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WWHP Newsletter Vol. 2, No. 2, Winter 2001-2002

Women’s History Rewritten

On Halloween, 2001, Jane Swift, the Acting Governor of Massachusetts, officially exonerated five people executed as witches in 1692 in Salem. Our first female (acting) governor did in her first year in power what had not been done for more than 300 years.

According to a Salem newspaper, The Evening News, a public school teacher, Paula Keene, realized the neglect of these five women after studying the history of the witch trials at Salem State College. Ms. Keene urged Rep. Michael Ruane to file a bill on their behalf several years ago. Amesbury Rep. Paul Tirone took an interest in the bill and pushed it through for the governor to sign. Great Job Paula Keene and Jane Swift!

Charting a Course

Linda Barringer’s thoughts on becoming a new member of the steering committee:

First of all, it is an honor to be asked to join WWHP. Secondly, WWHP has made strong, positive strides educating the greater Worcester public about women of Worcester roles in the national forums on women’s rights and racial equality. Thirdly, I recognize the challenge to build on the foundation and goodwill generated by the anniversary celebration of the first National Woman’s Rights Convention. The steering committee must chart the future of community support for WWHP.

In Her Footsteps

WWHP Launches the Worcester County Women’s Heritage Trail

In anticipation of Women’s History Month, WWHP will host two public events showcasing the Women’s History Heritage Trail. The first, “In Her Footsteps: A Sneak Preview for Teachers” will be held at the Worcester Public Library in collaboration with the Worcester Public Library and the Alliance for Education. Teachers will have the opportunity to meet Nancy Gaudette, the local history room librarian and to participate in a hands-on seminar introducing them to the primary resources available for local women’s history. Ms. Gaudette will guide teachers to discover women in their neighborhood who might be added to the trail. Each educator will then create a lesson or unit for his or her class to share at a follow-up workshop. These lessons will be compiled in a curriculum resource booklet to encourage other teachers across Worcester Country to integrate the stories of local women into the history of America. The first meeting will be at the new Worcester Public Library on Wednesday, February 6, from 4 to 8 p.m.

If you are an educator in a Worcester County public or private school, home school or community organization, save the date and please contact Jessie Rodrique at wwhp@net1plus.com or (508) 767-1852 for more information.

Space is limited and there will be no onsite registration. A $20 pre-registration fee covers a copy of the trail guide booklet, many community resources and sample lessons. A box lunch will be available at the first meeting. Participants will earn Professional Development Points (PDPs).

A slide presentation and lecture, “In Her Footsteps: Worcester in the Struggle for Equality in the Mid-Nineteenth Century” will be held for the general public on Saturday, March 16th from 1:30 to 4 p.m. in the Saxe Room at the Worcester Public Library. Presenters will be in costume and at the close of the presentation we will walk to 340 Main Street, former site of Brinley Hall, the location of the first National Woman’s Rights Convention to dedicate the Women’s History Heritage Trail. No charge.

Save The Date

Celebrating Diversity

By Carolyn Howe

On Tuesday, October 30, WWHP was graced by the powerful sisterhood offered to us by Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, President Emerita of Spelman College in Atlanta and Distinguished Professor Emerita of Fisk University.

On Tuesday afternoon, Dr. Johnnetta Cole spoke to nearly 200 high school and college students at a special event held at Worcester State College, a program billed as a “Conversation about building alliances for race and gender equality.” Tuesday evening, Dr. Cole spoke to about 500 people at the Hogan Ballroom at Holy Cross College. Her topic, “Difficult Dialogues: Toward More Inclusive Movements for Race and Gender Equality,” addressed the importance and difficulty of linking the struggles against racism and sexism.

Students in my Women & Society class were asked to write a brief reflection on Dr. Cole’s lecture. Some of the students related Dr. Cole’s talk to a book we read in class: Feminism Is for Everybody (a good read!) If you were unable to attend, perhaps these comments will give you a flavor for the power her words and her message had for the next generation of young feminist leaders:

In her speech, [Johnnetta] Cole traces the history of the women’s movement and its struggles to end sexism and racism both outside of and within the movement. Most importantly, she emphasizes the role that solidarity played and continues to play in achieving equality for all....This solidarity is the key to achieving progress within all movements for change and equality....Today Dr. Cole claims that we are in the “third wave” of feminism...It is a wave that “recognizes the full range of racial and ethnic diversity and recognizes that the path to empowerment can only be achieved when all women deal with the interconnectedness of the isms.”

— Regina

Cole’s explanation of the separation of the once-entwined abolitionist and feminist movements portrays race as a force that could have unified but instead divided. The abolitionist faction birthed the women’s rights movement—this in itself could have forever joined the two. However, Cole explained how patriarchal politics skillfully played the two against each other in the race for suffrage—the Republicans backing Black people and Democrats backing women—and ended the collective effort between the groups. What can bring the groups back together? The kind of inclusive utopianism that [bell] hooks and Cole so passionately and optimistically promote. [They] inspired in me a new view of my own destiny as a common destiny, irrevocably linked to those around me.

— Lauren

Hearing [Johnnetta Cole] call us her “sisters” and using words like “she-story” really connected me to the movement and allowed me to feel included because of my gender alone. For the first time, I felt like I could relate to someone in the feminist movement, not just understand or agree with what she had to say. For the first time, I actually felt a part of everything. I attended my first “women’s movement” type of event and I now can say that I am a part of this action. I am a feminist striving towards equality for my classmates, my sister Johnnetta Cole, and for myself.

— Megan

Being in the presence of Johnnetta B. Cole is something I don’t think I will ever forget...The lecture was one that I found both empowering and, at the same time, gave me a strange sense of peace. Being in the room with such a powerful and influential woman didn’t make me feel intimidated; she made me feel as though somewhere inside me I had just as much power and the capacity to make changes in our society.

— Jennifer

Johnnetta Cole called the group [of young people] gathered at the lecture a “gathering of revolutionaries” for coming together to “break the silence of race and gender.” She said that “to make changes as a result of the dialogue would be truly revolutionary.”

— Erin

The authority with which Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole spoke on Tuesday demanded the attention of all those listening. But more than just the people who were in the auditorium, Dr. Cole demanded the attention of leaders and movements and masses that insisted on ignoring her. She demanded the attention of those who refused to acknowledge the entirety of her experience. She is African-American. She is a woman. But of these two identities, does one take precedence over the other? No. She encompasses both at the same time — at all times. As she said, her life and her struggles as an African-American woman cannot be dissected. They cannot be solved in isolation from one another. Liberation cannot be rationed.

Extending this, even I, as an African-American man in this country, have to take up the burdens of women. Even if the day came when racism no longer existed and the systems of White privilege had been overturned, could I call myself free if there was not gender equality? Just as Dr. Cole said that her liberation cannot be dissected, my own liberation...as an oppressed person cannot be dissected from the liberation of all oppressed people across race, gender, and class lines.

— Kristopher

Excerpted from the new WWHP Brochure

Who We Are:

The Worcester Women’s History Project (WWHP) was founded in 1994 by a small group of women believing that Worcester and its people deserve recognition for the significant role they played in the national struggle for women’s rights and racial equality. Today, the WWHP is an independent, nonprofit membership organization that promotes the research of local women’s history, offers educational programming, and sponsors public events. In the spirit of the abolitionists who organized the first National Woman’s Rights Convention in Worcester in 1850, the WWHP seeks to build a strong foundation of community support by involving women and men from all races, classes and creeds in support of its mission.

What We Do:

The WWHP is committed to promoting and continuing the heritage of the 1850 National Woman’s Rights Convention through research, educational programming and public events. Over the years, the WWHP has worked independently and collaboratively with many arts, educational, cultural and social service organizations on a wide variety of projects and programs. As part of its effort to bring public and permanent recognition to those women who have contributed to the history and culture of Worcester, the WWHP is developing a Women’s History Heritage Trail. WWHP is available to provide technical/ research assistance, speaking engagements and to collaborate on programs and projects.

