| 10-03 TABLE of CONTENTS:
Males would rather eat sand
Leonora Jackson, violinist
Queen barred from ruling France
Researcher of DNA
Women's bread riots of 1863
Kabuki invented by woman
DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and
EVENTS
QUOTES by Dorothy
Thompson, Marie MacConnell, and Ann Lewis.
Males Would Rather Eat Sand
In 1992 Ann Druyon and her
husband Carl Sagan, wrote a fascinating magazine article about Imo, "a
genius... an Archimedes or an Edison" among the macaques monkeys who
lived on a small Japanese island. The natural food supply of the island
became depleted and 'to survive they were provisioned (by the Japanese)
with sweet potatoes and wheat dumped on the shore.' "
A sandy shore - and of course sand got into the food.
In 1953, a young female named Imo figured out she could rinse the sand
off her sweet potato in a nearby brook.
Other monkeys copied her - except the adult male monkeys
who also did not copy her other discovery that dumping wheat into
the water would cause the sand to sink and the clean wheat to float.
Younger male monkeys of the next generation copied
Imo's methods without problems because they learned how to do it from their
mothers. But the older adult males would not do it.
Druyon and Sagan pointed out that macaque society
was very much like a human society: the males fiercely patriarchal and
hierarchal. "The reluctance of the adult
males must tell us something," Sagan
and Druyon wrote. "They are fiercely
competitive and hierarchy-ridden. They are not much given to friendships
or even to alliances. Perhaps they felt impending humiliation - if they
were to imitate Imo, they would be following her lead, becoming in some
sense subservient to her and thereby losing dominance status. They surmised
that to copy a female would make them subservient to her.
"They
would rather eat sand."
-- From an article in Parade magazine, by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyon,
"What Makes Us Different?"
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Lenora Jackson, Violinist
Leonora Jackson - U.S. violinist
born in 1879. LJ was trained on the violin in Europe and toured there before
returning to the United States. U.S. music critics attempted to vilify
her, evidently because she'd cancelled several American tours to stay in
Eruope. When she did tour the U.S. it was to raves. Until 1907 she gave
more than 150 concerts a year. She all but retired from public performing
during her two marriages. She died in 1969.
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France is Too Noble a Kingdom
Juana II - B.1310,
Juana II was Queen of Navarre 1328-1349 although she should have been Queen
of France. Wanting a son that his wife could not produce, Juana's father
Louis had her mother Marguarite smothered between two mattresses. He married
again but his only son from a second wife died shortly after birth leaving
Juana the true heir to the French throne.
Juana was prevented from
assuming the French throne under Salic law that decreed that land could
not be inherited by a woman. The barons of the time added, "Lilies
do not spin wool. France is too noble a kingdom to be entrusted to a woman."
Navarre, located in northern Spain and southern France, is somewhat smaller
than the State of Connecticut. It was later split between France and Spain.
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Basic Researcher of DNA
Dr. Mary Ellen Jones
- U.S. Physician. MEJ did basic research in the then fledgling science
of DNA.
She was the first woman to head a department in the
School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina. MEH was chair of
the department of biochemistry and nutrition. She began her research at
Massachusetts General Hospital, was a professor at Brandeis University
and the University of Southern California before settling at North Carolina.
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Mary Jackson Led Bread Riots in 1863
Mary Jackson U.S.
civil rights activist. In 1863, MJ led more than a thousand women in bread
riots in Richmond, Virginia. The women wanted food at affordable prices.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis attempted to disperse the crowd with
words and money from his pocket, but when the women didn't accept his excuses,
the Southern gentlemen called in the city police to disperse the women
with clubs.
It is not reported that the men of the city accepted
less food on their tables in an era when the men of the family ate first
and women got the leftovers.(In some parts of the country, particularly
rural areas, the tradition of men eating their fill first while the women
waited on them extended into the 1960s... believe it or not. And may still
be going on in some isolated, ultra-conservative areas.
Women were traditionally not allowed to sit down at
the table to eat what was left until the men left the table.
A teacher friend of the author of Women of Achievement
and Herstory was astonished in 1975 when the women set up a welcome-to-the-new-teachers
buffet in a Southern city and then stood aside for the men to take their
fill before helping themselves.
"Those men just
about cleaned everything out and everything was cold by the time we women
were allowed to eat. Well, the next time they held a gathering with a buffet,
I got up there with the men. Some of men were so astonished that they actually
stood aside to let me go ahead. From then on out, the women and men stood
in line together!"
[After
the first time we ran this article on the WOAH email list, we heard from
women in many rural Northern states who had the same experiences so it
wasn't only a Southern "tradition." One clergyman from Minnesota
defended the practice in 1992 as a "woman's duty."]
