women Archives - Page 4 of 6 - Ramblin' with Roger

Previously I mentioned Put a woman on the $20 bill when trying to winnow the list down from 15 choices. At the time, I voted for Margaret Sanger, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tubman. My bias was against voting for anyone born in the 20th century, although I gave consideration to Rachel Carson.

From the website: “Eleanor Roosevelt, Harriet Tubman, and Rosa Parks were named by as many as half of the voters in the Primary Round as one of their top three! Because of strong public sentiment that people should have the choice of a Native American to replace Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller, was added to the final ballot.”

In the final round, I remain disinclined to vote for people who were alive in my lifetime. Wilma Mankiller (b. 1945), Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation and first elected female Chief of a Native nation in modern times, died only in 2010, and I know relatively little about her.

While I admire Rosa Parks (b. 1913), I’ve thought that, as she was hardly the first person to refuse to go to the back of the bus, though she was the “proper” choice. Moreover, she died in 2005.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 – 1962) actually died in my lifetime as well, but I’m such a fan, I seriously considered her. A friend of mine was opposed to her because she served from a position of privilege, but I LIKE it when the well-to-do act to help those less fortunate.

Still, Harriet Tubman (c.1822 – 1913) was remarkable.

She returned to the South an estimated 19 times to rescue her family and others from bondage as a “conductor” on… the Underground Railroad, an elaborate secret network of safe houses leading to freedom in the North. Later, with her intimate knowledge of the geography and transportation systems of the South, she became a valuable asset to the Union army as a spy and scout.

After the war, Tubman continued her service to others. She advocated for education and property for freed slaves in the South and she cared for the elderly and poor. Later, she joined the early campaigners for women’s equality and suffrage.

Her Herculean accomplishments were attributed to extraordinary courage, shrewdness and determination. The Quaker Thomas Garrett said of her, “If she had been a white woman, she would have been heralded as the greatest woman of her age.”

I don’t know how long the voting will last. The previous round lasted five weeks, from March 1st to April 5th. I assume this final round will end soon, so vote now.

Put a women on the $20 bill

His face on our money implies an honor that Andrew Jackson’s legacy doesn’t deserve.

Only very recently, I came across the website Women On 20s, which “aims to compel historic change by convincing President Obama that NOW is the time to put a woman’s face on our paper currency… With at least 100,000 votes, we can get the President’s ear. That’s how many names it takes to petition the White House for executive action.”

I got here late, so participants have already winnowed down the list from 30 to 15 candidates.

The process is quite self-explanatory:

1. Primary Voting. You may vote for three of 15 candidates…

2.Final Round Voting. When the Primary winners are announced, return to the voting booth to cast your ballot for one of the top three finalists.

3.Decision Day. On Decision Day, we will announce the people’s choice for the woman we’ll propose to President Obama for the new face of the $20.

Why the $20?

“The year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment that granted women the right to vote. So it seems fitting to commemorate that milestone by voting to elevate women to a place that is today reserved exclusively for the men who shaped American history. That place is on our paper money. And that new portrait can become a symbol of greater changes to come.”

Why boot Andrew Jackson from the $20?

As this Slate article from 2014 put it:

Andrew Jackson engineered a genocide through the “Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears, [his] campaigns to force at least 46,000 Cherokees, Choctaws, Muscogee-Creeks, Chickasaws, and Seminoles off their ancestral lands.”

Moreover:
“He was a fierce opponent of paper money and the central banking system, and would probably be horrified to see his face on our national currency. Leaving him on the bill as a form of mockery could be the best insult. But complicated historical slights don’t translate: His face on our money implies an honor that Jackson’s legacy doesn’t deserve. Worse, it obscures the horrors of his presidency.”

