Wonderful Women of The World
Posted by Michelle Moquin on March 26th, 2011
Good morning!
I loved the quote that I posted yesterday morning so much that I wanted to recognize Lucretia Mott again today as a wonderful woman of the world in honor of Women’s History Month.
I discovered this gem on Wikipedia, and I wanted to share with all of you:
Lucretia Coffin Mott (January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880) was anAmerican Quaker, abolitionist, social reformer, and proponent of women’s rights. She is credited as the first American “feminist” in the early 19th century but was, more accurately, the initiator of women’s political rights.Early life and education
James and Lucretia Mott
Lucretia Coffin was born into a Quaker family in Nantucket, Massachusetts. She was the second child of seven by Thomas Coffin and Anna Folger. At the age of thirteen, she was sent to the Nine Partners Quaker Boarding Schoolin what is now Millbrook, Dutchess County, New York, which was run by the Society of Friends. There she became a teacher after graduation. Her interest in women’s rights began when she discovered that male teachers at the school were paid four times more than the female staff.
Marriage and Family
On April 10, 1812, Lucretia Coffin married James Mott, another teacher at the Nine Partners Quaker School. They had six children. Their first child died at age five. They had numerous descendants, including some who migrated toTennessee.[citation needed]
Early anti-slavery efforts
Like many Quakers, Mott considered slavery an evil to be opposed. They refused to use cotton cloth, cane sugar, and other slavery-produced goods. In 1821 Mott became a Quaker minister. She began to speak publicly for the abolition cause, often traveling from her home in Philadelphia. Her sermons combined anti-slavery themes with broad calls for moral reform. Her husband supported her activism, and they often sheltered runaway slaves in their home. In 1833, they co-founded the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society.
By the 1830s, Mott was gaining considerable recognition as an abolitionist. It was about this time that she and her husband befriended William Lloyd Garrison. A lifelong friendship stemmed from their initial meeting. Mott and her husband became deeply involved in the national abolitionist circle. In December 1833, Garrison called a meeting to expand the New England Anti-Slavery Society. James Mott was a delegate at the Convention, but it was Lucretia Mott who made a lasting impression on attendees.
She tested the language of the Constitution and bolstered support when many delegates were precarious. Days after the conclusion of the Convention, at the urging of other delegates, Mott founded the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. The extensive participation of Blacks tightly bound the actions of the Society to the Philadelphia Black community. This female society was the first in which the voices of free Blacks were heard.[citation needed] Mott herself often preached at Black parishes.
Around this time, Mott’s sister-in-law, Abigail Lydia Mott, and brother-in-law,Lindley Murray Moore were helping to found the Rochester Anti-Slavery Society.
Amidst social persecution by abolition opponents and pain from dyspepsia, Mott continued her work for the abolitionist cause. She managed their household budget to extend hospitality to guests and still donate to charities. Mott was praised for her ability to maintain her household while contributing to the cause. In the words of one editor, “She is proof that it is possible for a woman to widen her sphere without deserting it.”[1]
Women’s political participation threatened social norms. Many members of the abolitionist movement opposed public activities by women, which were infrequent in those years. At the Congregational Church General Assembly, delegates agreed on a pastoral letter warning women that to lecture, directly defied St. Paul’s instruction for women to keep quiet in church.[citation needed] Other people opposed women’s preaching to mixed crowds of men and women, which they called “promiscuous.” Others were uncertain about what was proper, as the rising popularity of the Grimké sisters and other women speakers attracted support for abolition.
Mott was criticized for her leading role in the 1837 Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women, the same gathering that heard the powerful speaking of Angelina Grimké. Some opponents threw rotten produce at their doors. Others gathered as mobs and burned abolitionist books in protest. Mott attempted to include women in the movement by organizing fairs to raise awareness and revenue; many men regarded such activities as frivolous.[citation needed]
World Anti-Slavery Convention
In June 1840 Mott spoke at the International Anti-Slavery Convention inLondon, England. In spite of Mott’s status as one of six women delegates, before the conference began, the men voted to exclude women from participating. In addition, women delegates and attendees were required to sit in a segregated area out of sight of the men. The social mores of the time generally prohibited women’s participating in public political life. Several of the American men attending the convention, including William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips, protested the women’s exclusion. They sat with the women in the segregated area.
Activists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her husband Henry B. Stanton attended the convention while on their honeymoon. Stanton became angry when she could not see Mott during her speech.
