Major Ruth Cheney Streeter, black and white photo in Marine Corps uniform
Speech:

Speech Before Giving Oath to Women Being Inducted into Marine Corps

Speaker:

Major Ruth Cheney Streeter

1941 - 1960 / Gender Equity

Colonel Ruth Cheney Streeter was the first Director of the U.S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, serving from February 13, 1943 through December 7, 1945. She earned the Legion of Merit for "outstanding services" during World War II. The Marine Corps History Division credits Streeter for “[e]xercising judgment, initiative and ability.” She was also credited for rendering “distinctive service in directing the planning and organization of the Women's Reserve of the Marine Corps and skillfully integrating women into the basic structure of the Corps.” In this role, she was also credited for selecting and training “replacements for men in shore establishments."[note]“Col. Ruth Cheney Streeter,” U.S. Marine Corps History Division, n.d. [/note] Major Streeter eventually earned the title of Colonel, the first woman to do so in the Marine Corps.

On February 14, 1943, the day following the activation of the Women’s Reserves, Major Streeter launched a national tour promoting the organization. She announced at her first press conference that the Reserves “would start recruiting 18,000 enlisted women and 1,000 officers.”[note]"Marines to Enlist 19,000 Women Aides," New York Times, February 14, 1943, 48.[/note] The national recruitment tour, featuring Major Streeter and three aides, promised full salary benefits and upward mobility for enlisted women. On February 19, Major Streeter gave a speech before conducting the first mass induction into the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the William Penn Hotel.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran an article the following day (February 20) discussing the ceremony and Major Streeter’s speech. It includes the circumstances of the speech, the events leading up to the ceremony, and a synopsis of the Women’s Reserves and the event itself. The article makes clear that “women had served the marines in the last war” and it recounted a story Streeter’s told of a woman disguising herself “as a man” to fight “in the marine corps for three years in the War of 1812.” The article commended Major Streeter’s speaking ability and physical poise.[note]"32 Women Receive Oath as Marines," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 20, 1943, 4.[/note]

One of Major Streeter’s aides during this tour, E. Louise Stewart, reflected on the event in the early summer of that year.[note]Lieutenant E. Louise Stewart, “Shakedown Cruise,” Marine Corps Gazette (May – June 1943): 36-38.  [/note] She stated that the Marines expected the women recruits to know the traditions, rules, and courtesies of the Marines immediately, and recounted how worrying about exceeding expectations was a “source of gray hairs” for this first group of women.[note]Ibid. [/note] Stewart stated that on February 19, 1943, the “entire town [of Pittsburgh] was turned over to us.” The mayor proclaimed the 19th as “Marine Corps Day.” The women’s pictures were featured in newspapers and they were greeted and chauffeured around the city. Lieutenant Stewart recalled, "The evening climaxed when Major Streeter swore in thirty-three enlistees of outstandingly high caliber. Then, Cinderella-like, and still with motorcycle escort and farewell committee, we were whisked back to the train."[note] Ibid. Note: Lt. Stewart claims they enlisted 33 women, while the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette states that it was 32. [/note] Lieutenant Stewart states that they were greeted warmly everywhere they went, never for themselves but “always because we bore the name and insignia of the Marines.”[note]Stewart, “Shakedown Cruise,” 36-38.[/note]

The importance of the Marines' name was not lost on Major Streeter. Women reservists often had titles with a specific reference to their gender, such as WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services) in the Navy.[note]Also called WACS (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps), Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), and the Women's Reserve of the Coast Guard (SPARS).[/note] When asked at a press conference why the Marine Corps Women’s Reserves didn’t have a nickname, Major Streeter replied, “Well, we thought Marine was a pretty distinctive name.”[note]"Marines to Enlist 19,000 Women Aides."[/note] In many of her public speeches and press releases, Major Streeter emphasized both the importance of the Women’s Reserves and their status as Marines. She was especially proud of the uniforms given to the Women’s Reserves—uniforms, she said, that were “designed” for “work” and strikingly similar to the men’s uniforms.[note]"Women Marines Scorn Nickname," New York Times, February 19, 1943, 10. [/note] Throughout the national tour, Streeter and her aides were outfitted in the Women’s Reserves uniforms of traditional Marine forest green and red trimmed hats.

