National Women's History Month topic at First Lady event
Tue, 03/24/2020 - 3:38pm
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Marilyn Ames was selected as 2020 First Lady for Clearwater County. See story in the Tri County Canary.
With the event Tamara Edevold had a history lesson as March is National Women's History Month. The mission of national women's history month is to educate people about the important roles women have played in the history of our country. She selected three women:
Lucy Burns 1879 - 1966
Mary Lucy Burns was an American suffragist and women's rights advocate. Burns was a co-founder of the National Woman's Party alongside suffragist Alice Paul. Burns was one of the Silent Sentinels who picketed the White House during World War I, demanding the right to vote for women. She was arrested as a political prisoner who was tortured at Occoquan Workhouse.
Carrie Chapman Catt
1859 - 1947
Carrie Chapman Catt was an activist from Iowa who advocated for suffrage during the second generation of suffragists. Catt was trained in political activism under Susan B. Anthony and played a pivotal role in helping women gain the vote. In 1900, Catt succeeded Susan B. Anthony as President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association {NAWSA).
Marie Foster 1917 - 2003
Marie Foster was born in rural Wilcox County, Alabama. Because of the overt and non-ending racism Marie Foster faced daily, she became a courageous and unrelenting leader in the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s.
She worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders in Alabama to secure the right to vote for African Americans.
Foster became known as "the mother of the voting rights movement" by local organizers
Edevold went on to say, "I urge you to honor these women by exercising your right to vote and on each table you'll find a button to wear that shows that you voted.
I was curious about the women of Clearwater county 100 years ago when they were finally able to vote so I spent a little time with them in 1920 via the Gonvick Banner newspaper. The Gonvick Banner is the only newspaper we still have copies of from that time. I wanted to know if I could find anything that talked about women getting the vote, any letters to the editor or public conversations, but I was disappointed. I found very few references that would have led me to think that what was going on nationally, had much effect on us locally.
Earlier in 1919, the editor of the Gonvick Banner, Mr. W.W. Jones, had written a lengthy editorial about women working toward getting the vote. The title was "Female Suffrage - and Male" It's long and I won't read the whole thing but there were a couple of paragraphs that I really wanted to share with you:
He wrote "For many years we have been arguing whether women have sense enough to vote. The argument has at last become so wearisome at Washington that it has ended in a victory for the affirmative. There is some justification for it. Some women have sense."
He goes on to talk about how men have sense too and are better informed than many. It would be absurd to not let men vote. And "Some women are equally informed and equally well qualified to vote- more of them than you think. It seems strange that they have only just acquired a privilege which has been held promiscuously by drunks who did not know whether Longfellow was a cocktail or suit of underwear."
Basically he's saying that if drunkards can vote, he guesses women should be able to as well.
So I wasn't feeling very generous toward Mr. W.W. Jones after this editorial, but he redeemed himself with a second untitled editorial in March of 1920.
"Some day women of the county will enjoy equal suffrage with men. They will have votes in every contest in which men have a vote. They will be the equals of men in every respect, as they are now the superiors of men in many. Only a few years ago woman was considered a frail thing to be coddled and protected from all contact with the sterner side of life. Today she is a fixture in business, her voice is heard in every mark of trade, and her influence is felt in every movement of importance that concerns public weal. The evolution of woman in the past few years has been more rapid and more far reaching than any other phase of human life. She is coming into her own."
Now we are talking Mr. Jones!
Outside of the topic of right to vote, I scanned the news for any glimpse of everyday lives of women that might appear in the paper. The gossip columns were a large part of the local news and Mrs. Anderson or Mrs. Olson (they rarely had a first name) were often "seen on the streets conducting business," or they travelled to visit relatives, or had relatives visiting them. It was astounding to me how often women traveled to visit; nearly always by train, and very often for weeks at a time. Another common report was of the teachers who came and went from the various schools in the county. Most teachers were a Miss someone or other who came from other towns, often miles away, to teach in a small country school. They went home to visit family on weekend and over holidays, and of course left for the summer, sometimes coming back to teach again. Sometimes moving to another school.
Women were travelling and moving about all over.
Young girls travelled to go to high school. Grace and Helen Clark attended high school in Minneapolis, but in 1920 came home to attend school in Bemidji so they could be closer to family in Gonvick.
Miss Emma Tharaldson travelled to Trail to take instruction in the Snow system of dressmaking. She was there for 6 weeks.
Mrs. George Bottineau went on a ten-day buying trip. She was ran a millinery shop in Gonvick.
Mae Barness, county superintendent of school and Miss Annie Shelland, the state rural school inspector made their rounds in northern part of the county. The two women travelled to Winsor, Shevlin, Minerva and several other schools over a 4-day period.
Acquina Kolb, a college girl from Bagley, who was living in Gonvick, took a job in Clearbrook at the First National Bank there. She planned to spend the summer working at the bank, traveling by train each day from Gonvick to Clearbrook.
In July 1920, a party of young girls left on a Monday for Clearwater Lake. Mabel Green, Judith and Inez Malmo, Vivian, Grace and Helen Clark planned to do some camping and would return Friday.
As Mr. W.W. Jones stated in his editorial: "Only a few years ago woman was considered a frail thing to be coddled and protected from all contact with the sterner side of life. Today She is coming into her own."
It is empowering to hear women's stories, both personally and in a larger context. Remembering and recounting tales of our ancestors' talents, sacrifices, and commitments inspires today's generations. This month, and all year long, we celebrate countless pioneering women and the victories they won, and we continue our work to build a society where our daughters have the same possibilities as our sons.