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Eleanor. But first…. Suffrage. Women Have Not invaded Politics; politics have invaded the home. 1840s , a campaign began to redress the legal disadvantages of married women In all states, married women were legal possessions, rather than legal persons Married women had no control
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Women Have Not invaded Politics; politics have invaded the home
1840s, a campaign began to redress the legal disadvantages of married women • In all states, married women were legal possessions, rather than legal persons • Married women had no control • over their property • no rights to their earnings • no guardianship rights over their children
1840s, efforts met with some success • 1848, the New York legislature passed a bill • married women could retain control over their property • By 1865, 29 states had enacted some form of Married Women’s Property Laws • the process continued for the rest of the century
If we were cynical • we would recognize that their enactment reflected not so much a new respect for wives as a changing economy • one that required investment capital and a spirit of risk • SO the laws protected property not only from husbands but also from a husband’s creditors
The battle against legal inequalities continued after 1848 under the banner of the women’s rights movement • When women’s rights advocates attempted to draft a manifesto for their first convention at Seneca Falls in 1848, they felt • said Elizabeth Cady Stanton, • “as helpless as if they had been asked to construct a steam engine.”
The Declaration of Sentiments that resulted • mobilized a battery of grievances that women had voiced for two decades and transformed them into a cohesive program of reforms
Identifying the enemy as the “absolute tyranny” of man • The Declaration enumerated • “his repeated injuries and usurpations.” • Women had been excluded from higher education, profitable employment, the trades and commerce, the pulpit, the professions, and the franchise. • They were deprived of property rights, • Denied guardianship of their children.
The new call to arms of 1848, and the movement it began, was a direct descendant of the abolitionist crusade, in which most of its leaders participated • From the abolitionists, the early feminists (a word they would not have identified with) inherited • a geographical circuit, • a mode of agitation, • a human rights ideology, • and even a small constituency
The movement in its early stages, discarded formal organization. • No elaborate networks of female societies, no state or national organizations, no battalions of officers, agents, managers, and visitors • A spontaneous informality prevailed. • Individuals or contingents took off on speaking tours or petition campaigns • An informal, shifting series of committees ran conventions
Under Catt’s Leadership • The National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) • Pushed for suffrage at state level • A gradual (slow?) movement • 1890 two rival organizations (NWSA and AWSA) united as the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) • 1909 Carrie Chapman Catt takes over as leader
In 1913 Alice Paul and Lucy Burns convinced the NAWSA to allow them to restart a national campaign
First event organized • Campaign along Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House on March 3, 1913 • Day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration • A calculated plan to make use of the press and publicity people already in the city • Wilson arrived in DC on the train • crowds he expected to be there were all watching the parade
Parade led by Inez Milholland dressed in white on a white horse Followed by thousands of supporters
Eventually Burns and Paul organized a separate group • Congressional Union • Began to use the votes of women in the west to bring pressure for change • Change name to the National Women’s Party (NWP) • The NAWSA in response changed tactics • Carrie Chapman Catt came back to lead a refocused NAWSA for federal change • And, some argue, to steal the glory
Increased immigration provides the context for the progressive movement • In the 1890s the numbers of “new immigrants” grew at amazing rates. • Italians, Slavs, Greeks, and Jews from southern and eastern Europe • 1882: 87% of immigrants from a Northwestern Europe • Great Britain, Scandinavia, and Germany • 1907: 81% of immigrants came from a Southwestern European country
Most lived in crowded conditions. • 1890s Chicago • In one 36 block section only ¼ of the people had access to a bathroom with running water • Health conditions spur disease • in one Chicago immigrant ward 20% of all infants die in their 1st year of life
Daughters of immigrant parents sought employment in whatever was available near their homes • Woman worker distinguished by • unskilled work • low pay • concentration in a limited segment of industry • In 1899 • man employed in industry earned $597 • A woman $314
Into this urbanizing, industrializing, conflict filled context came • Middle class “new woman” • and the • “working girl” of the working class • each of whom enjoyed a measure of individuality and autonomy
The individuality of the new woman and the working girl also marked a shift toward autonomy, pleasure, and consumption • Perhaps the most striking evidence of change among women was • The emergence of the • College educated • Frequently unmarried • self-supporting woman
After Civil War first generation of such women formed in the intense world of women’s colleges • Challenged conventional wisdom about women’s intellectual capacities • Developed deep bonds with sister students • 1870 11,000 women students enrolled in higher education • 21% of all students • 1880 40,000 • 32% of all students
On graduation faced stark choice • Traditional domesticity of marriage • Or a career of paid work • Nearly half of college educated women in the late nineteenth century never married • Those who did • did so late than most women • bore fewer children • For a few years or for a lifetime • Independent career created a new life style
Feminization of clerical work by turn of the century reflected both • Vast growth of business • Limited opportunities elsewhere • Women first began taking office jobs during the Civil War • Improved technology created new jobs for by the 1890s
Introduction of the typewriter a special boon • Original typewriter alphabetical keys • women so efficient that the keys jammed • get the qwerty keyboard we still use today
Half nation’s high school graduates completed business programs • By 1890 majority of high school graduates were women • Women’s entry into office work took on huge proportions. • In 1870 women 3% of office workers • By 1890 17% • Women also worked as sales clerks in retail stores • another outpost of business expansion
By the 1890s • Newly won, still contested , independence began to show up in styles of dress as well • The fresh, athletic Gibson girl • played tennis and golf and rode a bicycle despite her long skirts
With hair piled atop her head and a tiny waist the Gibson Girl represented a serene self-confidence that could surmount any problem. The envy of all who knew her aloof of her surroundings but not to the extent of haughtiness. She was at once remote but yet accessible.
