Finish The Fight by Veronica Chambers and NY Times Staff

Finish The Fight tells the stories of the many women suffragettes who fought to secure for American women the right to vote. It would take almost a century to accomplish this for all women of all races who lived in America. Most have heard of Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, Emmeline Pankhurst and Lucy Stone. But what about African American women like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and Mary Church Terrell? Or Susette La Fleche a Native American woman? What about Asian American women like Mabel Ping Hua-Lee?

Chambers begins the story with a chapter on the social structure and culture in the Haudenosaunee, a confederacy of six Native American nations. In Haudenosaunee culture, women held significant power. They voted on matters involving war and peace, they held property in marriage. In their matrilineal society in which families were aligned into clans based on the mother's family,  the clan mother's held the power to determine the clan's chief. Women participated alongside men in debates. For the suffragists, the Haudenosaunee model seemed to provide proof that their goal of getting women the right to vote was important.

The Civil War and the fight to end slavery had a significant influence on the suffrage movement. A petition demanding voting rights for all citizens, regardless of race or gender was present to Congress in 1866. In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment granted black men and women born in America citizenship while the Fifteenth Amendment passed in 1870 strengthened the right of black men to vote. This made the women suffragists furious and their bias towards black people began to show in racist attitudes and remarks. The result was a fractured suffrage movement. Suffrage groups began to mirror what was happening in society where black and white people were being segregated. The National American Woman Suffrage Association allowed segregation in its groups in southern states while black suffragists began to form their own organizations. 

Chambers profiles Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, a black woman born to free black parents in Baltimore in 1825. Watkins Harper was active in the abolitionist movement and worked with white suffragists Susan B. Anthony  and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. 

As the suffragist movement continued to grow, women realized they needed to spread their message and inform women about their work and why they needed to have more say in the affairs of the nation. This need led Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin to start the Women's Era, the first American newspaper by and for black women. Its intent was to let black women know that they could aspire to more than just homemaking. Josephine also encountered racism within the suffragist movement by white suffragettes who believed that linking up with their black sisters would harm their chances of winning the right to vote. Josephine was refused attendance as a delegate representing a black group, to the General Federation of Women's Clubs in Milwaukee.

Finish the Fight goes on to chronicle the success of the suffragist movement in the "Wild West" states and territories of the 1800's. For example, Wyoming Territory was the first to give women the right to vote in 1869 and kept this provision when they became a state in 1890. Further success was achieved in the West by Elizabeth Piper Ensley, a black woman and Carrie Chapman Catt who was white, and who worked together to get the vote for women in Colorado in 1893. 

Finish The Fight explores the efforts of Mary Church Terrell who worked to stop the crime of lynching, and to encourage suffrage organizations to include and work with black women. The book also briefly touches the work of women who may have been lesbians in the suffrage movement. There are also chapters on Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, a Chinese American  and  Native Americans, Susette La Flesche and Zitkala-Sa and their efforts to bring about change not only in the area of women's rights but also more equitable treatment for their own races in America. 

Discussion

Finish the Fight is a fascinating account of the almost one hundred year struggle to obtain the right to vote for women. In telling this story, Chambers and the New York Times staff include photographs, historical images and numerous portrait illustrations by a number of artists which serve to create an engaging and informative book. 

Perhaps what is most remarkable about Finish The Fight is that it not only tells the story of the numerous women activists who worked for the right to vote but it also highlights the discrimination Black, Mexican and Native Americans endured in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Women of these communities found themselves pushing back against the racism and inequity they encountered in their own lives and were therefore primed to become part of the suffrage movement. 

This connection between the fight against racial discrimination and the women's movement to get the vote was a surprise to the authors of Finish The Fight . As they observed in their Author's Note at the back, "suffrage was not a movement that was happening in isolation." While the suffrages began their fight for the right to vote and greater participation in all aspects of society for women, it also came to encompass the fight for racial equality for Black, Chinese and Mexican Americans.  For example, the book profiles Ida B. Wells-Barnett, a suffragist who was an advocate for racial justice for Black Americans. She penned impassioned articles against racial violence and worked to try to stop lynchings which were become more and more frequent. She also helped to found the National Negro Committee which would one day become the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

At the same time, Native Americans were fighting for the right to live according to their traditions on their ancestral lands while Chinese and Mexican Americans were fighting for their right to be full American citizens and to be treated fairly. Susette La Flesche, a member of the Omaha tribe faced discrimination when she tried to become a teacher on her own Omaha reservation. Refused permission to leave the reservation to write the teacher certification exam, Susette had to sneak off the reservation and then later threaten to go public when the white government official balked at accepting her certification.

