Struggle For Women's Right To Vote In The Early 18th Century

Write a short essay answering one of the following questions about Rosa Parks' memoir Rosa Parks: My Story.. 
Question 1: 
In 1955, Rosa Parks defied law and custom to help overturn segregation in the Montgomery. Alabama bus system. Her act of refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger is said to have begun the direct action Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Yet for decades preceding Ms.'Parks' brave act, year after year, all across the South, African Americans defied segregation laws on buses and trains andWere arrested and jailed for this. And no movement arose to protest this. Was there more to starting the Civil Rights Movement than Parks' individual act of defiance? Based on evidence from Rosa Parks: My Story, argue the relative importance of Parks' refusal to give up her seat compared with other decisions and actions she and others took. Take a position on what was most important in starting the movement. OR 

Question 2: 
The popular image of Rosa Parks as a meek, passive, turn-the-other-cheek sort of person is quite different than the impression that emerges from her memoir. Indeed, as a child, when a white boy called her "nigger" she threatened him, "If you come over here, we'll give you a good beating" (p.51). As an adult Parks hosts a meeting of heavily armed civil rights activists in her home. Using evidence from Rosa Parks: My Story, support or oppose the argument that Rosa Parks agreed with the necessity of armed (violent) self defense as a political tool in the fight for Black civil rights. 

The Voting Rights of Women in the Early 18th Century

Women’s right around the world have never been considered as equivalent to those of the men. Women tend to struggle for achieving recognition of equal legitimacy as that of the men. One of the most powerful rights is the right to vote. This right enables women to elect representatives that can address their issues in the legitimate and legal forums. The paper aims to target the voting rights of the women in the early 18th century. There are many reasons why the suffrage movement of the women was a difficult right to achieve victory in the early years at the United States. Many of the leaders of the time refused to acknowledge the right to vote for the women. Although there are so much more, it was a difficult battle for the suffragist since they were not only going against the men but also facing their own gender in their struggle.

The first ever convention on the rights of the women was organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott on July 1948. The movement for the voting rights of the women or the suffrage movement portrays the picture of the true story of how women belonging from various standards of the society in the U.S became radicalized for gaining the right to vote. The pressure of the suffrage movement in the early era failed to enable the access and authority of the women towards the 14th and 15th Amendments, that was introduced by the Republicans in the Congress after the civil war. The revolution for the voting rights of the women began in the year 1868 by the initiative of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Parker Pillsbury.

The target of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association was to fight for an amendment to the constitution. The woman suffrage association of America targeted to achieve suffrage in the elections of the state. All the fights came to an end with the passing of the women’s suffrage amendment in 1918. The right to vote for the women was legalized at the 19th Amendment that was passed in the year 1919 which finally enabled the women in the U.S to cast their vote and enjoy their civil rights in the presidential election of 1920.

The struggle for the voting rights of the women dates back to the early era that included massive struggles and movements for achieving fundamental rights. The president of the U.S, Wilson had an indifferent attitude regarding the protest movement initially and the Senate vote went against the suffrage movement of the women. Furthermore, one of the notable events in the history of the suffrage movement was the night of terror. The night of 14 November in the year 1917 at the Occoquan Workhouse in Lorton, Virginia is still recognized as a terror when 31 suffrage activists were targeted with massive attacks for breaking and smashing the spirits of the activists of the movement.

The Suffrage Movement and Its Struggles

Though the night of 14 November in the year 1917 was the night of terror and massive abuse for many activists of the suffrage movement, this horrendous attack on the activists became a turning point and nationwide publicity and it became easy for the activists to win votes for the right for the women. This conviction and the courage even after imprisonment and violent attacks by the W.H. Whittaker failed to diminish the spirit among the activists and eventually inspired the public to join the movement for supporting the suffrage movement.

A total number of 14 women from the state of New York were subjected to conviction and were sentenced on 14^th November for their active participation in the silent non violent protest in front of the White House gates. The group of women among the total number of 31 picketers was charged with blocking the sidewalk. The demonstrators furthermore demanded that the president Woodrow Wilson take initiate in the issue of the voting rights o the women. Some of the notable figures among the group of activists were Lucy Burns and Dora Lewis. They were the active members of the National Women’s Party (NWP) and were arrested many times due to their keen interest and participation in the suffrage movement. Lucy Burns organized campaigns during the struggle and was the editor of the famous newspaper ‘the suffragist’. Furthermore, both of these notable figures of the movement suffered immense abuse and went on a hunger strike for demonstrating their commitments to the reason of the struggle. These political prisoners were subjected to inhuman tortures and were forced to hang from the cell of the prison.