Yours Truly, Lucy Stone

Worcester was the site of the first and second National Woman’s Rights Conventions. We have just passed the 150th anniversary of the second National Convention in October. In 1851, just prior to the second National Woman’s Rights Convention, and after many years of lecturing for anti-slavery Lucy Stone made the momentous decision to put her energies toward women’s rights. In this letter to Abby Kelley Foster, Stone reveals her decision.

Kelley-Foster Papers, Box 2 Folder 23, Series 2, Worcester Historical Museum, reprinted with permission. Information italicized in brackets [ ] was added by editor. Transcriptions and annotation by Jessie M. Rodrique.

(1) Lucy Stone (1818–93) was born in West Brookfield and briefly attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1838. She was greatly influenced by hearing Abby Kelley speak in West Brookfield in 1838 and by reading Sarah Grimke’s The Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Women. She entered Oberlin in 1843 after years of teaching and attending local private academies. She graduated in 1847 at the age of twenty-nine and made her first public speech on women’s rights at her brother’s church in Gardner, MA. Her reputation as an orator quickly spread. Spurred on by Abby Kelley Foster, she began lecturing for the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1848. The records of Worcester County’s North and South Division Anti-Slavery Societies frequently mention Stone’s eloquence and her ability to draw crowds as well as her insistence that women be addressed by their own names, not their husband’s. At the Quarterly Meeting of the North Division Anti-Slavery Society in Fitchburg on June 25, 1854, the secretary recorded that “Lucy Stone came forward and in a clear logical, incontrovertible speech showed the purpose and design of the Slave Power to so control the government of this nation…Miss Stone spoke nearly an hour and a half in her own inimitable style and with a moral power that can be equaled by few—excelled by none.” Stone helped to organize both the first and second National Woman’s Rights Conventions in Worcester. In 1855 she married Henry Blackwell; their ceremony was performed by Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Their marriage vows or "Marriage Protest" was published in newspapers throughout the country. Stone presided over the seventh National Woman’s Rights Convention in 1856 and then retired for a number of years after the birth of her daughter, Alice. In 1868, along with Julia Ward Howe, Higginson and others, Stone formed the New England Woman Suffrage Association, later the American Woman’s Suffrage Association, an organization which supported the passage of the Fifteenth amendment to enfranchise black men despite its deliberate omission of women. Their support for the Fifteenth amendment set them apart ideologically from Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony who argued for the simultaneous enfranchisement of women. This difference split the woman’s rights movement into rival camps with Stanton and Anthony forming the National Woman Suffrage Association. Stone began publication of the Woman’s Journal in 1870. Andrea Moore Kerr, Lucy Stone; Speaking Out for Equality (New Brunswick, NJ, 1992); Records of the South Division Anti-Slavery Society, Worcester Historical Museum; Records of the North Division Anti-Slavery Society, Worcester Historical Museum; MA Spy August 23, 1851; Webster’s Dictionary of American Women, Merriam-Webster, Inc. (NY: Smithmark Publishers, 1996) 589–90.