Finish The Fight will leave readers with a sense of just how difficult and long the fight has been to bring about change. It tells the story in a chronological way, focusing on the important figures, revealing the racism and bigotry that existed within the suffragist movement itself, while also highlighting those women who worked together regardless of  their racial or political differences. The authors also show their readers that getting the vote not just for women, but for these marginalized communities was key to changing discriminatory laws and practices.

Each chapter opens with a colourful portrait of an important but mostly little-known suffragette along with floral and plant symbols, the relevance of which are explained in the Illustrator's Note at the back.

Readers will also find an Author's Note, a detailed Timeline, a list of Brave and Revolutionary Women You Should Know, a comparison of women's achievements in the last one hundred years with 1920 vs. 2020, an Illustrator's Note about the flowers and plants used in each chapter illustration and a detailed Further Reading list of books. There is also a Selected Bibliography and an Index.

Book Details:

Finish The Fight: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought For The Right To Vote by Veronica Chambers and the staff of the New York Times
New York: Versify/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt       2020
132 pp.

Suffragette

Suffragette attempts to portray the struggle of women in Britain to obtain the right to vote. It was never meant to be an encompassing film. Instead Suffragette attempts portray the intense struggle and vicious opposition women faced to obtaining their civic right to participate in the political sphere of their country by focusing on a small group of women.

The movie opens in 1912 with fictional Maud Watts (Carrie Mulligan), who works at Glasshouse Laundry, delivering a package for her employer, Mr. Norman Taylor (Geoff Bell). While doing this errand on her way home from work, Maud becomes caught up in an act of civil disobedience by the suffragettes who throw stones at shop windows. She escapes the ensuing melee between the suffragettes and police and makes her way home but not before recognizing a co-worker, Violet Miller (Anne-Marie Duff).

The suffragettes are encouraged by Alice Haughton, the wife of an MP, to speak before parliament regarding amendments to the suffrage bill. Maud tells Violet, who has been chosen to testify she will accompany her but when Violet shows up badly beaten by her husband, Maud is asked to step in. Reluctantly Maud prepares to read Violet's statement but she is questioned about her own situation by Prime Minister Lloyd George. The suffragettes are pleased with Maud's success and Edith Ellyn (Helen Bonham Carter) invites Maud to tea. Edith runs her husband's chemist shop. Her father opposed her getting educated but she was able to do so because of her mother. Her husband inherited the shop but she runs it, although she really wants to be a doctor.

When the suffragettes return to parliament they learn that the Prime Minister has not granted the right to vote. Furious, the suffragettes begin protesting but the police immediately begin kicking and punching the women. Many are arrested including Maud, Violet, and Edith and Alice Haughton. Alice wants her husband Benedict to bail all the women out but he refuses. He doesn't allow her to use her own money as she wishes. They are kept for a week in prison under harsh conditions. During this time Edith and Violet encourage Maud to be strong and introduce her to Emily Davison who is on a hunger strike.

When Maud returns home, her husband Sonny is angry over her involvement with the suffragettes and completely unsympathetic to what she went through in jail. Maud promises him she will not be further involved. Meanwhile Pankhurst is in hiding and the suffragettes await her further instructions. News arrives of a secret meeting where Emmeline Pankhurst will speak to the suffragettes and Maud attends with her friends. Pankhurst encourages the women to become rebels, to fight in anyway they can since their demands have been ignored now for years. She tells them "Deeds not words" is their motto.

The police raid the meeting arresting Maud and others. On the orders of Inspector Steed (Brendan Gleeson) who has been tracking the suffragettes, the women are taken to their homes so that their husbands can "deal" with them. Sonny, furious at Maud's participation refuses to let her back into their home or to see their son, George.

