Bookstagram storytime - Excerpts from Suffragettes, part 2

Like I mentioned in my review of Suffragettes: The Fight for Votes of Women, an anthology about British female suffrage edited by Joyce Marlow, I screenshot excerpts from each chapter and began posting them in Instagram story format, often including reactions and/or snarky commentary :D xD (still at it on @martaluthien, you can find the story highlight here). I thought it would be interesting to post these excerpts in a couple of posts here as well, so here goes :)

Chapter 2: 1903-mid 1909 suffrage (Open in new tab for full size pics)

• Suffrajitsu!

Artwork from graphic novel Suffrajitsu by Tony Wolf and Joao Vieira

• Male allies

-Israel Zangwill (1864-1926): Jewish British author who endorsed feminism and pacifism. He married author and feminist activist Edith Ayrton, who joined the WSPU (Women's Social and Political Union) and helped form the Jewish League for Women's Suffrage (Israel also became a member), which sought both political and religious rights for women.

Edith Ayrton Zangwill and Israel Zangwill

• Progress, little by little

A group of women students in academic dress, 190o (source)

A chemistry class in 1901, with the small number of female students grouped together in the front row (source)

• Battle Songs

They sing another suffrage anthem in a scene from the film Suffragette (2015)

• Subversive chains

-Flora Drummond (1878-1949): "British suffragette. Nicknamed "the General" for her habit of leading Women's Rights marches wearing a military style uniform 'with an officers cap and epaulettes' and riding on a large horse, Drummond was an organiser for the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and was imprisoned nine times for her activism in the Women's Suffrage movement. Drummond's main political activity was organising and leading rallies, marches and demonstrations. She was an accomplished and inspiring orator and had a reputation for being able to put down hecklers with ease." (Source)

'General' Flora Drummond :D

• The stigma of feminism

• Erudite prisoners

• Suffragist in an airship

Tackling the Patriarchy from the sky :D

"On 16 February 1909, (...) to gain attention and to promote the suffrage cause, Matters decided to hire a dirigible air balloon (...) and intended to shower the King and the Houses of Parliament with WFL pamphlets (...). With the airship emblazoned with "Votes for Women" on one side and "Women's Freedom League" on the other, it rose to a height of 3,500 ft. Matters scattered 56Ib of handbills promoting the WFL's cause (...) Her balloon tactic made headlines around the world." (Source) 

 

-Muriel Matters (1877-1969): "An Australian-born suffragist, lecturer, journalist, educator, actress and elocutionist. Based in Britain from 1905 until her death, Matters is best known for her work on behalf of the Women's Freedom League during the height of the militant struggle to enfranchise women in the United Kingdom" (Source)

• 'The Suffragettes helped to change my life'

• MRAs being charming, Edwardian edition

You and me both, Missy

 

• Feminist counter-snark and satire, Edwardian edition :D

 

-'Beware! A Warning to Suffragists' is a satirical poem written by suffragist Cicely Hamilton mocking the opponents of female suffrage. This pamphlet was published in 1908 by the Artists' Suffrage League, and illustrated by three leading suffrage artists -

-Mary Lowndes (1857-1929), a British noted stained-glass artist.

-Dora Meeson Coates (1869-1955), an Australian oil painting artist.

 and

-C. Hedley-Charlton (very little is known about her), who produced the front cover image

(Sources: post1, post2 and post3).

-Cicely Hamilton (1872-1952): English actress, playwright and poet,  freelance journalist, suffragist and feminist.  

 "She is now best known for the play How the Vote was Won (...) She is also credited as author of one of the most frequently performed suffrage plays, A Pageant of Great Women (1909), which featured the character of Jane Austen as one of its "Learned Women."" (Source)

"In 1908 she joined the WSPU, but disliked the way Emmeline Pankhurst ran the organisation and soon left to join the Women's Freedom League. She was also a founder member of the Actresses' Franchise League and the Women Writers Suffrage League." (Source)

Some pages of the pamphlet, with the illustrations (all are here):

Not River, that's for sure!