(2) Abby Kelley Foster (1811–87) Born in Pelham, MA; the family moved to Worcester in 1811. She was educated in the schools here and later attended the Friends boarding school in Providence, R.I. In the early 1830s she taught in the Friends School in Lynn, MA, joining the Lynn Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1835. She became corresponding secretary in 1836 and in 1837 went to New York as a delegate to the Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women. She returned to Worcester in 1838 and began lecturing for the American Anti-Slavery Society. Her appointment to the business committee of the 1840 annual meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society in New York split the movement on the issue of women’s rights. The issue of the split was reported widely and those not inclined to allow women leadership roles followed Lewis Tappan in forming the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. Abby became well known for her outspoken criticism of the church and her aggressive lecturing style. “Fiery” is a term used often to describe her. She left, or more accurately, “was disowned” by the Quaker Meeting in 1839. She married Stephen S. Foster in 1845 and bought the farm on Mower Street in Worcester in 1847, which was also the year of the birth of her daughter, Alla. She was an organizer and delegate to the first and second National Women’s Rights Conventions in Worcester. She became the American Anti-Slavery Society’s general financial agent and chief fundraiser in 1854. She traveled and lectured extensively and was a strong and vocal presence locally at meetings of Worcester County’s North and South Division Anti-Slavery Societies. She caused controversy among the supporters of women’s rights at the 1851 Convention when she criticized women for their timidity and unwillingness, (in her opinion) to rise up and claim their rights and to assume the responsibilities of self-support. Throughout their years as activists, Abby and Stephen were “come-outers” a term used by reformers meaning to leave or literally to “come out” of their institutions which supported slavery. They both supported disunion with the federal government and at the Disunion Convention held at Worcester in 1857 Stephen Foster proposed to “run candidates who would ignore the Federal Government…refuse an oath to its constitution and…make their respective States free and independent communities.” A small group of Worcester radicals held another convention for Disunion the following year in Cleveland. Here Abby proclaimed, “We contemplate the entire destruction of the present National Government and Union… We must fire up the opposition, and create such a spirit of resistance that our opponents will be pushed to extremes…” (Pease, 935) In the post Civil War period she supported passage of the Fifteenth amendment, and the American Woman Suffrage Association faction led by Lucy Stone, Thomas Wentworth Higginson and other prominent New Englanders. John A. Garraty et al., eds. American National Biography. Oxford University Press, NY, 1999. p. 289; Records of the South Division Anti-Slavery Society, Worcester Historical Museum; Records of the North Division Anti-Slavery Society, Worcester Historical Museum; ; Jane H. Pease and William H. Pease, “Confrontation and Abolition in the 1850’s” The Journal of American History, 58, no 4, 923–37.

(3) Parker Pillsbury (1809–98) spent his early years in Henniker, NH working as a farmer and wagoneer until entering Gilmanton Theological Seminary in 1835. He graduated in 1838 and spent an additional year at Andover Theological Seminary. He gave up the ministry in 1840 when he became an agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society. He edited the Herald of Freedom in 1840 and again from 1845–46 in Concord, NH and the National Anti-Slavery Standard in 1866 in New York City. Although he championed many reforms he was an ardent supporter of women’s rights. He was vice-president of the New Hampshire Woman Suffrage Association and helped to form the American Equal Rights Association. In 1868–69 he edited, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the Revolution. He wrote many tracts on reform, publishing Acts of the Anti-Slavery Apostles in 1883, a history of the abolitionist movement in New England. Dumas Malone, ed. Dictionary of American Biography (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1934), vol. 14, 608–9.

(4) Charles C. Burleigh (1810–78) born in Plainfield, Connecticut to a family of committed reformers. Burleigh studied law but began his anti-slavery involvement when he wrote an article condemning the Connecticut legislature for prohibiting schooling for out-of-state African-American students without the consent of local authorities. The law directly attacked Prudence Crandall, who had recently established a school for African-American girls in 1833. Burleigh’s sister taught at the school. Samuel J. May was responsible for recruiting Burleigh as an agent of the Connecticut AntiSlavery Society. By 1836 he was lecturing throughout eastern Pennsylvania. Like many Garrisonians, he supported women’s rights, pacifism, Native American rights and believed that the Constitution was a pro-slavery document. He edited The Unionist and the Pennsylvania Freeman. In 1859 he was chosen corresponding secretary of the American AntiSlavery Society, a position he held for three years. Some of his noted publications include Thoughts on the Death Penalty (1845); No Slave Hunting in the Old Bay State (1859); The Antislavery History of the John Brown Year (1861) John A. Garraty et al., eds. American National Biography (NY: Oxford University Press, 1999), vol. 3, 959–60.

(5) Stone is referring to Frederick Douglass’ newspaper Frederick Douglass’ Paper which he began in June, 1851 by merging the North Star with the Liberty Party Paper. In doing so, he began to advocate a political solution to slavery and embraced the Constitution as an anti-slavery document, thereby severing his connection with the moral suasionist Garrisonians. William S. McFeely, Frederick Douglass (NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 1991) 168–69.

