Women Easily Forget Our Own History

Sisterhood among women is more important than ever in today's world.

Turn of the century American women were on the upward climb for their "God-given rights" Photo: King family archive

(SALEM, Ore.) - If we forget, we will not learn. How can we help our daughters and other women in our lives if we ourselves do not know how recently all women did not have basic civil rights in the United States? It's a convenient detail to leave out in history, they brush over the Suffrage movement like it was a fad. What an insult.

Do you know who Susan B. Anthony was? Besides the coin, of course. Few people do, which is an atrocity to our educational system.

Almost 160 years ago, a young Susan B. Anthony left her home in Rochester, New York to attend a national women’s rights convention in Syracuse. She was lucky. Her parents were Quakers and did not believe in treating their daughters different from their sons, so they all learned to read and write, equally.

When Susan arrived at the convention, historians say she was so moved by one of the speakers, Lucy Stone, that she dedicated herself to seeking equality for American women, who at the time had no legal protection against domestic violence and abuse. None.

Susan determined that there was one clear way to stop the brutality: Women needed to win the right to vote. (Women couldn't own land, either!)

Susan B. Anthony was arrested after voting illegally in a presidential election, going to federal trial in 1873.

She was convicted. Being merely a woman, she wasn't even allowed to represent herself in court. She refused to pay her fine of $100. While the trial attracted national attention, it was still ANOTHER 47 years before American women were legally allowed to vote. Even when the Civil War had ended, and black men were allowed to vote...their wives were left behind- for decades!

The rights of women have always been an uncomfortable topic, I think mostly because it makes men defensive. Well I do believe they have plenty to feel bad about, so I suppose that's where that response comes from.

Women have had to fight for even the smallest consolations when their male partners enjoyed the life, liberty and happiness promised to them by America's fore fathers. From the right to protect the integrity of our bodies and have personal autonomy, to the right to hold public office, to receive fair wages and equal pay for equal work, to receive proper education, to own property, to serve in our military, to have parental rights over our own children, the right to choose, and of course, the right to vote.

None of these things has been given to women. None was a simple assumption, or a nod. Each of these issues and many, many more have been fought for by courageous people against much adversity and social rebuke. And, none of it happened in the too distant past, in fact, it's all fairly recent history.

"If we do not learn from our past, we are doomed to repeat it", isn't that the way the saying goes?

This is a perfect example of that life lesson. If we don't teach our children the truth in our history, they will not be better people than those that have come before. They should get to live with the benefits of our ancestors, what they fought for should be remembered, appreciated, and, in many cases, their work continued.

I think my grandmother, and yours, would want us to be the women in history that they dreamed of. So go tell your story to your children, girls and boys, and tell them to do the same someday.

It is far too easy for women to lose touch with their inner strengths, as life in itself is a distraction from being true to oneself. So now and then, it is important to ground ourselves, remember from whence we came, and look around to be sure we have not lost any ground while commuting, sweating over bills or putting the kids to bed.

Remember, sisterhood is more than just a cliche, it's a survival guide.

View articles written by Bonnie King