Bread and Roses
Friends and fellow citizens, I stand before you to prove to you that suffrage must be our priority today. Whatever your stance regarding suffrage may be, lend me your ears.
My name is Mrs. Maud Preston. I am a politician’s daughter and a member of the Woman’s Political Union. Although I have a certain influence in the political world, I too feel the effects of sexual discrimination just the same. Equality will only come through suffrage. To achieve this goal, all people must unite in the face of adversity. Although the wild enthusiasm of young suffragettes who drape themselves in yellow and white is a cornerstone of suffrage support, winning the right to vote is more about power and less about kewpie dolls. Success will not be won with yellow sashes, changing our style of dress, or pennies earned from selling suffrage jonquils. The strides will be made in the national suffrage parades, public demonstrations, and pressure for a constitutional amendment.
The suffrage movement was created to be inclusive of conservative women, with aims to improve conditions for families and children, to sweep away male corruption, as well as to incorporate the new feminists who proclaim that the vote is the commencement of dynamic changes for the lives of women.
Consider this, our Protestant ideals and republican beliefs grant the right of individual isolation of every soul, a right to be self-sovereign and independent. If women are considered citizens in the eyes of government, why are they denied the fundamental rights of the system? The marginalized peoples need political power, otherwise their interests will not be heard. Customs that barre women from full participation in society can only be altered by political clout.
Now, all great movements have risks of potential failure and fragmentation. Our challenge is to unify against the differences of class, ethnicity, and immigrant status. There is another point that is typically incorporated as a category of differences. That is race. There are so many people who speak about race as if it is dependent on your skin color, religious affiliation, or sexual orientation. I did not include “race” as a category of differences because there is only one race–the human race. Being African American or an immigrant does not devalue a human life, nor does having fair skin and wealth signify its worth. In the eyes of our Creator, we were made equal.We humans are the reason for the divides amongst us. Why, then, are women denied rights that are granted to members of their race?
Most of the women here are self-supporting. The women sitting around you know firsthand about the discriminatory practices that exist both in custom and in law. Teachers are aware that no married woman is allowed to work in New York’s public school system. Lawyers may be brilliant students but will never be allowed to practice with a firm. University professors will be urged to leave if they find love and choose to marry, and forced to resign should they choose to have children. These discriminations belong to the sphere of women.
This confinement of women stems from the relations of life, of being a mother, wife, sister, or daughter. In usual discussions of “traditional” feminine duties, a woman may never assume certain relations because of the necessities of the confining feminine sphere. However, compare this to the sphere of man and his rights as a human being or as a citizen are not decided for him. This is a disproportionate outline of personal responsibilities. The direction of our lives should be influenced by one thing, and one thing only, and that is the desire of the individual in their voyage of life.
There is a criticism that suffrage is a “parlor affair” for “white, rich women.” This is a shallow judgement made by those who fail to see the mix within the suffragist community and our supporters.
If suffrage is only for white women, then why is the only suffrage club in the entire South at Tuskegee, an all black university? Why, at Howard University, are women preparing as we speak for a suffrage parade and demonstration? Why does the suffrage movement seek to stir pro-suffrage sentiments within the hearts of the working-class men and women, the largest growing sector of the population? Why have the social elite and the working-class joined together in hopes of achieving a united front for demanding suffrage? Does suffrage still sound inequitable and biased? I think not. Yet even with this evidence, some still blindly argue the issue of race, undoubtedly drawing from the nation’s history of anti-African American and immigrant sentiments. I am a realist and believe that women must forge on even in this time of antagonistic race relations, suffrage-related or otherwise. Unity is the only way to get the vote in our lifetime. Unity of people and efforts is necessary for progress.
And so I ask for your support of women, of women’s suffrage. I ask you to respect women on the grounds of equality, diplomacy, and humility. Think of your mothers, your wife, your sisters, and daughters. To love and respect them is to be equal.
And now I leave you with this thought: give a woman bread and a rose. Bread symbolizes basic human rights and the rose represents the love and respect for women. Not only should women be granted the right of equality and independence, but they should be allowed to experience the beauty that life has to offer. Thank you.
