Susan B Anthony Day
Anna-Susan Carmichael smiled to herself as she clicked off the small wall-mounted television in her bedroom, slid down until her head rested on the pillows she'd been leaning against, and pulled the down comforters over her shoulders. Yawning as sleep began overtaking her thoughts, she wondered what her namesake great-great aunt might think of the day's Women's March. She had greatly enjoyed meeting Dr. Temperance Brennan, whose speech preceded hers. Quite a remarkable scientist! The pair had enjoyed a stimulating conversation at the post-March reception that left Anna-Susan wishing to know Dr. Brennan better. Not to mention her cadre of friends, interns, and impressive scientist associates! The group seemed more like a family than a working team of highly-skilled expert professionals. Before parting ways, she had requested Dr. Brennan's contact information to stay in touch.
Among coroners, Dr. Saroyan was every bit as renowned and qualified as Brennan in anthropology, Mrs. Hodgins-Montenegro was not only a talented artist but a savvy IT analyst as well. She knew the Jeffersonian only hosted top interns for their doctoral dissertation programs. Close relationships among colleagues provided optimal working environments yet most female employees nipped and sniped at each other. But these women genuinely liked one another, and it showed in the case results they achieved despite a continually-heavy case load. She wished her co-workers and she could share such a bond.
Had such a women's march been held in the early 1850's, the participants might have worn bloomer dresses instead of pink knitted hats. First touted in the October 1849 issue of the Water-Cure Journal as a healthier mode of dress for women than currently fashionable heavy floor length skirts, numerous of starched petticoats, and organ-compressing whale-bone corsets. It quoted one medical professor who declared that female cadavers were useless for anatomical studies if the lady had worn corsets during her lifetime, so deformed and misplaced were the internal organs from years of such unnatural constriction.
An early health reformer Mary Nichols had written and gathered signatures endorsing a declaration of independence from despotic fashion trends. Lowell Massachusetts textile mill owners had thrown a dinner party for their female employees who chose to wear the safer dress in their factories. Her previously straight-laced Quaker ancestor Susan B Anthony and other female suffrage advocates had adopted the style, calling it their 'freedom dress' as a symbol of women's rights. The trend only lasted a few years, but it foreshadowed the white garb later worn during early 20th century suffrage marches.
Growing up, Anna-Susan was greatly pleased any time her famous forebearer was recognized for her seminal emancipation work, especially when a stamp bearing her likeness was published, and a very useful dollar coin, the first to depict a woman, was minted. It had taken long enough; and enormous personal effort. At 16, she had called for integrated schools, businesses, and churches; collecting petitions against slavery in 1837. When Susan first began fomenting for feminine rights, the public accused her of seeking to destroy marriage. How untrue! As the second oldest of seven children, her great-great aunt loved her reform-minded family, siblings, parents, her classroom and young students. But she advocated for lenient divorce laws, in cases of abandonment or abuse; and believed that fathers should no more own and control their wives and children than slaves.
Anna-Susan knew that the earlier Susan had met Elizabeth Cady Stanton, an 1848 Seneca Falls Convention leader who had promoted its controversial women's suffrage resolution. While Stanton was brainy and excelled at writing, Anthony was a born organizer. Lizzie Stanton was saddled with the care of her seven children; Susan was unmarried, unencumbered, and ready to travel. She watched the Stanton kids while their mother wrote, becoming a second mother to them. Mr. Stanton once declared, "Susan stirred the puddings, Elizabeth stirred up Susan, and then Susan stirs up the world!" Talking about her friend, his wife added, "I forged the thunderbolts, she fired them." A room for her was included in every house the Stantons occupied.
Between the two of them, these ladies' collaborative efforts advanced women's rights more effectively than in any other area of the country. In 1878, they formulated a Constitutional amendment granting women the vote. After Senator Aaron Sargent of California presented it on the chamber floor, it was dubbed the 'Susan B Anthony Amendment' and she had high hopes for its timely passage. A few years earlier in 1872, Anthony had expected imprisonment for refusing to pay a fine when she was arrested and convicted for voting in Rochester, but New York government officials in her hometown gave her a bye. Perhaps the tide of exclusion was turning, she'd thought. But it would take until 1920 for ratification to be achieved. Sadly, too many reformers felt that slavery must be abolished before suffrage could be their focus. Short-sighted fools! "The Men, even the best of them, seem to think the women's Rights question should be waived for the present. So let us do our own work, and in our own way."
She was aghast in 1865 when a proposed amendment giving African Americans citizenship, but only the men. Anthony agreed with Stanton's opinion that "if that word 'male' be inserted, it will take us a century at least to get it out!" A.S. thought ruefully that her great-great aunt's friend wasn't far off in her assessment. Avoiding marriage made Susan B Anthony a valuable asset to the suffrage movement, since she could sign business contracts, earn fees for her 75-100 public speaking engagements each year, and travel freely. She was a skilled fund-raiser, who lived simply and sought no personal gain, gaining admiration from even those who disliked her objectives. A.S. was delighted to learn that a 1913 Life Magazine cover depicted Susan B Anthony in Greco-Roman attire leading a suffrage protest. She stashed so many books in her sister's attic, their weight threatened the house. Her birthday, February 15th has been observed as a Wisconsin suffrage-observance state holiday since 1976, but taking it national never gained traction.
The Women's March was a continuation of her ancestor's crusade, and while the Quaker-raised octogenarian might not have completely approved of some current participants' attire, Anna-Susan sleepily decided her great-great aunt would have heartily endorsed its outspoken atmosphere. And very likely donned a pink knitted cap over her neatly-wound bun as well.
Anna-Susan smiled at what a sight that would be. She reached for a datebook and pen she kept on her bedside table, and scribbled herself a reminder before nodding off to invite Temperance Brennan and her friends for lunch in the coming weeks.
