Monday, September 1, 2008

We've Another WINNER and We're Not Political Here...

Congratulations to our newest Giftaway winner, Polly of Counting Your Blessings ! Polly will receive her choice of the vintage aprons shown here (scroll down to the slide show), the votive holders and vintage dish shown here (scroll to the last two pictures in the post) and some surprises that I like to include in my Giftaways! Polly, please email me at Miller.sher@yahoo.com with your snail addy info!
Everyone who posted a comment earlier today will be included in this month's (September, of course!) Giftaway. I'll post photos of that gift package in a few days. Why not now? Because, as normal, I still haven't put everything together.
Now, for my nonpolitical statement: WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE
Remember, it was not until 1920 That women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.
The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed Nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking For the vote. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing Went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.' (Lucy Burns) They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above Her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping For air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her Head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, Beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women. Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, When the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his Guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because They dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right To vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their Food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks Until word was smuggled out to the press. So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because- -why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining? Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new Movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle These women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling Booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder. All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the Actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient. My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, Saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk About it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought Kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, My right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just Younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The Right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.' HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish all history, Social studies and government teachers would include the movie in Their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere Else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, But we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think A little shock therapy is in order. It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.' Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so Hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote. History is being made. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf

9 comments:

Linda ★ Parker's General said...

First, congrats to Polly for winning.
Second, I want to be in on the September draw.
Third, I am not particularly political myself but I must say that it is our duty as women to vote as the women before us worked and suffered to get us this right and we shall not waste it! I do believe that a women can do just as good a job as any of these men have done. I get really angry when they start talking about PMS causing wars and weakness in decision making.....

Anonymous said...

A very interesting post - I had not heard of the history you mentioned and it is enlightening to say the least. You would have thought men would have been somehow more gentlemanly then- It is so sad they way we misuse power and authority- guess that never changes!!! :) mary

blessings said...

Wow, what an intriguing post! I didn't know how they were mistreated during their attempts to be allowed to vote. Good for that doctor that stood up for Alice!!

Thank you so, so much for picking me to be your winner. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to come here first thing in the morning and receive such a lovely gift! You've made my dad!! Blessings... Polly

blessings said...

Opps, I meant "DAY"! LOL!!
-Your loving "granddaughter" Polly

GARAGE SALE GAL said...

Hi Sher,

I'm glad Polly won. She is another very sweet woman :) so congrat's to her :)
Thank you so much for your current post. I NEVER knew all that and I am ashamed that I didn't know. WOW..is all I can say. I will vote !!
Warmly, Deb :)

Janet C. Fish said...

That is some history, and makes me all the more resolved to learn as much as I can and vote a clear conscience.

It's hard to imagine that women got the vote only 5 years before my mother was born. I wish I'd been more aware when I was young and had questioned my grandmother about this stuff. She was about 27 when women got the vote (born 1893.) Here I am kicking myself! (Just imagine it.)

Now, my dearly departed ex MIL (mother to ex-husband) who was born around the time women got the vote was living in another world from where I was.

She cleaned house. I mean, her own house. When I visited, I cleaned house too. One time we were cleaning houses, listening to two men in the kitchen arguing politics.

I asked her how she felt about whatever issue it was. She didn't know, she was only mad that someone was disagreeing with her husband.

THEN she said, "The problems in this country started when women got the vote."

HUH?????? WHA?????????

I pointed out to her that she voted. Do you know why she voted? She only voted so her husband wouldn't have to.

He made up a list of how she was to vote and she'd go to the polls and vote how he had told her to.

I asked if she ever disagreed, thinking maybe once she got there, she voted her own way. She said no, she didn't disagree, and she didn't pay any attention to those things anyway. But she trusted him to vote right.

I couldn't believe it. This was in 1968, 48 years after women got the vote.

Janet

Unknown said...

OMG, Janet! I hate to say this, but I think that women were oppressed for so long that it will take another 50 years for us to get to the place where men are right now in our society.

My former MIL (also passed on, years ago) refused to cut her hair because her husband (who died long before I entered that family) wanted her to keep it long. It was grey-brown and so thin that you could see her scalp in several places. It hung below her hips and wasn't at all attractive or becoming. She had trouble washing it but continued to wear it 40 years past his death because that's the way he wanted it. A sweet sentiment, I suppose, but it still upsets me when I meet women who refuse to form their own opinions.

Love,
Sher

Judy said...

That was very interesting. I agree 100% we should all get out there and vote. I had not heard about the women before and it was appalling. God Bless Them!! Congrats to the winner...lucky her. Maybe I'll win September do you think?

Joy said...

Thanks for sharing this history! It's a great reminder to not take our voting privilege for granted.