02-05 TABLE of CONTENTS:
Women's names and herstory
DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and
EVENTS
QUOTES by
Voltaraine de Cleyre.
The Problem With Women's Names
Ladyslipper, a noted
women's recording catalog explains: "[Ladyslipper]
recordings are organized into categories and then alphabetically by FIRST
name. We do this because as women, first names have been more truly our
own."
Our last names
have usually been transferred to us in a patrilineal fashion, historically,
husbands and fathers were legally the property owners of the women in their
families; and sometimes surnames actually came from slave owners or immigration
officers. "So our alphabetization-by-first-name
method is a small gesture toward acknowledging and altering these customs."
The problem of women's
names has become more and more complex as they begin to assert the right
to their own identity. So maybe one solution is the creation of distinctive
first names for girl babies so that they will have a permanent, all-their-own
identification as men do with their surnames. Examples: Stanton Mary Elizabeth
Jones would be Mary Elizabeth informally but her formal name of Stanton
Mary Elizabeth would be her very own forever regardless of how many times
she marries and chooses to use (or not use) her husband's name. The same
with Hoyden Susan Lynn Smith, or Scholarly Kimberly Jane Bronsky, or Seema
Joanne Catherine Smythe. Hoyden Susan Smith when she marries John Kellog
can choose to become Hoyden Susan Kellog, but her identity never disappears
since she is legally Hoyden Susan... and her girl child may also carry
on the name by being called Hoyden Margaret Kellog who at marriage could
become Hoyden Margaret Wilson ... and her granddaughter could be Hoyden
Phyllis or Malmay Phyllis or whatever and would remain Malmay Phyllis regardless
of any marriage.
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02-05 DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and
EVENTS
Event: 02-05-1777, Georgia's constitution "abrogated"
the male entail and primogeniture, those two bulwarks of ancient thievery
that prevented women from inheriting property.
B. 02-05-1788 Sarah Goodridge, esteemed miniature
portrait painter who learned to draw on birch bark with a pin. Her
commissions supported her family.
B. 02-05-1848, (Myra) Belle Starr, U.S. outlaw
of the Old West.
B. 02-05-1873(1?), Maxine Elliott, after a
brilliant acting career opened her own theater, the Maxine Elliott
as the first woman manager and owner of a theatre in New York City (1908.)
Moved to England where she became the toast of society and very wealthy
whether from her own efforts or the market tips from her many male admirers
is not known. Was decorated by the Belgium, French, and British governments
for her work during World War I which often took her the front lines in
the path of danger.
B. 02-05-1871, Mary Sewall Gardner, public
health nurse, devoted herlife to setting
standards for training and professionalizing the nursing field. Her text
Public Health Nursing (1916, 1924, 1936) was translated into several
languages and recognized world-wide as a classic. Her stepmother was a
physician. Had a lifelong friendship with Lillian Wald.
B. 02-05-1880, Millicent Todd Bingham, daughter
of Mabel Loomis Todd, writer and lecturer.
First woman to be awarded a doctorate in the department of geology and
geography from Harvard University. Her mother, given the original manuscripts
by the Dickinson family, had begun editing the poems and letters of Emily
Dickinson. Following her mother's death, MTB devoted herself to editing
the manuscripts and letters full-time.
Event 02-05-1971, women in Switzerland are
enfranchised to vote in national elections
but women are not allowed to vote in local elections in many cantons, a
fact that doesn't change until 1994.
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QUOTES DU JOUR
De CLEYRE, VOLTARAINE:
"Let
every woman ask herself: 'Why am I the slave of Man? Why is my brain said
not to be the equal of his brain? Why is my work not paid equally with
his? Why must my body be controlled by my husband? Why may he take my labor
in the household, giving me in exchange what he deems fit? Why may he take
my children from me? Will them away while yet unborn?' Let every woman
ask."
"I never expect men
to GIVE us liberty. No, women, we are not WORTH it, until we TAKE it."
-- Voltaraine de Cleyre (1866-1912)
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