Did you know that Julia Ward Howe also wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic? Women of that era who suffered through the Civil War, knew just as we do today that matters of war and peace are never simple. It's easy to read the Mother's Day Proclamation and think of it as a naive sentiment, but really looking back at Julia Ward Howe's life, I think she and her contemporaries well knew just how much they were asking.
Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers Who Talk, and to all the other moms out there.
My DD (16yo, Junior in HS) is in the middle of a weeks long project - ending with a historical paper for US History. They have to ID an event of the late 20th century, research secondary and primary sources, come up with a thesis, and then write a paper defending their thesis.
After much discussion, she has come up with the following thesis: That radical events and/or radical language that were used early in the women's movement led to only incremental change; significant changes came when the women's movement used political (legislation and courts) to effect change.
We've all heard Barack Obama's story many times, but I've heard very little about his mother than the (now trite) 'white woman from Kansas' line. So, I was pleased to see this biographical story in today's NYTimes. Maybe I"m the only one who was so unaware, but until today, I never even knew her name.
If you're not from Illinois, or Polish, you probably have no idea that today is Casimir Pulaski Day! Apparently only a Holiday in my fine state (and only recognized in some counties) Pulaski Day falls on the first Monday in March.
Casimir Pulaski was a Revolutionary War hero (for hire, but still).
In September 1777, Washington convinced Congress to give Pulaski temporary command of the small, new cavalry detachment. On the same day Pulaski saved military supplies and pushed back the British at the Battle of Brandywine. The next day he prevented a surprise attack at an area called Warren's Tavern. Congress acknowledged Pulaski's leadership and bravery and commissioned him as Brigadier General. He was placed in command of four light cavalry regiments....With 68 horses and 200 foot soldiers, the Pulaski Legion would become the colonists' first true fully-trained cavalry.
So while Pulaski day isn't the gorge fest that Paczki Day is, I've adorned myself in my Polish Red colors. DH's school is actually off for the day! So wish everyone a Happy Pulaski Day!
Last week, Australian Prime Minster Kevin Rudd made history by being the first head of government to formally apologize to Aboriginal (indigenous) and Torres Strait Islander Australians for one of the darkest chapters of Australian history – the so-called Stolen Generation. From the late 1800s (approximately) to 1969, successive Australian governments maintained policies that mandated children of Aboriginal parents were to be taken away – removed from their families, their homes and their land to be rehoused in orphanages and institutions "for their own good" to be "resocialized" in Anglo-Australian customs and culture. The goal was that these removed children would intermarry and after "five or six" generations, all traces of their Aboriginal characteristics and culture would be eradicated.
It is believed that more than 100,000 children were forcibly removed, according to a landmark . You can imagine the outcomes, both psychological and physical, I’m sure. To understand what 100,000 children means in a country like Australia, here’s some context from the 1997 government report Bringing Them Home:
Nationally we can conclude with confidence that between one in three and one in ten Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and communities in the period from approximately 1910 until 1970. In certain regions and in certain periods the figure was undoubtedly much greater than one in ten. In that time not one family has escaped the effects of forcible removal (confirmed by representatives of the Queensland and WA Governments in evidence to the Inquiry). Most families have been affected, in one or more generations, by the forcible removal of one or more children.
Mothertalkers, I need your help. I'm speaking at the South Sound Technology Conference tomorrow, as part of a panel on "How Blogging Has Changed Parenting." I'm going to kick it off with some thoughts on the history of parenting blogs. (Mom blogs in particular.) Some of you have been around the parenting blog world longer than others, do you think this is a reasonable and fair description of the development of parenting blogs?
Today, Sunday, August 26th, marks the 87th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. Before 1920, women were not full citizens of the USA - and both my grandmothers were born before 1920.
The movement formally began in 1848. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention. This convention was not just about the right to vote, but about the right to be educated, to practice professions, and to own property. As late as the 1960's, a married woman could not have credit in her own name. The university I attended did not admit women until 1970 - why waste a technical education on someone who would only become a mother? Justice Sandra Day O'Connor graduated with honors (3rd of 102) in the same class at Stanford Law School as William Rehnquist, yet could not find private employment as an attorney upon graduation. She was, however, offered a job as a legal secretary. Only the public sector would hire a woman.
In 1915, writer Alice Duer Miller wrote this to counter condescending arguments about why women shouldn't vote:
Why We Don't Want Men to Vote
- Because man's place is in the army.
- Because no really manly man wants to settle any question otherwise than by fighting about it.
- Because if men should adopt peaceable methods women will no longer look up to them.
- Because men will lose their charm if they step out of their natural sphere and interest themselves in other matters than feats of arms, uniforms, and drums.
- Because men are too emotional to vote. Their conduct at baseball games and political conventions shows this, while their innate tendency to appeal to force renders them unfit for government.
Happy Anniversary ladies! This diary isn't really flying over at DKos, where it's hard for women's issues to float to the top. Thought it might get a better reception here.
Eighty-seven years ago today -- August 26, 1920 -- the U.S. Constitution was amended for the 19th time. The Susan B. Anthony Amendment added these words to the Constitution:
I think it's appropriate that here at MotherTalkers, we take a moment to appreciate the only US currency that depicts a mother and child: the Sacagawea Dollar.
The coin shows Sacagawea, a Shoshone Indian woman, and her son, Jean Baptiste. Sacagawea was 6 months pregnant when she joined the Lewis & Clark expedition, and gave birth en route. There are no portraits of her; the artist for the coin used a modern young Shoshone woman as a model.
Are you wearing red today?