According to the history of the Marines, there was “considerable unhappiness about making the Corps anything but a club for white men.” [note]Judy Barrett Litoff and David C. Smith, eds., American Women in a World at War: Contemporary Accounts from World War II (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997), 67.[/note] The U.S. Marines had been the first to form a very small (305 members) women’s reserve in WWI and the last to do so in WWII. When the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve was activated in 1943, apathetic and even antagonistic sentiments were directed towards their service. The animosity toward their service began to lessen due to Major Streeter’s national tour and the publicity they generated in recruiting for the Women’s Reserves. In response to the work of the Women’s Reserves, General Thomas Holcomb, commandant of the Marine Corps, remarked in the March 1944 issue of Life magazine that, “There’s hardly any work at our Marine stations women can’t do as well as men. They do some work far better than men. What is more, they’re real Marines…. They get their basic training in a Marine atmosphere, at a Marine post. They inherit the traditions of the Marines. They are the Marines.”[note] Ibid. [/note]

Major Streeter’s address in Pittsburgh set the tone for the national tour and by the end of WWII, members of the Women’s Reserve were serving in 225 different specialties, filling 85 percent of the enlisted jobs at Headquarters Marine Corps, and comprising between one-half to two-thirds of the permanent personnel at Marine Corps posts.[note]Colonel Mary V. Stremlow, “Marine Corps Women's Reserve: Free a Man to Fight,” in Defense of a Nation: Servicewomen in World War II, ed. Major General Jeanne M. Holm and Judith Bellafaire (Arlington, VA: Vandamere Press, 1998).[/note]

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Drawing from newspaper that says, "The Exposition's Distinguished Guest: Mrs. Belva Ann Lockwood, the Candidate of the 'National Rights' Party for the Presidency." Lockwood riding on a tricycle
Speech:

Speech Before the Southern Exposition of Louisville

Speaker:

Belva A. Lockwood

1700 - 1899 / Gender Equity

Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood laid the groundwork for women’s future successes in law and politics. She was the first woman attorney permitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court and one of the first women to run for president of the United States. Her tireless work on behalf of women attorneys, women's suffrage, labor, and peace make her worthy of study, reflection, and remembrance.[note]For more on Lockwood’s life and rhetorical legacy, see: Jill Norgren, Belva Lockwood: The Woman Who Would be President (New York: New York University Press, 2007) and Emily Berg Paup, “‘A New Woman in Old Fashioned Times’: Party Women and the Rhetorical Foundations of Political Womanhood,” Ph.D. diss., (University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, 2012). For a rhetorical analysis of her presidential campaign rhetoric, see Emily Berg Paup, “‘The Glory of Each Generation is to Set Its Own Precedent’: Belva Lockwood and the Rhetorical Construction of Female Presidential Plausibility,” forthcoming in Argumentation & Advocacy in 2019.[/note] Lockwood is not a well-known figure in U.S. women’s history, largely due to a lack of archival materials and critical engagement with her public discourse.

Lockwood was born to Hannah and Lewis Bennett on October 24, 1830, in Royalton, New York.[note]Warren L. Lashley, "Belva Bennett McNall Lockwood," in Women Public Speakers in the United States, 1800-1925: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993), 39.[/note] As a young widow in 1853, Lockwood left her young daughter, Lura, with her parents and enrolled at Genesee Wesleyan Seminary for Ladies to pursue her bachelor’s degree.[note]Genesee Wesleyan Seminary for Ladies later became part of Syracuse University. Bill Alden, “SU Traces Beginnings to this Region,” Democrat and Chronicle, October 5, 2014, .[/note] Her interest in women’s public service started early, when she introduced a required public speaking course for girls as principal at Lockport Union Academy in upstate New York. [note]Lashley, "Belva Bennett McNall Lockwood," 40.[/note] Lockwood then moved to Washington, D.C., with her daughter in 1866 to open a coeducational school. There, she received a crash course in political lobbying and debate after attending the Reconstruction Debates from the “Ladies Gallery” in the U.S. Senate.[note]Lockwood lobbied Congress for many reforms, including pensions, mining rights, American Indian affairs, foreign policy, and women’s rights. For more see, Norgren, Belva Lockwood, 110-123.[/note]

