A Fourth of July Protest

Yet again, women refuse to be excluded from democracy

This story, first published last year, is one of my favorite scenes from women’s fight for the vote. It shows them refusing to celebrate when America isn’t living up to her promises. It shows women refusing to be “nice” and “polite” while still making their point in a peaceful and provocative way. It’s perfect if you’re not feeling very celebratory for American democracy on the Fourth of July.

The 1876 Centennial Celebration at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Hot day. Big crowds. But where are the women?

Usually people celebrate the Fourth of July with red white and blue, bunting and flags, parades and other festivities. But in 1876, when nation was celebrating its centennial, some of the Suffs had another idea. They draped their homes in black, the color of mourning, to make the point that the democracy everyone was celebrating wasn’t really a democracy if half the population couldn’t vote. 

Some Suffs even went further. 

When it came to the country’s centennial celebration in Philadelphia in 1876, a few women had asked to be allowed to say a few words at the festivities. The women included Susan B. Anthony (the Mastermind), Lillie Deveraux Blake (Novelist/Suffragist), Matilda Joslyn Gage (The Radical’s Radical), as well as Sara Andrews Spencer (The Lobbying Suffragist). They were denied—no space in the program, etc, etc. Also, women speaking lols. Spencer’s reply appeared later in the newspapers: 

 We are aware that your program is published, your speakers engaged, your entire arrangements decided upon, without consulting with the women of the United States; for that very reason we desire to enter our protest.

Someone had a friend, who had a connection, who managed to get them seats on the platform with all the other speakers, including the Vice-President and a handful of foreign Princes (who were given honored spots at an event celebrating the overthrow of a king. Sit with that for a moment.). 

At the determined time, the Suffs stood up and made their way toward to the podium to present their declaration. No one stopped them because no one could imagine nice, matronly ladies such as themselves would do something so daring and improper as interrupting the official proceedings and important men speaking.  

The ladies have something to say.

Sara had put their speech on large scroll and tied it with a ribbon for dramatic visual effect. She handed it to a surprised Vice-President, making it look like he accepted it (ha!). What a moment for the Insta’s and TikTok, had they existed. 

Susan took the opportunity to say a few words, as she does. She called out the unequal codes for men and women, special legislation for women and how “our most sacred rights have been made the football of legislative caprice.” She decried the lack of representation of women, “the aristocracy of sex” and called for universal suffrage. She quoted Abigail Adams and said  “they would not “hold [themselves] bound to obey laws in which they have no voice or representation.” 

You can read the whole speech here. In these times, I am particularly agog at this line from their declaration:

The judiciary above the nation has proved itself but the echo of the party in power, by upholding and enforcing laws that are opposed to the spirit and letter of the constitution.

In the end they distributed their declaration to many, many outstretched hands clamoring for copies and made their way to a nearby church, packed with hundreds of friends and supporters. I imagine they might have been giddy—Can you believe what we just did!? Can you believe we pulled it off?!

I love this for it’s sense of spectacle. For their refusal to be excluded and to swallow their feelings lest they ruin the nation’s special day. I love it because they called out the hypocrisy rampant in America. I love it for their insistence on being heard. And I really love it for the line they ended with, their “why” and reason for all the work they did: for us and our daughters forever.