Into this exciting yet crazy and chaotic era Eleanor Roosevelt was born
“My mother was one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. Her father, my grandfather Hall, never engaged in business. He lived on what his father and mother gave him.” • Opening words to Eleanor Roosevelt’s autobiography
Quotations • One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes • Do what you feel in your heart to be right — for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be "damned if you do, and damned if you don't." • I have never felt that anything really mattered but the satisfaction of knowing that you stood for the things in which you believed and had done the very best you could. • A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water. • No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. • Will people ever be wise enough to refuse to follow bad leaders or to take away the freedom of other people? • If the use of leisure time is confined to looking at TV for a few extra hours every day, we will deteriorate as a people.
Born New York City October 11, 1884 • daughter of • Anna Hall and Elliott Roosevelt • younger brother of Theodore • Mother died in 1892 • Father died two years later.
thirty-five honorary degrees during her life • 1968 the United Nations Human Rights Prize • campaign to award her a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize • a posthumous nomination has never been considered for the award • Only First Lady to receive honorary membership into Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated • World's first sorority for African American women.
1890 went with Father and Mother on a trip to Europe, primarily Italy • While in Europe Eleanor’s brother Hall was born in Paris, where her mother had taken residence • Eleanor was sent to a convent to learn French • This gives me the chance to let you hear Eleanor’s voice
Of her birth she was to write • “..in October, 1884, I came into the world, and from all accounts I must have been a more wrinkled and less attractive baby than the average” • As noted in the opening words, and the above description, ER considered herself devoid of beauty • A theme that will run through her childhood and beyond
“I would have given anything to be a singer. I felt that one could give a great deal of pleasure and, yes, receive attention and admiration! • Attention and Admiration were the things through all my childhood which I wanted, because I was made to feel so conscious of the fact that nothing about me would attract attention or bring me admiration.” • What impact did this have on her life and outlook?
Of her mother • “belonged to that New York City which thought itself all-important” • A society in which • “you were kind to the poor” • “accepted invitations to dine and dance with the right people only” • “you read the books everyone read” • “In short, you confirmed to the conventional pattern”
One of Eleanor Roosevelt's childhood homes • Overlooking the Hudson River to the Catskills with 800-ft. river frontage c. 1880 • 8,500 sq. ft. • 9 marble fireplaces • 900-sq.-ft. great room • 18-ft. ceilings • 8-plus bedrooms, basement, and servants' quarters.
In description of her childhood home • “back of that [the dinning room] was the pantry, where I spent considerable time, for the butler, Victor, was kind to me and taught me how to wash dishes and wipe them” • Of Mrs. Overhalse, who was the families laundress • “She taught me to wash and iron, and although I was not allowed to do the finer things, the handkerchiefs, napkins and towels fell to my lot, and I loved the hours spent with this cheerful woman”
“Very early I became conscious of the fact that there were people around me who suffered in one way or another” • Age 5/6 taken to serve a Thanksgiving dinner to homeless children • Took Christmas trees to Hells Kitchen New York
Visited children in “casts and splints” at Dr Schaffer’s Orthopedic Hospital • She was • “particularly interested in them because I had a curvature myself and wore for some time a steel brace which was vastly uncomfortable and prevented my bending over”
1899 sent by grandmother • who looked after her after parents death • To England as part of her education
Once there she was enrolled atMlle. Souvestre’s schoolAllenswood
“Mlle. Souvestre held her history classes in her library. . . Mlle. Souvestre carried a long pointer in her hand, and usually a map hung on the wall. She would walk up and down, lecturing to us. We took notes, but were expected to do a good deal of independent reading and research. We wrote papers on the subjects assigned and labored hard over them. This was the class we enjoyed beyond any other.”
While at the school, she read reports of the Boer war (1899-1902 ) • Mlle. Souvestre was against the idea of a war for empire • Watched the funeral procession of Queen Victoria • At the age of 18 she returned to New York for her official introduction to society