Mott was honored when given a throne-like chair from which she could properly view the proceedings. Delegates approached her in groups of two or three to become acquainted. One Irish reporter deemed her the “Lioness of the Convention”.[2] Mott was one of the few women included in the commemorative painting of the convention.[3] Other women included in the painting were all British activists: Elizabeth Pease, Amelia Opie, Baroness Byron, Mary Anne Rawson,Mrs John Beaumont, Elizabeth Tredgold and Mary Clarkson, daughter of Thomas Clarkson.
Encouraged by the recognition at the convention and active debates in England and Scotland, Mott also returned with new energy for the cause in the United States. She continued an active public lecture schedule, with destinations including the major Northern cities of New York and Boston, as well as travel over several weeks to slave-owning states, with speeches in Baltimore, Maryland and other cities, in Virginia. She arranged to meet with slave owners to discuss the morality of slavery. In the District of Columbia, Mott timed her lecture to coincide with the return of Congress from Christmas recess; more than 40 Congressmen attended. She had a personal audience with President John Tyler who, impressed with her speech, said, “I would like to hand Mr. Calhoun [a senator and abolition opponent] over to you.”[4]
Seneca Falls Convention
Mott and Stanton became well acquainted at the International Anti-Slavery Convention. Stanton later recalled: “We resolved to hold a convention as soon as we returned home, and form a society to advocate the rights of women.”[citation needed
However, it was not until 1848 that Mott and Stanton organized a women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York. Stanton noted the Seneca Falls Convention was the first public women’s rights meeting in the United States. Stanton’s resolution that it was “the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves the sacred right to the elective franchise” was passed against Mott’s opposition. Over the next few decades, women’s suffrage became the focus of the group’s campaigning. Mott signed the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments. While Stanton is usually credited as the leader of that effort, it was Mott’s mentoring of Stanton and their work together that organized the event. Mott’s sister, Martha Coffin Wright, also helped organize the convention and signed the declaration.
Opinions
Mott parted with the mainstream women’s movement in one area, that of divorce. At that time it was very difficult to obtain divorce, and fathers were given custody of children. Stanton sought to make divorce easier to obtain and to safeguard women’s access to and control of their children. The more conservative Mott opposed any significant legal change in divorce laws.
Mott’s theology was influenced by Unitarians including Theodore Parker and William Ellery Channing as well as early Quakers including William Penn. She thought that “the kingdom of God is within man” (1749) and was part of the group of religious liberals who formed the Free Religious Association in 1807, with Rabbi Wise, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Her theological position was particularly influential among Quakers, as in the future many harked back to her positions, sometimes without even knowing it.
American Equal Rights Association
Elected as the first president of the American Equal Rights Association after the end of the Civil War, Mott strove a few years later to reconcile the two factions that split over the priorities between woman suffrage and Black male suffrage. Ever the peacemaker, Mott tried to heal the breach between Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone over the immediate goal of the women’s movement: suffrage for freedmen and all women, or suffrage for freedmen first?
Writing
In 1850, Mott wrote Discourse on Woman, a book about restrictions on women in the United States. She became more widely known after this. When slavery was outlawed in 1865, she began to advocate giving Black Americans the right to vote. She remained a central figure in the women’s movement as a peacemaker, a critical function for that period of the movement, until her death at age 87 in 1880.
Swarthmore
In 1864 Mott and several other Hicksite Quakers incorporated Swarthmore Collegelocated near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which today remains one of the premierliberal-arts colleges in the United States [5].
Organizations
In 1866 Mott joined with Stanton, Anthony, and Stone to establish the American Equal Rights Association. She was a leading voice in the Universal Peace Union, also founded in 1866. The following year, the organization became active in Kansas where Negro suffrage and woman suffrage were to be decided by popular vote.
Death
Mott died on November 11, 1880 of pneumonia at her home, Roadside, in [[Cheltenham, Pennsylvania],]when she was 87. And was buried in the Quaker Fairhill Burial Ground in North Philadelphia. She is commemorated in a sculpture by Adelaide Johnson at the United States Capitol, unveiled in 1921. In 1983, she was posthumously (after death) inducted into the U.S. National Women’s Hall of Fame.