In 1867, Lockwood founded the Universal Franchise Association (UFA) with Josephine Griffing and Julia Archibald Holmes. [note]Norgren, Belva Lockwood, 19.[/note] The next year, she married Reverend Ezekiel Lockwood. Although she was denied admission to Georgetown Law College and Columbian College based on her sex, she was able to enroll at the National University Law School.[note]National University Law School was later incorporated into George Washington University. “A Select Chronology of the GW School of Law,” George Washington University Libraries; Belva Ann Lockwood, “My Efforts to Become a Lawyer,” Lippincott's Magazine 58, no. 4 (1888): 222.[/note] Despite having finished all requirements for her degree, Lockwood was denied her diploma and admittance to the Bar of Washington D.C. In 1876, Lockwood was also denied admittance to the Bar of the Supreme Court when Chief Justice Morrison White declared that “none but men are permitted to practice before it as attorneys and counselors.”[note]Lawrence Wrightsman, Oral Arguments Before the Supreme Court: An Empirical Approach (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 18. For her own re-telling of the process of being admitted to the bar, complete with the text of original letters, see: Lockwood, “My Efforts to Become a Lawyer,” 225-228.[/note] For the next three years, Lockwood personally lobbied Congress to pass a bill that would outlaw such a restriction.

In 1879, President Rutherford Hayes signed the “Lockwood Bill” into law, which opened federal courts to women attorneys almost a decade after she began pursuing a career in law. [note]Lashley, "Belva Bennett McNall Lockwood," 41.[/note] After this law, she became the first woman to participate in oral arguments before the Supreme Court for the case of Kaiser v. Stickney in 1880, a case involving married women’s property rights. [note]Norgren, Belva Lockwood, 106-107.[/note] Despite losing her first case, Lockwood’s fight to practice law before the Supreme Court did secure this right for women once and for all. Lockwood pushed for similar legal reforms, such as granting other marginalized voices the right to practice law, when she moved for the admission of the first African-American attorney, Samuel R. Lowery, to the Bar of the Supreme Court. [note]Norgren, Belva Lockwood, 107.[/note] In arguably her most known case before the Supreme Court, Lockwood successfully fought to secure federal funds owed to the Cherokee nation after their forced removal during the 1830s. [note]United States v. Cherokee, 202 U.S. 101 (1906).[/note] Assistant Attorney General Louis A. Pradt, who argued opposite Lockwood in the case, reportedly called her “decidedly the most noted attorney in this country, if not in the world.” [note]Lashley, "Belva Bennett McNall Lockwood," 43.[/note]

Lockwood became the first woman to appear on the ballot for the president of the United States in 1884 when she campaigned as a candidate for the Equal Rights Party. She proudly wrote: “If women in the states are not permitted to vote, there is no law against their being voted for.” [note]Belva A. Lockwood, “How I Ran for the Presidency,” National Magazine 17 (1903): 729.[/note] Although Victoria Claflin Woodhull was the first woman to declare her candidacy for president in 1872, she was constitutionally disqualified because she was not at least 35 years of age. [note]Lois Beachy Underhill, The Woman Who Ran for President: The Many Lives of Victoria Woodhull (Bridgehampton, NY: Bridge Works Pub., 1995).[/note] Twelve years later, Lockwood mounted a full-fledged presidential campaign in coordination with her running mate Marietta Stow, a leader in California’s woman suffrage movement. Lockwood held interviews with the press, organized rallies, and invited her fellow candidates to a public debate (they declined). Her daughter Lura served as her campaign manager. National suffrage leaders Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton did not support Lockwood’s candidacy because they feared it would divert resources and tarnish the suffrage movement’s momentum and success. When asked if her candidacy would receive the support of woman suffragists by an Evening Star reporter, Lockwood replied, “Certainly not…the women are divided up into as many factions and parties as the men.” [note]“A Women’s Candidate for President,” The Evening Star, September 4, 1884, 1.[/note] Lockwood documented the campaign in a 1903 essay titled, “How I Ran for the Presidency,” published in the National Magazine.

In the end, Lockwood calculated that she received 4,149 tabulated votes from six states. [note]Lockwood, “How I Ran for the Presidency,” 733.[/note] She also claims to have received votes that were not counted. Lockwood ran for president again in 1888. She stated that for women to progress and obtain positions of political leadership, they needed “to gain strength and to get organization [sic] . . . put nominees in the field at once and to keep them there.”  [note]Norgren, Belva Lockwood, 163.[/note] Despite giving speeches and interviews across the country, Lockwood’s second campaign was not considered as novel as the first. According to Jill Norgren, “Four years earlier her political bravado had expressed the optimism of the movement; by 1888, with the woman suffrage movement all but stalled, the campaign drew attention to its failure.” [note]Norgren, Belva Lockwood, 167.[/note]

Despite encountering institutional barriers at every level, Lockwood achieved a remarkable amount of social progress over the course of her life. She delivered speeches and lectures around the country, assisted in passing legislation in support of women and people of color, and advocated for international peace. She passed away in 1917, just two years shy of women gaining the right to vote.