One of the most negative impacts towards the struggle of the suffrage movement was the formation of the Anti-Suffrage League. Established in the year 1908, the women’s national anti suffrage league constituted of a group of the female who used to believe that women should not have the right to vote. With about eighty seven thousand followers, the league initially started in Europe and found their group in 1911. The anti-suffrage people used political cartoons, articles and speak outs of religious leaders to spread out their message against the movement before the establishment of the National Association Opposed to Women Suffrage (NAOWS). Popular among the north eastern cities, participants and the women of the NAOWS were mostly educated, earnest and belong to the privileged group who believed that women will definitely suffer if they achieved political equality with that of the men. Furthermore, the anti suffragist posted a major conflict towards the suffrage movement with the wrong ideology that women should not vote. The anti suffragists ad lot many ways to justify their beliefs. Starting from spreading messages via magazines, newspaper advertisements and flyers they campaigned their list by promoting it via the media. The anti suffragist listed out 12 reasons of their movements and why the voting rights of the women should not be allowed since n women will leave her domestic responsibilities to vote, since no women who will vote will attend to her domestic duties. Furthermore it should not be enabled since it will male dissension among husband and wife. Another important factor that the anti suffragist pointed out is that every woman will vote as her husband tells her to, hence voting rights of the women are not necessary. Furthermore, it has further been stated that bad women will tend to corrupt the politics and the bad politics will tend to corrupt the women. The anti suffragist pointed out that the right to vote for the women should not be enabled since women do not have any power of the organization, women tend to form a solid party and will outvote the men. The anti suffragist furthermore stated that since men and women are so different, they must stick to different duties. Furthermore, since men and women are so much alike, men with one vote can represent their selves and their own people. Finally they pointed out that women cannot use force and the militants did use force, hence the voting rights of the women should not be legalized.

The First-ever Convention on Women’s Rights

Some of the significant events in the context of the struggle for the women are voting rights included the launch of the appeal against the female suffrage movement at 1889 with the support and signature 104 people. Upon the successful publication of the launch of the event led by Mary Ward, 2,000 more signatures were gained. Besides this, the launch of the Women’s National Anti-Suffrage League in 1908 established 100 more branches within the tenure of ten years. The year 1910 portrayed one of the significant events of the merger with the men’s league for opposing the suffrage movement of the women.

Some of the notable significant figures of the anti-suffrage movement who used different ways to protest against the rights of the women like writing books, publishing articles and using the media included Josephine Dodge, Kate Shippen Roosevelt, Minnie Bronson, Mrs. William Force Scott, Mary Humphrey Ward and Gertrude Bell.

The founder of the NAOWS, Josephine Dodge led a movement to establish day care centers to help working mothers.According to him; women should stay out of the corrupt world of politics. Kate Shippen Roosevelt, the member of politically-active Roosevelt family on the other hand expressed that women’s right to vote is simply unnecessary.This is because women are biologically destined to be child bearers and homemakers.She furthermore stated that women already have domestic freedom in their homes, hence it will be against the laws of nature to shake up the status quo. Apart from denoting the rights of the women as a dangerous experiment and non existence of the inherent voting rights, gaining the right to vote for the women has been denoted as a mere pointless exercise by all the anti suffrage leaders. The entire idea of staying in a world that is ruled by the patriarchal power has become so basic and normal that the anti-suffragists were okay with being under the terms of equality among men and women.

The several tactics by the anti suffragists could not diminish the spirits of the activists of the suffrage movement. Just like the anti suffrage posts, the national women’s suffrage published twelve major reasons why the voting rights of the women should be legalized. One of the important figures in the women’s suffrage movement was Alice Stone Blackwell. The journalist and the human right advocate stated that it is fair and right that those who must obey the laws should have a voice in making them and those who must pay taxes should have a vote as to the size of the tax.

Conclusion

Women have been subject to dominance for a very long time. Very few societies have treated women with equivalent respect that to the men. The suffragist activists realized the inequality and wanted to fight back with the movement for ensuring equal voting rights of the women. This is because; denial of the women’s right to vote is snatching their true voices away from the politics. Taking away their civil right to vote will only result in giving more dominance to the male and finally result in further oppression of the females.

Reference

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