(6) Frederick Douglass (1818–95) escaped from slavery in 1838 and settled in New Bedford, MA. He first spoke at an antislavery meeting on Nantucket in 1841. He was hired as an agent of the Massachusetts AntiSlavery Society shortly thereafter and relocated with his family to Lynn, MA. He traveled extensively throughout New England and New York and joined a band of abolitionists during the 1843 One Hundred Conventions tour that took him to Ohio, Indiana and western Pennsylvania. His autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, Written by Himself (1845) was enormously successful; it was translated into Dutch, French and German. In 1847 he moved to Rochester, NY and began to slowly break away from the Garrisonian camp in his advocacy of political abolitionism and violence. During the Civil War he recruited for the Massachusetts Fifty-fourth Colored Infantry, the first northern African-American regiment.John A. Garraty et al., eds. American National Biography (NY: Oxford University Press, 1999), 816–19.

(6) The Second National Woman’s Rights convention was held at Brinley Hall and City Hall on October 15 & 16. Over three thousand people attended. Abby Kelley delivered what became known as her “bloody feet” speech. In it she criticized women for their inability to secure their rights because they did not feel the full weight of their responsibilities. Regarding her own life as a model for the cause she chastised them saying “Bloody feet, sisters, have worn smooth the path by which you have come hither.” This speech was widely distributed and, as her biographer notes, “bloody feet became a metaphor used for decades to describe the trials of the pioneers of the movement.” Letters of support from French feminists who were imprisoned for advocating women’s equality were read at City Hall to an overflowing crowd. Dorothy Sterling, Ahead of Her Time; Abby Kelley and the Politics of Antislavery (NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 1991), 267–69; Massachusetts Spy, October 23, 1851.

(7) Lucretia Coffin Mott (1793-1880) Quaker minister and pioneering women’s rights and abolitionist activist. Her husband, James Mott whom she married in 1811, shared her political convictions. They broke from the Orthodox Quakers in 1827 to join the recently formed Hicksite branch and advocated the “free produce” movement which abstained from the use of slave produced goods as early as 1825. She was at the founding convention of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833 and went on to form the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society as a response to the AASS policy to exclude women as members. In 1840 she was chosen to represent the AASS at the World’s Anti-Slavery Society in London. She and the other women delegates were denied recognition. Mott delivered the opening and closing addresses at the 1848 woman’s rights convention at Seneca Falls, NY. James Mott was chosen to preside. In 1850 she published Discourse on Woman where she outlined women’s unequal educational and employment opportunities, lower wages and lack of political rights. She was regularly called upon to speak and to help organize woman’s rights conventions throughout the decade of the 1850s. Until her death in 1880 she advocated these and many other radical causes. Edward T. James, et al, eds. Notable American Women 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971), 593–4

(8) Emma Coe was a prominent women’s rights lecturer. She spoke at the 1851 Second National Woman’s Rights Convention in Worcester. The Massachusetts Spy noted that she took the floor several times during the convention speaking on the subject of women’s political rights and inheritance. It described her as “one of the boldest and most energetic of orators” attacking her subject with “much logical power, energy and fluency.” Massachusetts Spy, October 23, 1851.

(9) Elizabeth Oakes Smith (1806–93) was born in North Yarmouth, ME and moved to Portland in 1814. She was married at the age of 16 to Seba Smith, editor of the Portland Eastern Argus. The couple moved to New York City following the panic of 1837 where she began writing juvenile literature and for popular magazines. She soon turned to reform and attended the second National Woman’s Rights Convention in Worcester in 1851. It is reputed that she was denied presidency of the convention due to her “fancy” dress style. She spoke at the convention for the “elevation of the race,” saying that man has not “willfully wronged woman.” The Massachusetts Spy described her address as a “beautiful manifestation of genius.” She wrote on women’s rights for the New York Tribune and published Woman and Her Needs in 1851. She became popular on the lyceum circuit and occasionally appeared with Wendell Phillips at antislavery meetings. She wrote for Paulina Wright Davis’ journal, Una, and published Bertha and Lily, a woman’s rights novel in 1854. Years later she was a charter member of Sorosis, the first NYC woman’s club and a delegate to annual conventions of the National Woman Suffrage Association. Edward T. James, et al, eds. Notable American Women 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971), vol 3. 309–10; Massachusetts Spy, October 23, 1851.

