Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The Woman in the Cupboard



Today is Election Day in the United States. It’s the culmination of a hard fought, often nasty, verbal battle. For some people, (perhaps most) it’s a huge relief that the whole thing is over. For others, it’s just another day. They don’t participate, believing their vote doesn’t count. For me, Election Day is special and exciting.

However, I didn’t always feel that way until a vacation to London. During my visit, an English friend and I met up at Parliament and listened to a lively debate. Afterward we walked to a lobby where several Members of Parliament (MPs) congregated. A few surreptitiously pulled my journalist friend aside to give him “scoops” for his newspaper. One MP recognized my American accent and kindly offered to show us around, including a chapel in the House of Commons.

A guard unlocked the chapel door and we walked into an elaborately decorated room with stained glass windows, a vaulted ceiling and an intricately tiled floor. But the MP didn’t linger. He led us to the back of the room, out one side, up several stairs and stopped in front of a rather ordinary looking wooden door. Opening it, he motioned for us to step inside what appeared to be a janitor’s closet. Staying outside, he closed the door. My friend and I looked at each other, bewildered why we were standing in a tiny closet next to an upright Hoover.

Sensing our confusion the MP called out, “Look at the plaque on the door.” The plaque was dedicated to the brave suffragette, Emily Wilding Davison, who hid in the broom cupboard (closet) the night before the 1911 census and emerged during the next day’s count. Why did she commit this act of defiance? So she could legally write that her place of residence on census day was the House of Commons and thus claim that she had the same political rights as men.

I wondered how Emily Davison felt as she waited alone in the darkness and suffocating silence of the closet. Was she scared not knowing what would happen once she was discovered? Or, while curled up in this cramped space waiting for morning, did she fortify herself by envisioning a time when she, her daughters and future generations of women could vote?

I knew that suffragettes had been jailed, tortured, ridiculed and shunned while pursuing the right for women to vote. But it seemed so long ago and not relevant to my life. Yet, with a flash of insight, I realized that less than one hundred years ago it was illegal for women to vote in the U.S.!  A right I took for granted.

I returned to the U.S. with a changed perspective. Now, in addition to a right, I feel that it is a privilege and a responsibility to vote. When I mark my ballot I feel grateful for women in the U.S. and other countries who had a dream and fought for the right to vote…so I can vote. I am hopeful that one day everyone will have be able to have a say in their government.
 
To see the plaque dedicated to Emily Wilder Davison, go to: http://www.explore-parliament.net/playMovie.htm?nssMovieName=0902

9 comments:

  1. Kara,

    Regardless of how you voted, I am glad you choose to keep your voting franchise. Although the 19th amendment of the constitution provided voting rights for women, the 15th amendment had done the same for black men, but nearly 100 years after its passage most blacks in the south were unable to vote for various state and local imposed roadblocks.

    Today there is a move to disenfranchise those for whom obtaining a state approved ID card is prohibitive (due to cost, mobility, destroyed birth records, etc.) To retain our right to vote we need to remain vigilant.

    So hopping off that soap box, I'll go back to Women's Suffrage. The Liberty Party and its candidate Gerrit Smith in 1848 had a plank calling for universal suffrage (all races, all sexes). My great-great-great grandfather James Caleb Jackson had worked as an abolitionist circuit rider for Gerrit Smith in the 1830s and early 1840s and was present at the founding of the Liberty Party. He became the first editor of the Madison County Abolitionist, the Liberty Party's newspaper (later named the liberty Press.

    I'm not sure (because right now all the family history is buried in boxes from a recent move) if he was at the 1848 Liberty Party Buffalo Convention or later that summer at the Seneca Falls Convention that many credit as bringing Woman's Suffrage to a national stage. I think he was then ill so did not attend. In any event he knew all the players, shared their aspirations, made speeches with them and on their behalf.

    With that hard fought history in my DNA (only partially diluted by 5 generations of strong, opinionated women) I too am a strong supporter of giving all citizens the right to vote--and then holding them responsible for exercising their right.

    Thanks to all who vote in these elections, even if you cancel out my votes.

    ~ Jim

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  2. Wow, what an interesting and inspirational background you have, Jim. I feel strongly about every citizen having the right to vote. You might have heard of the scare tactics that were used in Cleveland threatening anyone that had had a felony in their background wasn't allowed to vote. It didn't matter if it was stealing a car years ago as a teenager, the big billboards threatened you'd be committing another felony and could be arrested.

    I've only missed voting two times in my long life, both because I was unable to go. I feel very strongly everyone should take that right of ours no matter how inconvenient it is.

    The biggest thing bothering me about this election is the huge amounts of money from outside our state of Ohio by secret donors that's being poured into ads. I think everyone should know where that money is coming from.

    Very good blog, Kara. Thanks for writing and posting it.

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  3. I think it is outrageous that Republican Secretaries of State in several states have done everything possible to limit access to voting especial for groups they believe usually vote for Democrats. I have voted and I urge everyone who can to vote.

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  4. Jim, you have an amazing family tree! It must be fascinating reading your family history.

    Perhaps James Caleb Jackson will make an appearance in one of your books.

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  5. I’m impressed that you have voted in all elections except two, Gloria!

    I also would like to follow the money trail to find out who is really paying for some of these ads. It could lead in all sorts of directions.

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  6. Warren, I expect there will be a number of lawsuits because of restricted access to voting. Also, I read there is an ongoing multi-state investigation into a contractor who was seen throwing away voter registration applications.

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  7. Voting took 10 minutes this morning. My daughter and I left at 8:15 a.m. and were home by 8:30 a.m. Such a small commitment for such a essential part of the democratic process. Thanks for telling us that story, Kara. I hadn't heard it before. We have some awesome ladies to thank for this right.

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  8. I think it’s wonderful that you and your daughter went to vote together, E.B. And rather exciting it took just 10 minutes! (I hope I'm that lucky when I vote this evening.)

    They are awesome ladies and I believe there are a number of stories waiting to be told.

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  9. Great bit of history here. Thanks for educating us!

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