 

Feminist snark is THE BEST

Missy approves about all this

Bookstagram storytime - Excerpts from Suffragettes, part 1

Like I mentioned in my review of Suffragettes: The Fight for Votes of Women, an anthology about British female suffrage edited by Joyce Marlow, I screenshot excerpts from each chapter and began posting them in Instagram story format, including reactions and/or snarky commentary :D xD (still at it on @martaluthien, you can find the story highlight here). I thought it would be interesting to post these excerpts in a couple of posts here as well, so here goes :)

Chapter 1: Victorian suffrage (Open in new tab for full size pics)

-Harriet Taylor Mill (1807-1858), philosopher and women's rights advocate, largely influenced the feminist mindset of second husband John Stuart Mills (but of course people know way less about her!).

 

-Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847-1929), intellectual, writer, activist, and leader of the non-militant suffragists.

-Elisabeth Garrett Anderson (1836-1917), Suffragist and Britain's first woman doctor.

-Emily Davies (1830-1921), Suffragist and pioneering campaigner for women's rights to university access.

 

-Lydia Becker (1827-1890), a leader in the early suffrage movement and amateur scientist with interests in astronomy and biology.

  

I'm also 100% writing future posts on all these women :D

 Meanwhile, Victorian dudebros be like *eyeroll* *facepalm*  (and things haven't changed that much in many respects, mind)

 

Also featuring Churchill and Queen Victoria being sexist af :/ -

 

 

And special MRA mention of the chapter, however, goes to this truly devout dude xD *facepalm*

If you liked this kind of thing (historical quotes+feminist snark is definitely my jam xD), there's more coming soon!

Goodreads feminist reviews - Suffragettes: The Fight for Votes of Women (Joyce Marlow)

5/5. Goodreads review here.

This is a really well-organized and researched book about women's suffrage in Britain from the Victorian times to 1928, when women were finally enfranchised. An anthology which compiles and draws on actual material from the times, it includes excerpts from letters, journals, newspapers, diaries and official documents, as well as sometimes also quoting from other books written about the events. It's organized in a way that I found really engaging and informative, showing the voices of many different women (male suffragists and allies also make an appearance) with different backgrounds and classes, motivations and mindsets. The book also shows the contrasting views of the Antis, not at all dissimilar from our modern MRAs, sexist dudebros and complicit anti-feminist women (no surprises there, we haven't come *that* far). The added notes and appendices by author Joyce Marlow are a plus for this great anthology, organizing all sources in a clear and entertaining way, with dates, names, places and events being easily put into context.

I totally recommend this book to everyone who's interested in the suffrage movement in Britain and would like to know more, especially because of the fresh and informative view that comes with an anthology with so many original, unedited and unquoted source material. Reading all those original sources was definitely a highlight for me, easily making this one of my fave feminist books. I loved delving deeper and learning more about the timeline and events of the suffrage struggle. Kudos to all those brave women!

I liked this book so much I screenshot excerpts from each chapter and began posting them in Instagram story format, including reactions and/or snarky commentary :D xD Still at it on Instagram (@martaluthien, you can find the story highlight here), and will be posting the stories here as well :)

 

'Women Who Dared' Oxford exhibition - Suffrage centenary and women in history

 Last August I went to Oxford to visit the Tolkien exhibition, and, by a lucky chance, there was also a feminist exhibition in honour of the suffrage centenary, called 'Women Who Dared', featuring both suffragette material and original manuscripts and books by and/or about women in history - writers, poetesses, scientists, pirates and soldiers. So I'm back to the blog with a pic spam about the exhibition :D! Enjoy :)

Suffrage-related shop goodies :)

And my Oxford haul, featuring both Tolkien and feminism :D:

Women in history represented in the exhibition:

• Sappho, Ancient Greek poetess:

•  Lady Ise, 9th-10th Century Japanese poetess:

•  Christine de Pizan, the first Medieval European professional female writer (14th-15th Century), with feminist writings:

• Mary Read and Anne Bonny, 17th-18th Century pirates:

  

•  Hannah Snell, 18th Century soldier

• Ada Lovelace, 19th Century mathematician and programming pioneer:

• Mabel Purefoy FitzGerald, 19th-20th Century pathologist: