I have selected three women from the 18th, 19th,
and 20th, whom I hope to honor and revere due to their inspirational
words and actions. Although considered radical by many in their day, they are
now viewed important people that helped to pave the way for women’s and racial
liberation. I do not pretend to have a vast knowledge of all women throughout
all of our nation’s history and so I will not state that I believe these women
to be the greatest of their respective centuries. But I believe their impact on
others as well as their desire to make a difference to be a great one worth
remembering.
18th Century-Born on November 11, 1744 to William
and Elizabeth Smith, Abigail Adams was educated within the home she grew up in.
Girls in the 18th century did not attend school like boys did, an advantage
that Abigail would come to advocate for as she became an adult. She married
John Adams (who would later become a Founding Father of the United States as
well as the second President) at nineteen years of age.
Due to John Adams’ political involvement throughout the
later years of the 18th Century, the couple was often separated.
During these times, they would regularly exchange letters with each. These
letters were full of the news from home, political developments, and many times
from Abigail, an urgent encouragement for her husband and the other men to
grant women more rights. They were allowed to inherit land from their father
however, when a woman married, her property became her husband’s and she no
longer had any legal say in what was done with it. In reference to these
injustices, Abigail wrote to her husband, “…I desire you would remember the
ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not
put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men
would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to
the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves
bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.” (2)
When her husband became President in 1797, Abigail continued
to use her voice and began writing letters to the editor to be published in
newspapers in various parts of the country. Because women were not generally
involved in political matters, there were many who thought Abigail to be
outspoken and some deemed her too old (at only fifty-two!) to understand the
current issues while others even referred to her as “Mrs. President.” When her
husband lost his re-election campaign to their good friend (and vice-president)
Thomas Jefferson, the relationship became estranged from many years. The men
only reconciled their differences and began corresponding again after Abigail
first reached out to Jefferson after the death of one of his children. Also
noteworthy is the fact that the couple owned no slaves and was not shy in
sharing their belief that the practice should be abolished altogether. (1)
19th Century-Harriet Beecher Stowe, born on June
14, 1811 was the sixth child of an eventual eleven, in a family that was highly
influential. The father of the family was a minister and the president of a
Seminary, all seven of Harriet’s brothers also became ministers, one of her
sisters pushed for further education of women, and another sister helped found
the National Women’s Suffrage Association. Equally as important, Harriet
Beecher Stowe had a gift for writing and when feeling powerless, a family
member encouraged her to use that gift to “make this whole nation feel what an
accursed thing slavery is.” Inspired, Stowe chose to use her words to entice
change and in 1951, she was able to do exactly that with Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
At first, Stowe’s novel was published one chapter at a time in a local
anti-slavery newspaper but in only a year, it became so popular that it was
published in two volumes, would go on to be translated into sixty languages,
and be a bestseller in numerous countries including the United States and Great
Britain. Drawing on first-hand accounts from escaped slaves, Uncle Tom’s Cabin
brought to life the constant fear that slaves lived in with the ability to be
sold at the whim of their master, the heartbreak within slave families when
they were separated, the dangers that runaways faced, and the cruelly inhumane
punishments that slaves were often delivered for minor infractions (3).
Due to its casual style, Uncle Tom’s Cabin had a way
of personalizing slavery to the average reader, whereas before most people had
only viewed slavery as a simple economic practice to be deemed moral or
immoral. But Stowe helped her readers to empathize with the characters of her
novel, thus helping them to see that slavery was much more than that, as it had
a profound effect on the families that it encompassed. Legend says that when
Abraham Lincoln met Stowe in 1962, he greeted her with a teasing smile and called
her the little lady that started the war.
20th Century- Though most of us have been led to
believe that the reason Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat on December
1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama was because she was tired from a long day at
work, Parks would later explain that when she told the bus driver she was
tired, she actually meant that she was tired of being treated unfairly. Growing
up in a household where Parks and her mother lived with her grandparents who
were both former slaves, Parks could remember hearing the Ku Klux Klan march
throughout their neighborhood at night while her grandfather stood outside
armed with a shotgun for protection. Parks attended segregated schools,
watching as the white children in her town rode to school on brand new buses
and sat in a brand new building while she and her black schoolmates sat in a
one room schoolhouse, sometimes without even enough desks for all of the
children to sit in (4).
The refusal to stand may have seemed like a minor infraction
at the time (Parks was found guilty of violating a local ordinance only a week
later and fined $10, along with a $4 court fee) it acted as a catalyst for
major changes. A few days before Parks’ trial, a boycott of the Montgomery Bus
system was held and African-American riders were encouraged to stay home from
work, walk, carpool, or take a taxi. While the boycott was widely participated
in, many felt that it would be more effective if it were a long-term boycott.
Appointed to be in charge of this boycott was the new Baptist minister in town:
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil rights activists of the time viewed Parks’
experience as an opportunity to inspire change and that while goal was
accomplished, it took over a year for the bus regulations to change. The
transit system was severely wounded from the boycott, with an estimated 40,000
of its regular riders refusing to ride (4).
Efforts were made to fight back against the boycotters with
the insurance of the taxi company that most blacks used was canceled, and both
Parks and her husband lost their jobs. Unable to find work, the couple was
forced to leave Alabama (4).
The single act of refusing to give up her seat on the bus
quickly became a symbol of equality all over the country and is still admired
today. It inspired thousands not only in the immediate aftermath, but for years
to come as Civil Rights were vigorously fought for (4).
Each of these women, harassed and criticized for their bold
positions and their refusal to back away from them, helped to shape and civil
liberties (including gender and race) into what they are today. As we are all
aware, even today we are still up against political leaders who feel they have
the right to limit the rights of various groups including women and homosexuals
(a different post for a different time I suppose). As we fight against this
current destruction of liberty, may we all find inspiration and courage from
the valiant women who came before us.