Here are the candidates:

ALICE PAUL (1885 – 1977) – women’s suffrage movement leader
BETTY FRIEDAN (1921 – 2006) – author of the Feminine Mystique
SHIRLEY CHISHOLM (1924 – 2005) – first black woman elected to Congress
SOJOURNER TRUTH (C.1797 – 1883) – famous for her journeys on the underground railroad
RACHEL CARSON (1907 – 1964) – writer of the important environmental book Silent Spring

ROSA PARKS (1913 – 2005) – civil rights activist
BARBARA JORDAN (1936 – 1996) – first black woman in the South to be elected to the US House of Representatives
MARGARET SANGER (1879 – 1966) – opened the first birth control clinic in the US
PATSY MINK (1927 – 2002) – first woman of color elected to the House, and the first Asian American elected to Congress
CLARA BARTON (1821 – 1912) – the founder of the American Red Cross

HARRIET TUBMAN (C.1822 – 1913) – women’s rights activist and abolitionist
FRANCES PERKINS (1880 – 1965) – Secretary of Labor under FDR, first woman appointed to the US Cabinet
SUSAN B. ANTHONY (1820 – 1906) – women’s suffrage movement leader
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT (1884 – 1962) – human rights activist and former first Lady
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON (1815 – 1902) – women’s rights activist and abolitionist

The organizers claim they have mechanisms in place to prevent “stuffing the ballot.”

The Washington Post noted that “the group has been ‘sort of surprised at the lack of opposition’ to the campaign, and… hopes it will ‘get this conversation going.'”

Women on $20s executive director Susan Ades Stone added, “We wanna be the hashtag that says #sorryAndrew.”

The C-word and other things that bother me

I’m not a big fan of Joni Ernst, the recently-elected US Senator from Iowa, who gave the Republican response to President Obama’s 2015 State of the Union address. IMNSHO, she has some wacky ideas, and is a bit of a hypocrite.

Still, I got extremely irritated when I saw her referred to online as a “stupid c@#!”. The “stupid” part, frankly, didn’t bother me all that much, but the reduction of a woman to a body part, using a term not historically used in civil conversation, really got me enraged.

And I see it a lot, when some comment about women whose views they don’t share: former Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin (R-AK), former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D-NY), former Presidential contender Michelle Bachmann (R-MN), House minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), or Holly Hobby Lobby, among others.

It’s not dissimilar to saying of a black person, whose ideas that you disagree with, is a “stupid n@#$%!”, suggesting the stupidity comes from his or her blackness. But the C-word infuriates me more because, while most decent people will call out obvious racism, some (comedian Bill Maher, I’m talking about YOU) seem to justify their sexism because they’re “comedians” or “commentators” or some other BS.

An obituary for COLLEEN McCullough, Australia’s best-selling author, was a piece of work. “Plain of feature, and certainly overweight, she was, nevertheless, a woman of wit and warmth.”

Speaking of condescending: US Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) shushes CNBC reporter Kelly Evans during an interview. If he decides to run for President, his opponents should run this clip repeatedly.

Female veteran finds a nasty note on her car after parking in ‘reserved for veterans’ spot, because only men go to war these days.

Male professors are brilliant, awesome, and knowledgeable. Women are bossy and annoying, and beautiful or ugly.

The best thing about the SONY hack – Exposing the pay gap between male and female stars.

The War On Women 2015 in the US. Of course, it could be worse: No Pardon – Young Woman To Serve 30 Years For Miscarriage in El Salvador. Oh, wait: Indiana Convicts Its First Pregnant Person of ‘Feticide’.

Unknown heroes: Harriet Elizabeth Brown

Harriet Elizabeth Brown (February 10, 1907 — January 1, 2009) is a member of the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame.

From the Zinn Education Project:

Harriet Elizabeth Brown was a Calvert County (MD) school teacher in the 1930s. In 1937, she became aware that white teachers were making almost twice the salary of black teachers who had the same level of education and experience. She contacted NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall who worked with her to sue the county based on a violation of the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

On December 27, 1937, the case was settled. The result was that the Calvert County Board of Education agreed to equalize the salaries of white and black teachers. The case helped pave the way for the Maryland Teachers Pay Equalization Law and eventually changes in the state and country.

Harriet Elizabeth Brown (February 10, 1907 — January 1, 2009) is a member of the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame.

The invisible women of the Civil Rights Movement.

Photo of Harriet Elizabeth Brown courtesy of the Maryland State Archives.