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Kabuki Developed By a Woman - Then Women Were Banned From
Performing It
In the early 1600s,
Okuni (a woman) developed a new kind of dance for Japanese theater that
became known as Kabuki.
However, in 1629 the Japanese government decided that
since European women were not allowed on the stage because such public
displays and performances were immoral, Japanese women would be subject
to the same rules. To this day, Kabuki is performed by an all-male cast
with men known as onnagata portraying women.
The change in the treatment of Japanese women can
be traced to the Christian attitude in Japan. Large numbers of Jesuits
followed Francis Xavier's original trip to Japan in 1549 and by the 17th
century, several of its daimyo had converted and one even sent an envoy
to Rome. Up to the Christian- influencing-period, Japanese women enjoyed
a strong independence.
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10-03 DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and EVENTS
DIED 10-03-1369, Margaret Maultasch, aka Margaret
of Tirol, countess of Tirol. Her two marriages and political machinations
were unsuccessful in keeping Tirol (Tyrol) from becoming part of western
Austria.
B. 10-03-1613, Marion Delorme - celebrated
French courtesan. Historians are able to list by name and dates any
number of the lovers of women they call courtesans but seem unable to recite
with accuracy the living conditions of women during the period, or even
show much interest in their life experiences other than as servants or
conveniences of men. This fortifies the contention of the author of WOAH
that history is truly HIS story and nothing more. Women must regain their
past and rewrite it with the experiences of both men and women for a true
estoria.
Her salons were important meeting places for literary
and political figures but during the Fronde, she hosted the wrong side
so she died in poverty. The Cardinal de Rochelieu is recorded by historians
as one of her lovers.
B. 10-03-1849, Jeannette Leonard Gilder - U.S.
journalist and literary critic. Before she became a staff member, then
editor of a Newark, NJ newspaper, JLG worked at several menial jobs to
help support her large family after her father died. JLG's talent was recognized
quickly and she was wooed to New York where she established a reputation
as a literary critic as well as journalist. She was a columnist for several
publications, did free-lancing, and was editor of various magazines and
books. Her novels were never a great success but her autobiography, Autobiography
of a Tomboy (1900) and Tomboy at Work (1904) did well.
B. 10-03-1858, Eleonora Duse - Italian born
actor, one of the greatest actors of all time.
ED could blush or turn pale at will and it was said
that she so submerged herself in each role that her body language changed
so much that at times she was unrecognizable. She would change her walk,
the way her body moved, etc.
Her stage presence was overwhelming. Ibsen said she
went beyond realism in her interpretation of Nora in Doll's House.
Some critics noted that she played characters with
such a depth that she projected their actions and thoughts "between
the lines." She toured worldwide several times - always to packed
audiences. She had a number of well known affairs with both men and women.
She died on tour in the U.S. when she was 66. Her
body was buried in Italy.
B. 10-03-1860, Annie Horniman - English theater
manager. AH pioneered repertory theatre in Britain. A wealthy heiress,
she financed the new home of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.
Although her Horniman's Gaiety theatre was a rousing
success and opened the way to other repertory efforts, it was closed after
13 years because of financial difficulties.
Her repertory company toured the U.S, and inspired
the formation of a number of such companies.
B. 10-03-1869, Clara Dutton Noyes - U.S. nurse.
CDN established the first hospital training courses for midwives, directed
assignment of nurses during World War I, was superintendent of nurses and
school in several states, and was director of nursing at the Red Cross.
B. 10-03-1872, Emily Price Post- U.S. writer.
Divorced and in need of funds, EPP turned to writing. Her fiction was undistinguished.
At the urging of her publisher she wrote Etiquette in Society, in Business,
in Politics, and at Home (1922). Retitled Etiquette, it went
through 10 revised editions and 90 printings. She had a syndicated column
and a radio show. In her day she was the last word in how people should
act in a polite society. Some say she finally civilized the American popular
culture.
B. 10-03-1877, Virginia Gildersleeve - U.S.
educator. VG served as dean of Barnard College from 1911-1947, promoted
women's education and paid maternity leave, and reformed the distribution
requirement for B.A. to cover all fields of human knowledge through specific
disciplines. With longtime companion Caroline Spurgeon, she co-founded
the International Federation of University Women in 1919.
VG took an active role in international affairs and
assisted in the drafting of the United Nations charter. She worked for
human rights and was the only woman on the U.S. delegation at the founding
conference of the UN in San Francisco. Although technically staying single,
she had the companionship of British literary scholar Caroline Spurgeon
(1869-1942), and later of Elizabeth Reynard (1897-1962), professor of English
at Barnard, who helped organize the WAVES, the women's naval branch in
World War II. VG had doctorates in Philosophy, Literature, and Law.
