By Carri Anne Yager-Parker
As we approach the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment (which granted American women the right to vote), you may be thinking about the history of the American women’s rights movement.
When you think about early leaders of the movement, who do you picture? Susan B. Anthony, the well-known activist who voted as a form of civil disobedience before it was legal for women?
Author Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who wrote that all men and women are created equal, and helped to organize the first women’s rights convention?
Human rights activist Lucretia Mott, a Quaker who preached against all forms of slavery and also assisted in the planning of that first women’s rights convention?
Or is it Matilda Joslyn Gage, the favorite of many modern feminists, whose passion for separation of church and state was met with hostility by her contemporaries?
Maybe it is not a white woman that you think of. Maybe you think of abolitionist Sojourner Truth, the author of a legendary speech which explored concepts that we now describe as intersectional feminism. The speech, commonly known as “Ain’t I a Woman?” (1851), compelled the audience to consider the fact that black women were capable of all that white women were, despite their relative lack of privilege.
Maybe it is not a woman who comes to mind for you, but a man: Abolitionist Frederick Douglass, whose motto was, “Right is of no sex, truth is of no color.”
What do these historical freedom-fighters have in common, besides their dedication to social reform? All of them spent much of their lives in Upstate New York. Seneca Falls, NY has gone down in history as the location of the first American women’s rights convention in 1848, and presently is the home of the Women’s Rights Museum.
Historically one of the most socially progressive states, New York was at the forefront of the American women’s rights movement. As stated by scholar Sally Roesch Wagner, “The woman’s rights movement was born in the territory of the Haudenosaunee in 1848.”
The Haudenosaunee, meaning ‘people of the longhouse’ comprised the Iroquois Confederacy, a band of Native American tribes that lived in close proximity to whites in Upstate New York: The Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and (later) the Tuscarora. This band of tribes united hundreds of years before the arrival of whites, under the wisdom of Hiawatha and Dekanawidah, who advised that the tribes discontinue their longstanding tradition of war with one another, and work together as a team.
The tribes agreed to unite, and they had a thriving civilization which might be considered advanced, based on the fact that they managed to live in peace among one another for centuries. The culture of the Haudenosaunee left a powerful impression on early white settlers and helped shape the American government, and the Constitution.
White women of early NYS noticed that Haudenosaunee culture functioned effectively with its women contributing to their communities in roles of work and leadership. This underscored dysfunctional cultural norms of their own backgrounds, which taught that women were not as capable as men, and could not be trusted because of their legacies as descendants of the biblical Eve.
Unburdened by fundamental Christian misogyny, women of Haudenosaunee culture were productive and confident. White women were inspired by this, and even developed new clothing styles that were influenced by the freedom and mobility allowed by Haudenosaunee clothing; some wore bloomers as a way of expressing their embrace of the idea that women could participate equally in society. But, sadly, over time there would be increasingly less communication between white women of upstate NY and their Haudenosaunee neighbors.
As white American women held relative social privilege compared to their non-white counterparts, they would be the first to exercise their right to vote. On August 18, 1920, under President Woodrow Wilson, the 19th Amendment of the Constitution was passed, stating that “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. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
Though this was a significant achievement, voting rights continued to be problematized for women of color in America due to active and persistent attempts to prevent the implementation of that right.
What is a hundred years? In the big scheme of things, it may seem like women have come a long way in a fairly short period of time. For example, when my maternal grandmother was born, women did not yet have the right to vote. It was during her childhood that this changed.
Having been close to my grandmother, it seems unbelievable to me that she was born into such a different world than the one in which I grew up; she and I are only two generations apart. On the other hand it seems an eternity that women have been fighting for rights and freedoms, still with a long way to go.
Though American society has made progress in terms of women’s rights – such as a say in what happens to their children, owning property and making financial decisions, participation in the workforce and other activities, access to education, and birth control – women continue to fight for equal pay, the ability to exercise their right to access abortion without psychological and physical harassment or travel, the ability to join previously male-dominated arenas without being sexually harassed or bullied, freedom from ‘the motherhood penalty,’ and freedom from domestic injustices, such as domestic violence and taking on more than their fair share of housework and child care while holding down demanding jobs outside the home.
Though American social progress is frustratingly slow in certain ways, there is no doubt that this country has become one of the world’s leaders in the liberation of women.
Haudenosaunee Native Americans are among those we have to thank for shaping the rich culture of New York state and inspiring women to think about how things could be better for females, and to fight for more. Though we see white faces on most of our money, many of our statues, and throughout much of our history books, we must remember that this does not tell the whole story of American history.
While raising awareness of social injustices done to racial minorities is important to our understanding of how present problems in American society are deeply rooted in history, it is also important to remember that even under the harshest of circumstances, people of color have made important contributions to social progress.
Racial minorities, then and now, should be seen as dignified and empowered contributors rather than merely as passive victims played as pawns by whites.
If we want peace, we must work for justice. This means giving credit where credit is due, and recognizing the influence of people of color in some of the biggest steps forward that our nation has made.
For further reading:
Wagner, Sally Roesch. (2001) Sisters in Sprit. Book Publishing Company
http://www.markshep.com/peace/Hiawatha.html?fbclid=IwAR1ffiW7TrNCCr4Xu6TSJhECOmPsKoysKJhRcG6VTQB4juT-FyDPfJqP6Nc
https://www.ushistory.org/us/1d.asp
https://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/iroquoisinfluence.html
https://www.nps.gov/wori/index.htm
https://matildajoslyngage.org/
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/publications/insights-on-law-and-society/volume-20/issue-1/did-women-vote-once-they-had-the-opportunity-/
