Washington Lawyer - March/April 2020 - 51

SPECIAL SEC TION

THOMAS WENTWORTH
HIGGINSON (1823-1911)

adical abolitionist, Union officer,
and promoter of women's suffrage,
Higginson was a man who lived his
values. Before the Civil War, Higginson
and a small armed group disobeyed
the Fugitive Slave Act by storming the
federal courthouse in Boston to free
escaped slave Anthony Burns. (Sadly,
they failed.) In the struggle, Higginson
was slashed across the face with
a saber, resulting in a scar he wore
proudly for the rest of his long life. During the Civil War, Higginson led
the first federally authorized black regiment, the 1st South Carolina
Volunteers, as colonel.
A crusader for women's rights as well as for the abolition of slavery, his
essay "Ought Women to Learn the Alphabet?" (1859) demanded educational and professional opportunities for women:
First give woman, if you dare, the alphabet, then summon her
to her career; and though men, ignorant and prejudiced, may
oppose its beginnings, there is no danger but they will at last
fling around her conquering footsteps more lavish praises than
ever . . .
The essay was one of the most influential contributions to the debate
over the role of women and, according to one biographer, purportedly
resulted in the founding of Smith College for women and the admittance
of women to the University of Michigan.
Higginson is best known for his friendship with the poet Emily Dickinson,
championing her work and ensuring the publication of her poetry after
her death.

IDA B. WELLS-BARNETT
(1862-1931)

ells-Barnett was an investigative
journalist who bravely exposed
the terrorism of lynching to an
international audience. She famously
opined: "The way to right wrongs is to
turn the light of truth upon them."

Born into slavery in Mississippi, WellsBarnett was freed by the Emancipation
Proclamation as a child but orphaned
at 16 and went to work as a teacher to
support her siblings. She later relocated to Memphis, where she became
an investigative journalist documenting the horrors of lynching. The work
exposed her to multiple threats on her life and she fled to Chicago, where
she later married and had a family.

RETRACING THE STEPS OF FEARLESS SUFFRAGISTS

s part of its 2020 Conference, the D.C. Bar will be leading two
exclusive excursions on June 26 retracing the history of the
women's suffrage movement and highlighting the stories of
crusaders for the right to vote.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
'Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote' Exhibition
Featuring handwritten letters, speeches, photographs, and scrapbooks
of American suffragists, the exhibition takes visitors through the largest
reform movement in American history, from before the first women's
rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848 to the ratification
of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
The documents and other artifacts showcased in the exhibition
are drawn from the personal collections of leading suffragists Susan
B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Mary Church Terrell,
Carrie Chapman Catt, Harriot Stanton Blatch, and others. Records of
the National American Woman Suffrage Association and National
Woman's Party are included as well.
The unique collection includes a rare printed version of the "Declaration
of Sentiments," a listing of demands Stanton read to more than 300
people in Seneca Falls; an original broadside of the "Declaration of
Rights of the Women of the United States" that suffragists distributed
in Philadelphia in 1876; images and film footage of political activity on
the streets, including the first national parade for suffrage in 1913 in
Washington, D.C.; and an interactive display on suffragists who helped
win the vote state by state.
loc.gov/suffrage

Exhibition runs through September 2020

BELMONT-PAUL WOMEN'S EQUALITY NATIONAL MONUMENT
Women's Equality Tour
This exclusive ranger-led tour is a chance for attendees to explore the
home of the National Woman's Party (NWP), the epicenter of the struggle
for women's rights. The historic house was built in 1800 and became the
NWP's headquarters in 1929. Named after suffragists and NWP leaders
Alva Belmont and Alice Paul, the house bore witness to the "innovative
tactics and strategies" devised by a community of women who persisted
in their fight for suffrage, creating the "blueprint for civil rights progress
throughout the 20th century." On April 12, 2016, President Barack Obama
designated the house a national monument.
The monument continues to house the NWP, which organized the first
picket of the White House in 1917 to demand for equal rights, resulting
in the arrest of several suffragists. Today visitors of the monument can
browse through memorabilia, documents, furniture, and artwork related
to the women's suffrage and equal rights movements.
nps.gov/bepa/index.htm

continued on page 52

MARCH/APRIL 2020

WASHINGTON LAWYER

http://www.loc.gov/suffrage http://www.nps.gov/bepa/index.htm

Washington Lawyer - March/April 2020

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