(10) Antoinette Brown Blackwell (1825–1921) born in Henrietta, NY. She attended Oberlin College and completed the theological course in 1850. In 1853 she became the first officially appointed woman pastor in the country. In 1856 she became sister-in-law to Lucy Stone when she married Samuel C. Blackwell. Brown attended the 1851 Convention and spoke on women’s education, the cultural subjectivity of the notion of “woman’s sphere” and argued that Christianity allowed for women’s equality with men. Webster’s Dictionary of American Women (New York: Smithmark Publishers, 1996), 55; Massachusetts Spy, October 23, 1851.

(11) Abby’s husband, Stephen S. Foster (1809–81) born in Canterbury, NH, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1838. He joined the American Anti-Slavery Society as a lecturer and, like Abby, gained notoriety as an outspoken critic of the church and he was also well known for his outrageous attention-getting tactics. His most well known piece of writing, The Brotherhood of Thieves: Or a True Picture of the American Church and Clergy was re-printed twenty times. He participated in the “Butman Riot” in Worcester in 1854 with Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and was arrested and tried for assault. After the court denied his request that Abby represent him at the trial, he refused to plea or to recognize any authority of the court. He was acquitted. Their home, later named “Liberty Farm” was a site on the Underground Railroad. Stephen and Abby remained opposed to political anti-slavery parties even after many Garrisonians gave their support to the Republican party. After the passage of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments, Foster continued to plead for the economic and civil rights of the freedmen, continuing his earlier pre-war concern for the rights of free blacks, an issue which he raised at meetings of the South Division Anti-Slavery Society. John A. Garraty et al., eds. American National Biography. (Oxford University Press, NY, 1999) 307–8; Records of the South Division Anti-Slavery Society, Worcester Historical Museum; Records of the North Division Anti-Slavery Society, Worcester Historical Museum; ; Jane H. Pease and William H. Pease, “Confrontation and Abolition in the 1850’s” The Journal of American History, 58, no 4: 923–37; Massachusetts Spy, Nov 22 & 29, 1854.

From The President

The work of the WWHP over the past seven years has without a doubt been impressive. Certainly, more Worcester citizens are aware of the role Worcester County women played in the history of the struggle for women’s rights and that the first National Woman’s Rights Convention was held in Worcester in l850.

The portraits of women that now hang in Mechanics Hall, the production of an original play entitled Angels & Infidels, and the WOMEN 2000 Conference are among our successes.

Programming during the past year reminded our audiences of the commitment of the 1850 convention to racial and gender equality. The community response was heartening. The “Rich Sisters” presentation told the important story of an African-American family who worked for gender and racial equality and Dr. Johnnetta Cole inspired and challenged students and community citizens to continue the dialog regarding race and gender equality.

Coming attractions in February and March will reflect the diligent work of our Education and Heritage Trail Committees to promote women’s history and create educational programs for the public and students. Featured will be Teacher’s Workshops and a public slide show presentation of our new Heritage Trail Brochure.

The success of our organization is the result of the tireless efforts of many dedicated volunteers, a host of supporters and the collaborations with other organizations and institutions. A newly established volunteer position of Community Outreach Coordinator will pave the way for increased volunteer involvement.

To establish a foundation for our future, WWHP began last year a strategic planning process. This process is near completion. The goals identified to carry out our vision and mission will guide the work of our dynamic organization over the next 3–5 years. Rest assured, our work will continue to celebrate women’s achievements, to increase awareness of the contributions of Worcester County Women over the years and to join with other organizations in continuing the dialogs regarding equality.

My job as President of this “awesome organization” has been interesting and exciting. I invite and encourage you to become involved. Each person who becomes involved in WWHP—through volunteering, attending events, spreading the word, or by supporting us financially—brings something special, and we need it all.

Many thanks for your past and continuing support.

Dorista Goldsberry

30 Elm Street - Worcester, MA 01609 - info@wwhp.org

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