#doris stevens

Them <3

[Link] New article about why I love the Broadway musical "Suffs" and giving Shaina Taub her flowers.

I have attached screenshots of Helen Keller's undelivered speech courtesy of the Helen Keller Archives [Link here].

[Image descriptions:

1.) a white background with black text that says (quote) "I am proud to share in your brave work for the emancipation of woman. From my victorious fight against the dark I bring you good cheer in your world-wide battle for light, for freedom. I am deaf; but I hear the glad tidings of woman's liberation which shall soon be flung abroad through the land. I am blind; but I

see the dawning light of a new day when there

shall be no woman enslaved, no child robbed of the sweet joy of childhood in the war of daily bread. All earthly opposition cannot stay our onward march. For we bear the life of the world. We are strong with the uplifting sense of woman's true destiny. We are strong with mother-love and the unconquerable mind, and such power is irresistible!

I ask nothing for myself, I am not among the victims of unjust laws. But with my whole heart I cry aloud for freedom that shall right the wrongs of all my sisters who are oppressed. I call for freedom that shall save wives and mothers from being broken in" (end quote)

2.) A white background with black text that says (quote) "ill-requited, daylong toil. I have clasped the hands of young girls who suffer in the dismal haunts of poverty, and I

demand freedom that shall save them from overwork, misery and shame. Every child has a right to be well-born, well-nurtured and well-taught, and only the freedom of woman can guarantee him this right.

I would not belittle the value of political power, of legislation for woman. But our effort to enfranchize woman is only part of the mighty work which shall free all mankind. We are striving to win a freedom which shall quicken and ennoble the whole life of the race. That means freedom for every man and every woman to earn the sweet bread of life and eat it in content; freedom for every man to work, to achieve all the splendor of manly power; freedom for every woman to use all" (end quote)

Oberlin College Archives and Women’s Suffrage

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, the Oberlin College Libraries have created programming, digital exhibitions, social media campaigns, and publicity dedicated to Oberlin’s women throughout the years. Oberlin’s Women: A Legacy of Leadership & Activism uses materials from the Oberlin College Libraries, Archives, and Special Collections to tell their stories through a variety of exhibits.

Title photos: Suffrage Parade at Carnegie Library with individuals holding “Votes for Women” banner, 1915 Woman’s Suffrage Convention badge, May 22nd, 1916

Included in the exhibits are stories related to Oberlin women and their experience with women’s suffrage. In the course of the research for these exhibits, the College Archives staff located many fascinating materials relating to Oberlin College and suffrage.

Doris Stevens (OC 1911) was heavily involved in Suffrage activities after graduating from Oberlin College. She was a member of the National American Women Suffrage Association as an organizer for the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage. Stevens was also active in the Silent Sentinels, organized under the National Woman’s Party. This group would picket outside of the White House for women’s voting rights. The Oberlin Tribune newspaper documented her arrest for protesting outside of the White House on July 20, 1917 in the article pictured above. After the passage of the 19th Amendment, Stevens authored Jailed for Freedom (1920), which documented the Silent Sentinels’ picketing and arrests.

Doris Stevens pictured at her 25th Oberlin College reunion, 1936

Stevens did not stop fighting for women’s rights after the passage of the 19th Amendment. She went on to be the first female member of the American Institute of International Law, and her work resulted in the 1933 Convention on the Nationality of Women, which safeguarded women’s citizenship after marriage, and made sure that divorced women and their children could keep their nationalities. Stevens became the vice president of the Lucy Stone League in 1951, an organization first started for women to keep their last names after marriage, and then expanded for fighting against the discrimination of women.

Equal Suffrage League banner, Hi-O-Hi Yearbook, 1911

Suffrage activities were accepted and active at Oberlin College in the 1900s-1910s, including the Equal Suffrage League, which existed at many colleges and universities throughout the country.

While the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WTCU) at Oberlin College was founded to spread temperance ideals around Oberlin, the United States, and internationally, they also were accepting of women’s suffrage and presented multiple talks and debates on the subject. In the WCTU program from 1908-09 pictured above, Mary E. Church (Mary Church Terrell) gave a talk on suffrage on August 11.