Haughton and Steed meanwhile decide they need to get into the East London group and hope to obtain an informer by publishing photographs of the women involved in the suffragette movement. Maud is shown her picture by a disapproving neighbour. When Taylor sees the pictures, he fires her. Ridiculing her for the abuse she has suffered at his hands, Maud burns his hand with the iron.

Inspector Steed who has been called to the factory tells Maud that she will go home provided she becomes an informant for the police. Maud tells him that Taylor deserved what happened because of what he's done to her and other women, but Steed reminds her that no one listens to "girls like you."

Maud meets with Edith who explains to the group that they will be bombing the King's post office boxes. Before she undertakes her part in this Maud manages to see George and spend some time with him but when she returns him to Sonny he tells her by law their boy is his and he can prevent her from seeing him. This results in Maud writing Steed to inform him that she has decided against his offer. She believes in fighting for her rights as a woman and if the law won't let her see her son, she needs to work to change that law.

All of this leads to Maud becoming more radicalized and more involved with suffragettes. With each arrest and jail time, she along with the other suffragettes become determined to win the right to vote and to obtain other rights for women too.

Discussion

Suffragette is a movie that provides an excellent starting point to create awareness of how different life was for women a century ago and that many of the rights women enjoy today were hard won. The women's movement in the United Kingdom began in the 1800's as more and more women desired to participate more fully in society. Women's rights became a national movement in the UK around 1872. Women began lobbying for more rights but change was slow and often piecemeal. For example, in 1882 women won the right to own property but as of 1912, women could still not vote, despite years of lobbying.

Emmeline Pankhurst emerged as a leader in the women's movement in the UK. She founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) which challenged women to act in order to secure more rights. Conditions in Britain for women at this time were deplorable. Many worked long hours in factories in terrible conditions for pay that was far less than that of men. They had no parental rights and no say in the political process. They were unable to hold meetings because it was almost impossible to find a venue. Unable to secure the right to vote Pankhurst decided that a more militant approach was required and her group advocated civil disobedience in the form of smashing windows, bombing postal boxes and eventually arson. She and many of her followers were arrested and staged hunger strikes while in prison. Many were brutally force-fed.

Suffragette is set against this backdrop in 1912 to 1913. The movie, directed by Sarah Gavron, accurately portrays life for women during this time period. In Suffragette, as Maud experiences the injustice of laws which favour men, she becomes increasingly radicalized. The abuse by her employer, the loss of her husband and her son, the brutality of the police, the ridicule of those around her and torture by doctors in the jail all drive her towards supporting the suffragettes. Carrie Mulligan portrays Maud's increasing desperation and her transformation from reluctant mother and laundress to determined activist realistically.  It's gradual and not without conflict.

Helena Bonham Carter's performance as Edith Ellyn was wonderful. It was enjoyable to see her in a role where her considerable acting abilities could be brought to bear. She gave Edith a refreshing brashness that made her seem the most realistic of all the film's characters. Bonham Carter brought out Edith's resourcefulness and stoic determination to make things better for the next generation. She saw her own dreams of becoming a doctor and owning her own business thwarted merely because of her gender.  Yet she soldiers on and encourages the other suffragettes to do so too. Meryl Streep brief performance as Pankhurst was solid.

The event that forms the climax of Suffragette, Emily Wilding Davison's walking out in front of the King's horse at the Epsom Derby was a real event that occurred on June 4, 1913. Emily was struck by King George V's horse, Anmer and trampled to the ground as she tried to offer the women's vote flag to the rider. She died four days later in hospital. Her death and funeral made headlines around the world. As the movie does not fully develop the real life characters, Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Wilding Davison, viewers are encouraged to research these women. Pankhurst's autobiography, Suffragette: My Own Story is worth reading.

Canadian women might be interested to know that women in Manitoba were the first to get the vote in Canada. That right was granted on January 28, 1916. They could run for provincial office and vote in provincial elections but they could not vote federally. The right to vote in federal elections was not fully granted to women in Canada until May 24, 1918. Aboriginal women did not gain the right to vote in federal elections until 1960.