{"id":44928,"date":"2019-12-11T09:31:09","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T13:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=44928"},"modified":"2019-12-11T09:34:14","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T13:34:14","slug":"race-and-class-in-womens-suffrage-cartoons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2019\/12\/race-and-class-in-womens-suffrage-cartoons.html","title":{"rendered":"Race and Class in Women’s Suffrage Cartoons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

After yesterday\u2019s post I went looking for women\u2019s suffrage cartoons, and came upon this one, from the UK:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The point being, this well-dressed, upper class woman can clearly be trusted to make a more informed, responsible choice at the ballot box than this sloppily dressed, patched, Cockney accented man, so why can he<\/em> vote while she<\/em> can\u2019t? That\u2019s \u2026 yeah I\u2019ll just say it. That\u2019s classist.\u00a0<\/em>And more than a little cringe inducing.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a version of this that was published in the U.S.<\/a>, too:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the Irish man and the black man who are being derided as unworthy of the ballot box\u2014there\u2019s also the rich banker and the knock-kneed woodsman. And I imagine the other men there are meant to be stereotypes too. Still, the idea that white women needed to have the vote to counteract uneducated votes by Irish men and black men, among others, was a pro-suffrage argument.<\/p>\n

These messages were intentional and carefully tailored<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Both the NWP and NAWSA created and\u00a0perpetuated a singular image of a woman suffragist. The ideal was white, young,\u00a0educated, and middle-class. Most active suffragists were middle-class women who\u00a0had received higher education at universities like Vassar. Suffragists so\u00a0desperately wanted to distance themselves from the poor\u00a0<\/a>that they proposed a\u00a0float for a 1913 parade that included hobos. \u201cTramps,\u201d one article for the Chicago Tribune<\/em> wrote, \u201cto appear in\u00a0Washington, D.C. as horrible example.\u201d\u00a0The float was intended to show that uneducated, unmotivated homeless people had\u00a0more political authority than women with degrees and ambitions. The woman\u00a0suffragists wanted to find \u201cfour or five of the toughest hobos\u201d near the\u00a0nation\u2019s capital to sport a sign reading, \u201cbut we kin vote.\u201d\u00a0The float never made it into the parade, but the suffragists clearly resented\u00a0their relative lack of political rights.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This one confused me for a bit<\/a>, and I can\u2019t say I\u2019ve completely figured it out yet:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The text under the image reads \u201cSavagery to \u2018Civilization'\u201d and \u201cThe Indian Women: We whom you pity as drudges reached centuries ago the goal that you are now nearing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plaque to the right of the image reads:<\/p>\n

WE, THE WOMEN OF THE IROQUOIS:<\/p>\n

Own the land, the lodge, the children.
\nOurs is the right of adoption, of life or death;
\nOurs is the right to raise up and depose chiefs;
\nOurs is the right of representation at all councils;
\nOurs the right to make and abrogate treaties;
\nOurs the supervision over domestic and foreign policies;
\nOurs the trusteeship of the tribal property;
\nOur lives are valued again as high as man\u2019s.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Is the argument that Native American women were the real civilized ones all along? Or is the argument that women\u2019s suffrage would take society down into savagery? Or something else entirely?<\/p>\n

According to one website<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In this picture, Native American Iroquois women overlook women marching under a \u201cWoman Suffrage\u201d banner. In the text box, it lists the rights of Iroquois women, noting they have the political agency that is desired by suffragists. The title \u201cSavagery to \u2018civilization,\u2019\u201d is meant to emphasize how Native Americans were viewed as \u201cuncivilized,\u201d but provided more rights and equality to its members.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even if the intent is to nod positively toward women\u2019s rights among the Iroquois, this use of Native Americans in a promotional like this at a time when Native American children were being stolen from their parents and imprisoned in boarding schools where they were forced to give up their culture feels \u2026 off. The image was published in 1914, which means it came shortly after the end of the \u201cIndian Wars\u201d in the American West, which were replete with horrific massacres of Native Americans.<\/p>\n

It strikes me as very wrong to use someone\u2019s culture as an argument without also taking a strong stance against the annihilation of that people and their culture.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll finish on less of a dark note:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Is it just me, or is there some serious male fragility on display here?<\/p>\n

I have a <\/b>Patreon<\/b><\/a>! Please support my writing!\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s not just the Irish man and the black man who are being derided as unworthy of the ballot box—there’s also the rich banker and the knock-kneed woodsman. And I imagine the other men there are meant to be stereotypes too. Still, the idea that white women needed to have the vote to counteract uneducated votes by Irish men and black men, among others, was a pro-suffrage argument.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Click through to read more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":46563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nRace and Class in Women's Suffrage Cartoons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It's not just the Irish man and the black man who are being derided as unworthy of the ballot box---there's also the rich banker and the knock-kneed woodsman. And I imagine the other men there are meant to be stereotypes too. 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