Descendant in like work
Her great-granddaughter, an American then living in Rome, Italy, was feministBetty Friedan’s interpreter there for a controversial speaking engagement.[6]
Biographical Excerpts
- Carl Schurz first met Mott in 1854. He described her in his autobiography published in 1906: Lucretia Mott, a woman, as I was told, renowned for her high character, her culture, and the zeal and ability with which she advocated various progressive movements. To her I had the good fortune to be introduced by a German friend. I thought her the most beautiful old lady I had ever seen. Her features were of exquisite fineness. Not one of the wrinkles with which age had marked her face, would one have wished away. Her dark eyes beamed with intelligence and benignity. She received me with gentle grace, and in the course of our conversation, she expressed the hope that, as a citizen, I would never be indifferent to the slavery question as, to her great grief, many people at the time seemed to be.
- Editorial, Time and Tide (9 July 1926): Beginning with Mary Wollstonecraft in the late 18th century, the feminist movement owed its next big impetus (in the eighteen forties and fifties) to Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony, of New England. It was Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth C. Stanton who organised the first Equal Rights Convention which was held in New York in 1848; and it was Lucretia Mott who laid down the definite proposition which American women are still struggling to implement today: ‘Men and Women shall have Equal Rights throughout the United States.’
“I have no idea of submitting tamely to injustice inflicted either on me or on the slave. I will oppose it with all the moral powers with which I am endowed. I am no advocate of passivity.”
~Lucretia Mott
Readers: Isn’t it just disgusting that men called women “frivolous” for organizing faires to raise awareness and revenue for anti-slavery and women? And that women, preaching in a mixed crowd of men and women, were called “promiscuous”?! How ridiculous is that? Some men will do and say anything to try and shut a woman up.
But in spite of it all, Mott was tenacious, and successful in her endeavors – And she took on quite a few. I applaud her with great gratitude.
Comments? Blog me.
AH: Considering I found this on Wikipedia, anything you can add here or adjust if necessary? And since biographies don’t usually get into the intimate personal details of life, and I hear Ms. Mott was quite the looker..anything salacious you can tell us about her? :) Do tell. Thanks. I HOPE you three are enjoying yourselves.
PEACE OUT. HAPPY SATURDAY EVERYONE!
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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March 26th, 2011 at 10:18 am
Nice post, Michelle. Great information!
The first, real “maverick” in the American political charade has left this realm…
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42283362/ns/politics-more_politics/&2
March 26th, 2011 at 11:07 am
AH:
First of all, I would like to say hello to you, Bita and Adam. We have not heard much from you for a while. At least I haven’t.
I will start by asking about the assassination of a President Lincoln.
If Allan Pinkerton, the world’s first “private detective” in was appointed Chief of the Secret Service of the Army of the Potomac and made responsible for President Lincoln’s security, Why was President Lincoln Assassinated by Booth?
I understand why you travel to different times to find out the mysteries of history. I would love to join you, but it is not my destiny. The condition of the World at the present time is not very comfortable.
Although you are an enhanced Human, you are still a bad driver. I would stick to observing and reporting historical inconsistencies as you do so well, and enjoying the company of Bita and Adam.
Many bloggers want to hear what you have to say about the past which has been warped by those who have transcribed it to history books. As you know firsthand, history is written by those who have something to gain by reporting it. Even biographies of notorious Old West bandits and serial killers have been put down in writing by the ones who had a reputation to gain by telling it (their publishers, Attorneys etc.).
I enjoyed your comment concerning Mary “Bricktop” (red head) Jackson” – a Female bandit. I like the way you will be writing these stories – Not being politically correct, but mirroring the male philosophy of the times. Not sanitizing it.
OK, AH, I am ready to hear about Mr. Lincoln.
HOWIE
March 26th, 2011 at 11:53 am
Never Open with a Joke
Bill Lane
Whether you’re giving a pitch to your boss or a presentation before the town council, how you communicate your ideas can be as important as the ideas themselves.
Unfortunately, mistakes by presenters are common and make it less likely that the audience will pay attention to or accept the message. Here’s what helps presentations succeed…
Open by telling audience members why they must listen and reassuring them that you will be brief. If you can’t come up with an attention-grabbing opening, try a version of the following…
“Listen folks, I’ve got only five minutes of your time, but there’s something you really need to know because it could become a major problem (or opportunity) for everyone in this room.”
Never open with a joke, which can make you look like a lightweight. Opening with a powerful anecdote relevant to the topic can be very effective.
Prepare your presentation based on the person or people you are speaking to, not just what you want to say.
What topics interest your listeners? What are their greatest challenges? What’s the personality of the key audience member (someone who can influence your career)?
What statements or topics make this key audience member upset? What follow-up questions does he/she tend to ask speakers?
Find out as much as you can before you even start to write your speech. The greatest sin in public speaking is giving a presentation without first developing a clear picture of your audience.