Just a few weeks before Election Day in 1884, Lockwood appeared in Louisville, Kentucky, at the second annual Southern Exposition of Louisville on October 14. Louisville’s Southern Exposition was an annual fair held from 1883 to 1887. The event showcased the city’s manufacturing businesses in an effort to remain economically competitive on the national stage. [note]For more on this event, see “Louisville’s Southern Exposition,” The Filson Historical Society.[/note] Lockwood was invited to attend a series of events at the fair and gave an evening address as the exposition’s weekly guest of honor. While local media referred to her as “the lady candidate for President,” the coverage suggests that she was a respected and honored guest. Colonel S. B. Toney offered her high praise as he introduced her: “In this new era of civilization, she is the representative of an idea which deserves the thoughtful consideration of every observer of human affairs, an idea which has forced itself upon the thought of men and challenged the attention of the age.” In championing women’s participation in politics even further, Toney elaborated on ideas that were integral to the eventual passage of women’s suffrage: “We should not forget that all that we are, and all that we can ever hope to be, is derived from woman. We should not forget that the hand, however frail that rocks the cradle, moves the world . . . I have the proud privilege, ladies and gentlemen, of introducing to you one of the most celebrated of American ladies.” [note]“An Honored Guest: The Exposition Management Entertain Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, Candidate for President,” Louisville Courier Journal, October 15, 1884, 6.[/note]

The local paper notes that a “very large crowd of ladies turned out,” that the crowd for her speech “quite filled the Music Hall,” and that she received vigorous applause. [note]“An Honored Guest,” 6.[/note] Her full speech is included in the Louisville Courier Journal’s coverage of the event. It is one of the only speeches available in full from Lockwood’s candidacy. [note]Lockwood’s papers are housed at the New York State Library and the Peace Collection at Swarthmore College. These collections include primarily letters, writings, and press clippings. Excerpts from an 1884 campaign speech can be found in the New York Times. See: “A Woman Can be President: Belva Lockwood Defines the Position of the Equal Righters,” New York Times, October 20, 1884, 1. A speech from 1888 was printed in the Boonville Herald. See: “Belva Lockwood’s Address,” Boonville Herald, September 20, 1888.[/note]

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Rosalyn Carter Photo speaking in front of a podium and multiple microphones, smiling
Speech:

Remarks of the First Lady at the Gridiron Dinner

Speaker:

Rosalynn Carter

1961 - 1980 / Civil Rights and Gender Equity
First Lady Rosalynn Carter used her influence to expand the role of first lady. With the potential to be the “most active First Lady in decades,” Carter lobbied for the Equal Rights Amendment and mental health programs, and she also encouraged Americans to volunteer for those in need, supported government aid for the elderly, and championed extracurricular activities for the youth.  Read more.
Betty Ford portrait of her smiling with a white jacket and tie, wearing a "Ratify ERA" pin
Speech:

Remarks Before Participants in Homemaking and Identity Conference

Speaker:

Betty Ford

1961 - 1980 / Gender Equity
Described as a “groundbreaking First Lady,” Elizabeth Anne “Betty” Boomer Ford is remembered as an advocate for women’s rights, specifically her work on the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). During her time as first lady (1974-1977), Ford used her personal experiences to spread awareness on a variety of issues, including substance abuse, breast cancer, and her dual roles as both mother and activist. As a mother of four, she understood the effort it took to be a homemaker but she also used her background as an opportunity to discuss equal rights for women and to advocate for placing more women in senior government positions.  Read more.
Gloria Steinem close-up portrait with her hand near her face and glasses on; black and white photo
Speech:

Speech to Naval Academy

Speaker:

Gloria Steinem / Dorothy Pitman Hughes

1961 - 1980 / Civil Rights and Gender Equity
By 1972, Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes had toured together for two years as a dynamic speaking duo, lecturing on the Women’s Liberation movement. The interracial pair hoped to galvanize grassroots support for the movement and to help establish feminism as intersectional and mainstream. On May 4, 1972, however, the pair faced an audience unlike any they had addressed before. The two women spoke to a field house full of United States Naval Academy (USNA) men.  Read more.
Dorothy Pitman Hughes being interviewed with a microphone on a couch with a white background
Speech:

Women’s Liberation

Speaker:

Gloria Steinem / Dorothy Pitman Hughes

1961 - 1980 / Gender Equity and Race Equity
In the late 1960s, Gloria Steinem was a contributing columnist for New York magazine and an emerging activist living in New York City. Dorothy Pitman Hughes was a children’s rights advocate who also lived in New York City’s upper west side. Their partnership formed when Steinem interviewed Pitman Hughes for an article on childcare.  Read more.
Edith Abbott portrait with a frame. Abbott staring into the camera wearing black, holding a book and glasses
Speech:

Survey Award Acceptance Speech

Speaker:

Edith Abbott

1941 - 1960 / Gender Equity and Health & Social Welfare

The social settlement movement began in the 1880s in London as a response to social problems created by urbanization, industrialization, and immigration. To mitigate the effects of increasing socio-economic stratification, settlement houses acted as a neighborhood welfare agency with the purpose of creating an improved, interdependent community.  Read more.

This photograph shows women in LaForge, Missouri, listening to speech by a visiting public health official of the Farm Security Administration, a New Deal agency. Black and white photo of women on pews outside
Speech:

A Voice from the Eastern Shore

Speaker:

Marie Watson

1941 - 1960 / Civil Rights and Gender Equity

Marie Watson, a field worker for the Maryland League of Planned Parenthood, delivered “A Voice from the Eastern Shore” on November 5, 1945. It was the only speech given at the annual meeting of the Prince George’s League for Planned Parenthood in Hyattsville, Maryland. The speech was recorded by Georgia K. Benjamin, a civic leader involved in such women’s organizations as the Maryland League of Women Voters. In this speech, Watson argued that Planned Parenthood was a “new way of life” for black people who face significant barriers in accessing affordable housing, quality medical care, adequate education, and healthy food.[note]Marie Watson, “A Voice from the Eastern Shore,” Georgia K. Benjamin Papers, “Speeches and Papers on Family Planning, 1941-1953,” Special Collections, Box 1, Folder 3, University of Maryland Libraries, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, para. 14.[/note] Systemic oppression caused a litany of health problems for African Americans from exposure to rats, typhus, trash, and unsanitary or inadequate food and water.[note]“Summary Report: Prince George’s County Health Study Group, 1948-1949,” Georgia K. Benjamin Papers, “Speeches and Papers on Family Planning, 1941-1953,” Special Collections, Box 1, Folder 3, University of Maryland Libraries, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.[/note] Watson advocated that Planned Parenthood could help combat such health hazards, and she felt compelled to spread the organization’s mission to community members across the Eastern Shore.

The Planned Parenthood League of Maryland formed in 1927. Even though it was headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, it served the entire state of Maryland. Originally called the Bureau for Contraceptive Advice, it was rebranded as the Baltimore Birth Control Clinic in 1932. Soon after its rebranding, the organization became a member of the national Planned Parenthood Federation. By 1942, both local and national groups were officially renamed “Planned Parenthood.”[note]“History & Highlights,” Planned Parenthood of Maryland, Inc., 2018, https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-maryland/who-we-are/history-highlights.[/note] The mission of Planned Parenthood sought to educate its clients and to bring health care services to residents on the Eastern Shore. But, as Watson emphasized, women faced racial discrimination when accessing health care. In addition to the systemic equalities Watson discussed, there were separate clinics for black women and white women.[note]The landmark decision of Simkins v. Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital ruled that racial segregation in publicly funded hospitals was a violation of equal protection under the United States Constitution in 1963. In 1964, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin for any agency receiving state or federal funding. See: Ezelle Sanford III, “Civil Rights and Healthcare: Remembering Simkins v. Cone (1963),” African American Intellectual History Society, February 4, 2017, https://www.aaihs.org/civil-rights-and-healthcare-remembering-simkins-v-cone-1963/.[/note] To try to rectify these inequities, Executive Director Anne G. Huppman announced that Planned Parenthood of Maryland would serve low-income populations, especially those who seldom saw a physician annually.[note]Anne G. Huppmann, “Mission Statement,” December 17, 1957, Planned Parenthood of Maryland LC215, Langsdale Library Special Collections, Baltimore Regional Studies Archives, Box 1, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD.[/note] This tenet of Planned Parenthood’s mission helps explain the organization’s emphasis on preventative care and cancer detection; many of their patients rarely visited a doctor.

In 1945, the same year as Watson’s speech, the Maryland Legislative Assembly made Maryland the first state to provide medical services for the medically indigent. It also allowed care to be given in the home.[note]Georgia K. Benjamin, “The Maryland Plan for Medical Services,” Georgia K. Benjamin Papers, “Speeches and Papers on Family Planning, 1941-1953,” Special Collections, Box 1, Folder 3, University of Maryland Libraries, University of Maryland. “Medically indigent” refers to those who cannot afford health care or are ineligible for health care services.[/note] Despite these policy changes, the 1948 Prince George’s County Health Study Group found the county “20 years behind the times in recognition of its responsibility to protect the health of its citizens.”[note]“Summary Report.”[/note] Overcrowded clinics and a lack of access to health care meant mothers and children suffered. Maternal mortality rates were high and 90 percent of illegal abortions were performed on married women.[note]Georgia K. Benjamin, “Peace Begins in the Home,” Georgia K. Benjamin Papers, “Speeches and Papers on Family Planning, 1941-1953,” Special Collections, Box 1, Folder 3, University of Maryland Libraries, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.[/note]

With so much work to be done, Watson and Planned Parenthood sought to raise awareness of the organization’s ability to help mothers and children, particularly from black families. At the time of Watson’s speech, Planned Parenthood was focused on preventing unwanted pregnancy, offering fertility assistance, and providing marriage counseling. Planned Parenthood meant what its name implies: “parenthood entered into willingly with adequate preparation for the strains and sacrifices it imposes.”[note]Karl Menninger, MD., “Psychiatric Aspects of Contraception,” Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic 7, no. 1 (1943), Georgia K. Benjamin Papers, “Speeches and Papers on Family Planning, 1941-1953,” Special Collections, Box 1, Folder 3, University of Maryland Libraries, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.[/note] The group’s activities included education about contraception and birth control, child spacing, disease prevention, and psychological maturity, all which could help build stable families.[note]“Planned Parenthood. What Does It Mean?,” 1947, Planned Parenthood of Maryland LC215, Langsdale Library Special Collections, Box 6, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD.[/note]

One of the purposes of Watson’s speech was to calm anxieties over Planned Parenthood. She specifically argued that its mission was consonant with the mission of the church. Although there is very little information available regarding Watson’s life, her relationship with the church and her relationship with Planned Parenthood is clearly explained in “A Voice from the Eastern Shore.” Watson explained her preacher husband’s disapproval of her work.[note]Watson, “A Voice from the Eastern Shore,” para. 4.[/note] Yet she did not explain how she continued to work with the Women’s Society for Christian Service to spread her message in churches across the region in spite of such opposition.[note]Watson, “A Voice from the Eastern Shore,” para. 10.[/note] As of 1945, her travels had brought her over 322 contacts in 30 religious and women’s groups.[note]Watson, “A Voice from the Eastern Shore,” para. 13.[/note]In 1947, Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam affirmed the relationship between Planned Parenthood and the church by stating, “Planned Parenthood is one of the expressions of the Christian principle that affirms the infinite worth of a human being.”[note]“Planned Parenthood. What Does It Mean?”[/note] The organization sought to save women and children by bettering their physical health, psychological wellbeing, and health care experiences.

Watson concluded her speech with hope and optimism about Planned Parenthood’s ability to save lives and create happier homes and healthier people. To accomplish these goals, she sought to tell the people of the Eastern Shore about its helpful services and to lead the charge for opening more clinics.[note]Watson, “A Voice from the Eastern Shore,” para. 14[/note] By 1947, two years after Watson’s speech, there were six clinics in the state operating under the Maryland League of Planned Parenthood.[note]Benjamin, “The Maryland Plan for Medical Services.”[/note]

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Harry T. Burn close-up portrait of him wearing a suit and looking into the camera
Speech:

The New Citizenship

Speaker:

Rep. Harry T. Burn

1900 - 1940 / Gender Equity

On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the thirty-sixth state—the last needed—to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. In declaring, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex,” the amendment reversed the Fourteenth Amendment’s limitation of that right to male citizenship.[note]“19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women’s Right to Vote (1920),” Our Documents - a Cooperative Effort among National History Day, The National Archives and Records Administration, and USA Freedom Corps., n.d., http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=63.[/note] By the time the Tennessee Legislature passed suffrage, over one-third of the states had already extended suffrage to their female citizens. Tennessee was not among them, however, and suffrage was not wildly popular in the state.[note]For an exhaustive list and a timeline for expanding suffrage, see: “Woman Suffrage Timeline (1840-1920),” National Women’s History Museum, n.d., https://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/history/woman-suffrage-timeline.[/note] Despite this, the Tennessee state senate voted twenty-five to four to ratify, sending the measure to the house.[note]Elizabeth Taylor, “A Short History of the Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 2, no. 3 (September 1, 1943): 212.[/note]

The ninety-nine-member house more closely reflected the state’s political mood. A forty-eight to forty-eight deadlock left ratification in the hands of a twenty-four-year-old, first-term representative named Harry T. Burn. Suffragists did not quite know how to assess their chances: Burn had told them he favored suffrage personally, but that he was inclined to vote against it because that was how his constituents felt.[note]Robert B. Jones and Mark E. Byrnes. “The ‘Bitterest Fight’: The Tennessee General Assembly and the Nineteenth Amendment.” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 68, no. 3 (October 1, 2009): 277.[/note] Even his mother wrote him that she had “been watching to see how [he] stood.”[note]“Letter to Harry Burn from Mother,” August 1920, Harry T. Burn Papers, Knox County Public Library, Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection.[/note] On the day of the vote, Burn wore a red rose in his lapel—the visual marker that he would vote against ratification.[note]Anastatia Sims, “‘Powers That Pray’ and ‘Powers That Prey’: Tennessee and the Fight for Woman Suffrage,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 50, no. 4 (December 1, 1991): 218.[/note] But when the moment came, Rep. Burn voted to ratify. After his vote, Burn was forced to flee to escape an angry mob, and his colleagues attempted to reconsider passage—but these intimidations were unsuccessful. The ratification proceeded to Tennessee’s supportive governor.[note]Taylor, “A Short History of the Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee,” 213.[/note]

After the vote, a story developed to explain Rep. Burn’s vote. That story evolved from a letter he received from his mother right before his fateful vote. The letter, now in possession of the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection, encourages Burn to “be a good boy and help Mrs. ‘Thomas Catt’ with her ‘Rats.’” (This is generally presumed to be a reference to suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt.)[note]Taylor, “A Short History of the Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee,” 213.[/note] The letter is postmarked August 17, 1920, and Burn supposedly received it the morning of the August 18—just as he was going to the capitol to vote on ratification. Because his mother had raised him to “be a good boy,” Burn said that he followed her call to “vote for suffrage.”[note]“Letter to Harry Burn from Mother.”[/note] When Knoxville-area suffragists planned a banquet to celebrate the passage of suffrage, they invited not only Rep. Burn—but his mother to the event.[note]“French. Harry T. Burn Letter,” September 18, 1920, Lizzie Crozier French Papers, Knox County Public Library, Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection.[/note]

They also invited Burn to deliver the keynote address on the subject of “The New Citizenship.” The speech held great significance because Rep. Burn “did not speak publicly in favor of suffrage before casting his historic vote,” and his only public remarks after the vote were short answers addressing charges that he had been bribed.[note]Personal communication with Steve Cotham, McClung Collection Manager, “Harry T. Burn Papers,” September 22, 2015.[/note] For the most part, Burn had explained his vote individually to his constituents, either through personal meetings or individual correspondence.

The day after the banquet—September 22, 1920—the Knoxville Sentinel reprinted Burn’s remarks within an article about the banquet.[note]“Suffrage Victory Is Celebrated; Women Give Banquet To Solons Who Were Ratification Boosters,” Knoxville Sentinel, September 22, 1920.[/note] After stating that “it had indeed been a great privilege to him finally to support suffrage,” he proceeded to address the topic at hand. Rather than repeating that his mother changed his vote, though, Burn demonstrates his well-developed sense of why suffrage was beneficial. Burn’s remarks reflect prominent themes from the pro-suffrage movement. Furthermore, Burn redirects the spotlight to those who had worked far longer and harder for suffrage than he had on winning suffrage for women.

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Rose Winslow black and white portrait, 1916, close up in white and black outfit with hat
Speech:

On Suffrage

Speaker:

Rose Winslow

1900 - 1940 / Civil Rights and Gender Equity

Rose Winslow (Ruża Wenclawska) was one of many Polish immigrants coming to the United States in the late nineteenth century. Even though we do not know her birth date, we know that she was eleven when her family moved to Pennsylvania presumably in the 1890s. To support her family, she worked ten to twelve-hour days in the textile mills. Working conditions in the textile industry were catastrophic and, like many of her peers, Winslow contracted tuberculosis when she was a teenager. This experience motivated Winslow to become a labor organizer for the Garment Workers’ Union League and a labor advocate with the Consumer’s League.[note]Linda Ford, Iron-Jawed Angels: The Suffrage Militancy of the National Woman’s Party, 1912-1920 (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1991), 60-63; Katherine H. Adams and Michael L. Keene, After the Vote Was Won: The Later Achievements of Fifteen Suffragists (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2010), 16.[/note] As part of her advocacy for workers’ rights, Winslow testified before legislative hearings in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to advocate for—among other things—an eight-hour workday for women.

Winslow’s eloquent speech in Harrisburg circulated widely and attracted the attention of Alice Paul, the leader of the National Women’s Party (NWP).[note]Ford, Iron-Jawed Angels, 60-63.[/note] The NWP was one of the more radical groups advocating for women’s votes, undertaking the most militant and visible tactics of the women’s suffrage movement (e.g., suffrage parades, suffrage protests in front of President Wilson’s White House). Paul actively recruited women from the working class who could eloquently spread the suffrage message, and Winslow was one of Paul’s most prominent recruits.[note]Ibid., 91-120.[/note] As part of the NWP, Winslow undertook a speaking tour of the United States and even spoke in front of President Wilson.[note]“Miss Rose Winslow,” Times-Leader, June 16, 1915; “Workers Here to Ask Wilson for Suffrage,”Washington Post, February 1, 1914; “Party in Power False to Cause of Suffragists,”The Morning Echo, October 23, 1914.[/note]

Winslow also took part in the “Silent Sentinel” protests—one of the more radical expressions of protest under Paul’s leadership. During these protests, NWP members protested silently in front of President Wilson’s White House every day for over two years.[note]Belinda A. Stillion Southard, Militant Citizenship: Rhetorical Strategies of the National Woman’s Party, 1913-1920 (College Station: Texas A&M University, 2011), 121-148.[/note] These protests and her eventual arrest by police on trumped-up charges demonstrated Winslow’s dedication and spirit of self-sacrifice. During their time in prison together, both Winslow and Paul participated in hunger strikes and were force-fed by prison guards. Winslow captured just how grueling such feedings were for them when she wrote: “one lies prone and people shove a pipe down one’s stomach.” In notes passed along to supporters from her prison cell, Winslow disclosed, “I heard myself making the most hideous sounds, like an animal in pain.”[note]Rose Winslow, “Prison Notes, Smuggled to Friends from the District Jail (1917),” in Treacherous Texts: U.S. Suffrage Literature, 1846-1946, ed. Mary Chapman and Angela Mills (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2011), 282-283.[/note] As Belinda A. Stillion Southard attests, this experience, alongside other forms of prison mistreatment, contributed to the sense of “militant identity” among the suffragists during the later stages of their movement.[note]Stillion Southard, Militant Citizenship, 144-148.[/note]

Efforts like Winslow’s to unite the suffrage and working-class movements were essential to the growth of both movements’ successes in the early 1910s.[note]Ibid., 50.[/note] Against the backdrop of growing consciousness of the labor and suffrage movements, Winslow engaged in a speaking tour that brought her to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in June of 1915. Before an audience of predominantly male workers, Winslow faced a challenge of persuading them to support women’s suffrage. She also needed to address her own identity as a suffragist hailing from the working class. As a working-class advocate attracted to the suffrage movement, Winslow argued that women’s suffrage was crucial to all workers—men and women alike. This argument was not an easy one to advance. The male-dominated workers’ movement often failed to recognize the challenges faced by women in factories and other low-income jobs.[note]Alice Kessler-Harris, Out to Work: A History of Wage-Earning Women in The United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 95, 156-157, 269.[/note] The women’s suffrage movement also struggled to unite working-class and middle- and upper-class women. [note]Ford, Iron-Jawed Angels, 92-120.[/note] In fighting for women’s rights as workers and as voters, Winslow experienced gender and class tensions within both movements.

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