WE NEED TO BUILD A MOVEMENT!
As union women we hear these words over and over but what do they really mean? Using the modern day film directed by Katja von Garnier "Iron Jawed Angels" we can take a closer look into building a movement, the craft of organizing and draw some leadership lessons.
The films starting point is 1912, the actual timeline given for the suffrage movement begins in 1776 with Abigail Adams writing to her husband, John, who is attending the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, asking that he and the other men--who were at work on the Declaration of Independence--"Remember the Ladies." John responds with humor. The Declaration's wording specifies that "all men are created equal."
Movements begin when one person speaks up and begins to lead.
"How can you not be all on fire?...I believe I shall explode if some of you young women don't wake up and raise your voice!" -Susan B. Anthony
"But long or short, the one sure thing is that, taking it all in all, the struggles, the discouragements, the failures, and the little victories, the fight has been, as Susan B. Anthony said in her last hours, "worth while." Nothing bigger can come to a human being than to love a great Cause more than life itself, and to have the privilege throughout life of working for that Cause." - the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw
Movements build toward their goals over time.
Lets get to the movie! To follow along with this blog guide, watch the movie until 8.20 then pause to think and discuss some questions.
As we meet Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, Carrie Chapman Catt and others think about the differences and similarities that you can identify within yourself. How are you like our sisters before us? In what ways are you different?
As human beings we make choices in the present, based on remembering the past and imagining the future.
Heads or Tails?
Why do you spend time being a union activist? What are some reasons people choose not to get involved?
In this clip we see the younger activists, Alice & Lucy, meeting with established leaders Anna & Carrie. Have you had such a meeting?
"We waste time we waste money...and worse we look like babies with no political savvy..."
Carrie makes that statement from her experiences.
Carrie Chapman Catt
B.A. in Science from Iowa Agricultural College, 1880
Carrie entered Iowa State College in 1877 completing her work in three years. She graduated at the top of her class and while in Ames established military drills for women, became the first woman student to give an oration before a debating society, earned extra money as assistant to the librarian, and was a member of Pi Beta Phi. After graduation she became the high school principal in Mason City and then in 1883 the superintendent of Mason City Schools. In this capacity she met Leo Chapman, editor of the Mason City Republican, and they married in February 1885. After her husband's death in 1886, she spent some time in California as a newspaper reporter and then returned to Iowa to begin her crusade for women's suffrage. She was president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association from 1900-1904 and from 1915 until its goal was reached.
The quest for women's rights in The United States stagnated until the late 19th century . A changing job market served as a catalyst to jumpstart the women’s rights movement at or around the turn of the 20th century. The need to fill jobs during America’s wars during the early part of the 20th century left an opening to the various job markets. Women took advantage of these footholds to springboard their quest for equality.
"Do you have any other thoughts Miss Paul?"
Alice Paul
B.A. in Biology from Swarthmoere College, 1905
M.A. in Sociology from U of PA, 1907
Ph.D. in Economics from U of PA, 1912
Alice's suffrage ideas were planted early as Tacie Paul, her mother, who as a member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association attended women suffrage meetings-- often with Alice in tow.
Though Alice's upbringing was steeped in suffrage ideals, it was during her stay in England that she was transformed from a reserved Quaker girl into a militant suffragist. Paul noted the impact of the Pankhursts on the suffrage debate, rousing many in the country to their cause. Upon her return to America in 1910, she said: "The militant policy is bringing success. . . . the agitation has brought England out of her lethargy, and women of England are now talking of the time when they will vote, instead of the time when their children would vote, as was the custom a year or two back." Paul believed that English suffragettes had found the path to victory that continued to elude American suffragists.
Paul returned to her home country in 1910 imbued with the radicalism of the English suffrage movement and a determination to reshape and re-energize the American campaign for women’s enfranchisement.
"A parade!"
1907 Harriet Stanton Blatch, Elizabeth's daughter, forms the Equality League of Self Supporting Women which becomes the Women's Political Union in 1910. She introduces the English suffragists' tactics of parades, street speakers, and pickets.
On returning to the United States in 1902, Blatch sought to reinvigorate the American women's suffrage movement, which had stagnated. She initially joined the leadership of the Women's Trade Union League. In 1907, she founded the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women (later renamed the Women's Political Union), to recruit working class women into the suffrage movement. The core membership of the league comprised 20,000 factory, laundry, and garment workers from the Lower East Side of New York City. Through this group, Blatch organized and led the 1910 New York suffrage parade. Blatch succeeded in mobilizing many working-class women, even as she continued to collaborate with prominent society women. She could organize militant street protests while still working expertly in backroom politics to neutralize the opposition.
There's a lot of hidden work that goes into building a movement.
"Have you ever given a dinner party?"
If you have organized a party or event, spoken in front of an audience, convinced someone to do something that was good for them even though they didn't want to, complained about problems in your community, attended a meeting to solve problems, helped others solve problems, used your own experiences to tackle new problems this is organizing.
Organizing skills are present and manifested in things we do all the time. What happens when your desk or kitchen is organized?
Organizing is a craft with a rich history of building people power.
People commit to beliefs, ideals, morals, duty, honor, and shared values.
In the movie you see Lucy out in front of a factory speaking to the women who work there.
Why does it seem that these working women don't care? Why does Alice bring up the Triangle fire? What was Alice doing when she said "no one hears you?"
EDUCATE, AGITATE, ORGANIZE!
Up next Lead, Follow, Act! Looking at part 2 and building support.
RESOURCES:
Women's History Timeline http://dpsinfo.com/women/history/timeline.html
Bill Moyer Eight Stages of Social Movement Success
http://paceebene.org/nonviolent-change-101/building-nonviolent-world/methods/eight-stages-successful-social-movements
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