Ask for advice from people who have made presentations to these individuals in the past. Also, call the key audience member and ask what he most wants your presentation to provide.
Make it shorter. Shorter presentations are better — always. Assume that your first draft is too long, and cut it… then do the same with drafts two through four.
Example: At General Electric, Jack Welch shortened the length of most presentations at general manager meetings from 20 minutes to 10 (although the CEO’s “closing remarks” could be longer). The presentations were as informative as ever.
To keep presentations brief…
Reread every paragraph, asking yourself, What will listeners take away from this? Remove anything that isn’t a take-away idea — something the audience can remember and use.
Eliminate most/all background information and explanations of methodology. Few audience members care about these things.
Avoid phrases that signal a long presentation, such as, “Later I’ll cover… ” or “Today I’m going to discuss the 10 things… ”
Consider PowerPoint your enemy. This computer program has become a standard tool for presenters — and it always hurts them.
Complicated, bullet point-laden PowerPoint slides distract from what you’re saying and block the connection that you’re trying to build with the audience — particularly if you turn your back to read the bullet points.
Use PowerPoint only to depict occasional and dramatic points. Once your audience has had a moment to absorb a slide, clear the screen to return the focus to you.
Temper success stories. When you give a speech about a big success, audience members’ BS detectors start running on high. Add a paragraph about what you could have done better, and you will enhance your credibility.
Personal interviewed Bill Lane, manager, executive communications, for General Electric from 1983 to 2002 and speechwriter for longtime chairman and CEO Jack Welch.
Based in Easton, Connecticut, he is author of Jacked Up: The Inside Story of How Jack Welch Talked GE into Becoming the World’s Greatest Company (McGraw-Hill).
March 26th, 2011 at 1:01 pm
Before we venture into the Year 1862, I would like to address an issue Adam tested me with. I do not know if Claudia was part of the test or if she accidentally presented Adam with an opportunity to measure the acumen of an earthling, me.
So, Claudia if you are not working for Adam, then I should tell you that Marie was an alien. She was a time traveler. That was why she met so many key figures during that period.
What you know of Marie is the trail she left as a result of her active involvement in her time travels. There will be a trail that I will leave because I have worked for many news organizations as I write my columns.
I am careful not to get involved with the people I write about. Marie was not as careful to remain at arms length from the people she made contact with. As a result the history of France was changed.
If it were not for Marie changing history, France would still have a monarchy today. They would be descended from King Louis XVII. Queen Marie and her son Louis Charles would have been freed May 9, 1793 and spirited to England. England, Austria and Germany would have assisted the french aristocracy in returning to the throne.
In June 1795 a coalition led by the Comte de Provence would have reestablished the throne. Two scenarios became possible because of another influence by an alien that was smitten with Josephine. The first without the influence of that alien would not have allowed for the emergence of a Napoleon. The second would have accounted for Napoleon but had him defeated at the southern Rhone River valley by the royalist By Louis Antoine.
The French monarchy would be alive and well today. Germany would not have conquered France. and the lives of more than a million gypsies, Jews, and other french immigrants would have been saved. The German monarchy would have been assisted by the French and Hitler would have been slain by the Count of Chambord.
America would have been conquered later by German and American conspirators who wanted to split the country into thirds. Einstein and others who served the americans during the WWII would mastermind the first atomic drones that would rain death and destruction upon America’s cities. 15 million would die from the bombing alone. Another 31 million would die from radiation, starvation and neglect.
Russia, all of the Americas and Austria would become satellites of the Greater German Empire. In January 1993 a nuclear accident would wipe out Germany’s Black Forest area. The radiation would eventually kill 87% of Europe’s population. A revolution from the area now known as Bolivia would cause The German military to launch a nuclear strike that would destroy the all the rain forest of South America.
Three years later because of the lost of the rain forest a new Ice Age would begin and in 11 years kill 91% of earth’s population. By the year 2,000, Earth would have returned to the Stone Age.
March 26th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
Doug, MD:
Thanks for the recognition of Geraldine Ferraro. The sorriest fact about that election is that women voters were 54% of the count and they voted 88% for the Reagan/Bush ticket. That much clout gave Reagan the largest victory, 49 of 50 states any ticket got since 1936.
Women, especially, we better educated white women, are forever throwing women under the proverbial bus. We always have a reason why we do it. But in the end, it is just another justification to appease our subconscious that tells us men are better leaders than women.
