prejudice. It was basically a twopronged approach. One of the things she did frequently was whenever she made a slave holder, as she did when she was traveling abroad or around the United States, she would often speak in delaware, virginia, slave holding states, kentucky she spoke. She would engage. She would try to convince that slave holder that slavery was wrong. And whether they were being polite or just tolerating this lady, poking them in the ribs, she seemed to have had some individual, personal success. She said this one slave holder amid asked me to send pamphlets when i get home. I will send him some pamphlets. So i think that is proof that she was not afraid of confrontation and engagement, and she was going to try to persuade people that slavery was wrong, matter where she was, and who they were. Lucretia mott was not particularly interested in politics or the political process. But she did speak on multiple occasions in washington, d. C. , and at one point, she was supposed to speak in congress, but because she would not agree not to talk about slavery, if thats clear, they wouldnt let her speak. And so, instead she spoke in a Unitarian Church and all sorts of politicians, including southern congressman, attended. Of course, she spoke about slavery because that was always what she was compelled to speak about. But during that particular trip to washington, d. C. In 1843, she also met president tyler. His line about Lucretia Mott wise, i think i will turn mr. Cal who know over to you. You can negotiate with john c cal hound for me. That is the level of ferocity and in transit jeans on the issue of slavery. Lucretia mott first met Elizabeth Katie stanton in 1840. Elizabeth Katie Stanton was younger than her. She was 22 years younger than her. And when they met, they met in a sort of unlikely place, which was at the World Anti Slavery Convention in london, england in 1840. You have to americans meeting in london. And they had other connections, but Lucretia Mott was there as a delegate from various American Anti slavery societies. She was officially there to attend the worlds anti slavery convention. Elizabeth Katie Stanton was there on her honeymoon. She had just married an abolitionist named henry stanton. For her, it was the European Tour versus a political journey, as it was for lucretia mauve. But i think the two women instantly connected and, Elizabeth Katie stanton later described Lucretia Mott as a revelation of womanhood. I had never met a woman like this before, basically, and i didnt know that it was possible for women to be so outspoken and independent. So she really became an admirer of Lucretia Mott. Elizabeth Katie Stanton referred to Lucretia Mott as the moving spirit of the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. But it was actually a label that Lucretia Mott rejected. She said no, elizabeth, you should claim that for yourself. It was really your idea. But the fact is that it was the fact that Lucretia Mott was in the area that the convention was held. And her presence was advertised to draw attendees. So her sister lived in auburn, new york, not far from seneca falls. She would come up to this part of the country regularly to central new york. And when she came up in 1840, eight she was actually engaged in a number of different activities. She attended an annual quaker meeting. She traveled to ontario, canada to visit former slaves, theyre american slaves who had fled to canada. She went to the seneca reservation and witnessed them riding their constitution. Shes actually engaging in all of these very interesting activities in the summer of 1840. Native american, rights African American rights, and then womens rights. So before the Seneca Falls Convention in july 1848, she meets up with her old friend Elizabeth Katie stanton and other quakers in the area. They decide to hold this convention, devoted to womens social, and civil condition. They advertised that Lucretia Mott will be there and she will be the principal speaker. I think the publics perception of her is very interesting. One newspaper once called her a grizzled seizure of the movement. She somehow shed her femininity by engaging in this kind of activism. But the womens Rights Movement, and the anti Slavery Movement held her up as a paragon of womanhood. And they would basically say, Lucretia Mott is an example that you can do both. You can be an excellent wife, mother, grandmother, and also have a public life. You can also be an activist. For her, the activism in the family life blended seamlessly. Her husband was also an abolitionist, and active in a lot of the same organizations that she was. He attended the first Womens Rights Convention in seneca falls and chaired the convention. And her children also became involved. I in many, ways her activism was a family affair, and there was not a lot of conflict. At her funeral, someone said, there was silence, as appropriate for a quaker funeral, but someone said, who can speak, the preacher is dead. And that dog shows how much of a void was left by Lucretia Motts death, because she always had something to say. I think that has made her in some ways too good. She has become almost what Elizabeth Katie stanton made, her a kind of saint. In actuality, she was a deeply radical person for her time. She was not afraid to speak her beliefs. In 1869 in new york city, Elizabeth Katie stanton and susan bee and then he founded the National Woman Suffrage Association to advocate for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing win in the right to vote. However much