B. 10-03-1886, Barbara Karinska - Russian-born
costume designer. BK was responsible for the costumes worn in every
major ballet presented by the New York City Ballet from 1948 to 1977. She
won the Academy Award for her costume designs for the movie Joan of Arc.
BK was also costume designer for the Metropolitan Opera and many Broadway
shows.
B. 10-03-1893, Clara Mabel Thompson - U.S.
psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. Her most lasting work may be her article
"Penis Envy in Women" (1943). She denied there is such a thing
as penis envy, showing that women suffered from social pressures; Karen
Horner also denied Fraud's penis envy theory.
B. 10-03-1899, Gertrude Berg - U.S. radio actress,
author, and producer. Famed as the Molly Goldberg, GB's trademark "Yoo-hoo!
Mrs. Blo-om" always started her weekly
Goldbergs shows that consistently ranked at the top of the radio
and TV charts. Under various names her shows ran from 1938 to 1945, 1949-1955,
and 1961-62. GB's salary was a reported $7,500 a week and she received
a million dollar contract to write the series for five years. GB won a
Tony for her work in A Majority of One (1959) and an Emmy for her
TV work in 1950.
Event 10-03-1922: in a blatantly political
move to get the women's vote that had just been granted by the federal
government, Georgia Governor Thomas Hardwick appointed 87-year-old women's
rights advocate Rebecca Latimer Felton to an interim seat of the U.S. Senate
from Georgia.
It was a token appointment because a special election
was held in time for the seating of the winner in the Senate session. Shocking
everyone Mrs. Felton traveled to Washington and made the Senate accept
her credentials. She sat as a U.S. Senator for two days, Nov. 21 and 22,
1922 before the duly elected successor - who had waited like a true gentleman
while Miz Felton made her point - then presented his credentials and was
seated.
Gov. Hardwick's appointment of Felton didn't endear
him with the women because they remembered that Hardwick had opposed woman's
suffrage and under his leadership the Georgia legislature refused to ratify
the 19th amendment.
Event 10-03-1923: Microbiologist Dr. Gladys
Dick, and her husband physician Dr. George Henry announced the isolation
of the cause of scarlet fever. The Dick test was developed later to diagnose
and treat the disease. Rumors said they were denied the Nobel prize because
they patented their process for personal gain although other scientists
had done the same thing.
B. 10-03-1936, Lucie Rober - French composer,
organist, and teacher. LR was awarded the Grand Prix de Rome (1965).
Her works are still performed extensively in France.
Event 10-03-1962: the U.S. Senate refuses
to take action on a bill to require equal pay for equal work. The U.S.
House of Representatives had previously passed it to benefit women engaged
in interstate commerce. The equal pay bill was finally passed 05-17-1963
after fierce lobbying by women.
Event 10-03-1995: OJ Simpson is acquitted of
the brutal murder of his ex-wife Nicole
and her friend Ron Goldman after a trial that riveted the nation on TV
for months. The decision polarizes along racial lines but as went on, polls
indicate most people of all races were becoming convinced of his guilt.
Within months the media openly ridicules his pledge to seek out the "real"
killer as he spends most of his time time on golf courses, beaches, and
in Las Vegas. Grassroot public memorials continue on the anniversary of
Nicole and Ron's murders.
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QUOTES DU JOUR
THOMPSON, DOROTHY:
"She
can be sure that is she is chaste, men will call her cold; if she is brilliant,
men will call her 'like a man'; if she is witty they will suspect her virtue;
if she is beautiful they will try to annex her as an asset to their own
position; if she has executive abilities, they will fear her dominance."
--
Dorothy Thompson, one of the most influential journalists of the 1930-1950
period. Her radio show was one of the most listened to in World War II.
MacCONNELL, MARIE:
"Unfortunately
for the women organists, the average audience accepts as necessarily good
the indifferent work of many men organists, but the women must play doubly
well to be appreciated, and then - most wonderful of compliments! - 'She
plays as well as the men do!' It is nearly time that the ears should judge
of a musical performance. They are the only competant judges."
-- Marie MacConnell, quoted by Mary Chappell Fisher, Etude,
July 1909, p. 484, and reprinted in Ammer, Christine: Unsung, a History
of Women in American Music. Greenwood Press, 1980.
LEWIS, ANN:
"The Glass Ceiling isn't actually made of glass... it's a very thick
layer of men."
--Ann Lewis, U.S. political consultant.
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