It’s disgusting but it’s true. Most white women don’t believe they are equally suited to lead.
Katie
March 26th, 2011 at 1:58 pm
Katie,
There is much truth to your comment. It saddens me to think that Reagan/Bush took 49 our of 50 states. However, through the covert military actions orchestrated in Iran to control and manipulate the reactions of Carter, allowed them to sail through…
By the by, my moniker is best to add a T as well, I am not a doctor, although I could play one on TV…
March 26th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
ooops, my bad, I was thinking of 1980 with Carter…
March 26th, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Dougie Howser M.D.:
I can see How Doug MD could be confusing and misleading,
OK if I just call you Doug? You main dude. You’re the man, but I prefer to skip the formalities. That is if this if OK with you.
Al
March 26th, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Al,
That would suffice. No more of the Dougie thing though…
March 26th, 2011 at 8:32 pm
Sorry Doug; Do you remember the show Doug** Howser M.D.? I did not mean any disrespect. The M.D. thing #5 and acting a doctor put it together. Thought you might get a laugh. Main Dude.
Al
March 26th, 2011 at 8:45 pm
Alex,
I would be very interested in your history lesson on Hemp, or more now commonly known as marijuana back in the mid 1700′s. I understand that Washington and Jefferson were big growers of this crop and supplied the English Crown quite a bit of this crop. Perhaps you could elaborate on this issue. What is your stance on it as relating to our modern day situation?
Al, I should have placed an lol…I did get it. No worries. I was just playing the straight guy…
March 27th, 2011 at 12:30 am
I’m not really attracted to men or women. I don’t want to be alone but I don’t really want to be with anyone either. I’m so unhappy. I don’t understand life.
March 27th, 2011 at 8:02 am
I feel this is something quite important to look further into with open eyes. The precedent reaching of this action is astronomical in nature. On Mar. 7, 2011, President Obama signed an executive order allowing indefinite detention for military prisoners. Even without trial, and/or even after acquittal the prisoner can remain incarcerated indefinitely. When coupling that with the Patriot Act to which our government continues to let remain active, it means that anyone, anywhere, can be arrested for suspicion of being a terrorist and incarcerated for life without trial, and even after trial can remain incarcerated…anyone, anywhere…
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/03/08/guantanamo
March 27th, 2011 at 9:00 am
Doug: I read your link. I was surprised. Seems as though Bush took away civl rights, and Obama is inforcing this move. Obama may not be the man I though he was.
Republican, Democrat, you tell me what the difference is. I am thinking, not very much. I haven’t seen much from this administration, as I had hoped to.
The momentum that was started a decade ago is still rolling ever faster.
Al
March 27th, 2011 at 9:18 am
Al, Obama has done quite a bit of good while in office. Much of that has been discussed on this blog. However, we must continually keep both eyes open as the 1% handles both sides of the fence…I wanted to post this to give people insight on what I found to be unconscionable. This was done without Congress, so the excuse of obstruction or manipulation from Congress should not enter the discussion.
Also, the simple idea that our government can arrest anyone and place the reasoning as to the person is thought to being a terrorist of some sort, can now disappear for good…immediately…without cause or trial. The idea that the government can simply ignore the Constitution is way out of hand. It has been going on for some time now, and through both parties.
Back in 1776 our founding fathers fought a revolution for the colonies here based on taxation without representation. Guess what, I’m not feeling much representation anymore…The forth amendment was created to not allow anyone to simply search without a warrant. Well, the Patriot Act has basically eliminated that…the 5th amendment was created so that one’s personal property will be protected and the government will not take it without paying for it. Well, we have seen through the bailouts and the foreclosures that this is also now a farce, as well as, my views on income tax but that is another story…We have serious problems, and simply voting for a democrat or a republican is seemingly no longer an option for change…
March 27th, 2011 at 8:36 pm
AH ~
Votre commentaire a été fantastique et agréable.
How wonderful a Woman had that much power that her decisions altered life as we know it. My mind wants to ponder: first I thought is this a positive she changed the history of the time line but then i thought isn’t it a woman’s frivolous prerogative to flirt with destiny? La Femme est lié à des cycles de lunes. N’est pas elle sous réserve de ses marées ?
Or maybe an alien thing.
Its truly Herstory that you tell us, not history as some men would have others believe.
Still, I am impressed that her name lives on all over the world 200+years later, making money. C’est impressionnant de me.
Beaucoup de gratitude pour vous
PS someone suggests I write this: Côtelettes de porc sont bonnes.
~ À plus tard
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