of the womens Rights Movement early progress came in the west where states and territories adopted more favorable rights for women in oregon, Abigail Scott done away who established pro suffrage newspaper became active in this effort after her husband business failed. Benjamin Benjamin Dunn away was a very good husband and father to the children. He did not have the level of business skill that somebody should have been managing a farm. Because of his kindness and generosity he cosigned alone for a friend. That friend defaulted on that loan and so as a result than a ways lost their form. That was awful in mid sixties i believe and after that benjamin was involved in a farming accident. He became disabled. Therefore, it fell to abigail to be the bread and winner of the family. She did some teaching again. Eventually she decided to move down to albany, oregon, a little town further south cough and she set up a hat shop. And apparently she was quite successful in that business. She even traveled to San Francisco to get supplies for her business. But an important thing happened when she interacted with the women who came in to her hat shop. She became aware of the difficulties women lead in their lives. She realized they had no life. No standing in the community. They could not own a property. They were dependent on their husbands and their husbands goodwill to lead a good life. She saw a lot of women who were suffering because of that. So at one point she went figured out if women could vote then they could change themselves and lives to benefit women and all women and all people. So she turned her attention to the Suffrage Movement. She moved her family back up to portland so this was in the early 18 seventies. Her first effort was to start her own newspaper. That was called the new northwest. This was the vehicle she used to communicate about her suffrage efforts. I believe the whole family was, or many members of her family were involved in producing this newspaper. One of her sons was a printer. It was kind of like a family enterprise. She communicated through this it was an important part of her developing skill and becoming a suffrage leader in the northwest. She also communicated with natural suffrage leaders in 1871 she coordinated visit by susan be anthony out to the west and she traveled with her on speaking to her in california. In very short order i think its pretty remarkable in very short order, she all of a sudden had a significant standing and presence in the Suffrage Movement. Harvey scott was her brother. He traveled with the family on the oregon trail. Apparently he had been abusive to his siblings, and there are accounts of him beating up the sisters when they were growing up. He kind of continued that tradition. When the family came to oregon, eventually he became an editor at the portland oregonian, largest newspaper in oregon. One of the largest in the pacific northwest. And he was an anti suffragists. So he wrote editorials against suffrage. In a way he was beating up on abigail. He continued to beat up on abigail even as they were adults. In the 1900 campaign, i believe suffrage for women would have passed had it not been for harvey scotts editorials in the portland oregonian, because if you calculate the number of votes cast primarily in the county, it was merely what sunk the passage of suffrage that year. Here is a letter abigail is writing to her son clyde. This is the 1900 campaign and they were waiting for the returns to come in, and she says my dear clyde, last night after five days of anxious waiting for returns, during which the oregonian and you are mad uncle have said subjected the decent women of oregon to every form of insult, she came to me with the chair news that the returns showed 45 of the vote to be in the affirmative. With the four counties, we depend most upon to be heard from. And she says i was quite sick until i got some returns besides the awful indecent abuse of the oregonian. Now i shall set the coward up and i think she is referring to her brother. One of the interesting things about the effort to pass suffrage in oregon and dunaways involvement in that effort was the change that came about in the way that measures could be presented to the citizens the citizenry for voting. Initially, when dunaway started out on her campaign work, she used which she called a still hunt. That was to quietly get in good with the man who had been elected to the oregon legislator and to curry their favor. She did it quietly because she did not want to disturb the opposition. That resulted in the measure for omen suffrage to be presented on the ballot. Each time it was defeated. In oregon, suffrage was presented six times. More than any other state. But eventually, during the Progressive Movement and in particular a person named william wanted to change that process. He advocated for the initiative and referendum system, which all the states now use. It is called the oregon system. That way, people could gain support for measures by getting enough signatures, and then it would be presented to the voters. By the time suffrage was passed in oregon, dunaways technique of the still hunt was not effective, because it was not necessary. Eventually there were many other women who came forward to carry on the campaign. When women in particular, a physician in portland, mister poll love joy spearheaded the effort. It was largely through their effort and the use of more modern Campaign Techniques like mass mailings, store Front Campaign shops, marching in parades, more radical techniques like tha