Music and women's suffrage in the United States

Last updated

Example of music supporting women's suffrage. "The Suffragettes" March for Pianoforte, Op. 286 by Vincenzo Billi, 1913.jpg
Example of music supporting women's suffrage.

Music was often used in the women's suffrage movement in the United States. Music played an instrumental role in the parades, rallies, and conventions that were held and attended by suffragists. [1] The songs, written for the cause, unified women from varying geographic and socioeconomic positions because the empowering lyrics were set to widely known tunes. [2] Singing was expected from women, whereas political speaking was discouraged, which meant the use of music provided women with an outlet to voice their political opinion. [3] Music made a significant impact on women's rights efforts throughout the twentieth century. It also continues to be a medium to remember past suffrage efforts and promote feminism today. [4]

Contents

Bringing women together

Suffragists with instruments advertise a show in Hackensack, New Jersey. "Don't Forget! Band Concert" suffragists in Hackensack, New Jersey, c. 1914.jpg
Suffragists with instruments advertise a show in Hackensack, New Jersey.

The United States’ Women's Suffrage movement involved thousands of women, each with differing backgrounds. One way that the movement was made accessible to many was through music. [1] Lyrics to suffragist songs were often original sociopolitical commentary. [1] However these songs were generally written as alternative lyrics and set to well-known tunes. [5] For example, in The Suffrage Song Book, the song "Three Blind Men" is set to the air of "Three Blind Mice": [5] The title page of this book is a compilation of, "Original Songs...adapted to Popular Melodies." [5] The use of popular melodies, meant that women from varying circumstances and backgrounds could sing the songs. [4] Most songs were not written as sheet music, but instead were printed as stanzas of lyrics. [5] The tune was simply placed within the heading of the song. [5] This made it more accessible to lower class women who were not musically trained. This also reduced the price of printing allowing for wider distribution. [4] These books were compiled into books called "songsters". These "songsters" relied on their shared cultural experience of nursery rhymes and common hymns to unify everyone. [4]

History

"She's Good Enough To Be Your Baby's Mother and She's Good Enough to Vote With You" Song by Herman Paley and Alfred Bryan, 1916 "She's Good Enough To Be Your Baby's Mother and She's Good Enough to Vote With You" Song by Herman Paley and Alfred Bryan, 1916.jpg
"She's Good Enough To Be Your Baby's Mother and She's Good Enough to Vote With You" Song by Herman Paley and Alfred Bryan, 1916
"Fall In Line Suffrage March," Victor Military Band, recorded July 15, 1914

Prior to the twentieth century, women were expected to remain silent, particularly in regards to political matters. With a few exceptions, the voice of the United States was predominantly male. [3] Although some women, including Abigail Adams, fought for rights in the early days of the nation, women were given little political representation. [6] Finally, in the mid-nineteenth century, the fight for women's rights came together in an organized fashion in Seneca Falls, New York. [7] The Seneca Falls Convention sparked the fire that led to the first wave of feminism in the US. [8] Despite the strength that came from their drive, it remained incredibly difficult for them to speak for themselves on matters involving their government. [8]

During the nineteenth century, most Americans were a part of different Christian denominations. [3] Although each congregation was different, hymns were a common way for members to come together in worship. [3] Women grew up using their voices to sing their praises of God and Jesus Christ. [3] Unable to preach, it was one of the few ways they could express their feelings in churches. [3] Toward the end of the nineteenth century, women began to write their own hymns with the purpose of sharing their testimonies and experiences through their own words. [3] Despite the initial backlash they received from men in their churches, many women became successful hymnists. [3] As women across the nation worked to have their voice heard in the churches, suffragists struggled against the political silence that had been forced upon them for decades. [3] However, the success of female hymnists showed that songs could be a powerful way to express their desire for equality. [3]

Women's role in composing hymns would eventually evolve into writing music for the Suffrage movement. Several songs were written in response to the Seneca Falls Convention, including "Women's Rights Convention Waltz," arranged by Julia F. Baker and "Woman's Rights, a Right Good Ballad," by Kate Horn. [9] [10] Baker's song is more supportive of a change in women's rights, while Horn's work emphasizes traditional values. [10] Many of the women's suffrage songs written after the Seneca Falls Convention can be divided into "rally songs" and "songs of persuasion." [10] Rally songs were more likely to be printed as single-sheet papers or published as songsters, but persuasive songs tended to be published commercially and could make their way more easily into women's homes. [11] Some suffrage music written in the late nineteenth century implied, hopefully, that women would soon have the right to vote, including "Daughters of Freedom! The Ballot Be Yours," by George Cooper and Edwin Christie, published in 1871 and the 1881 "Shall Women Vote" by Joseph D. Payne. [12]

The Hutchinson Family Singers helped develop the women's suffrage music tradition. [11] Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote in the History of Woman Suffrage that the family actively worked to help the cause through music, especially in Kansas in 1867. [11] Lucy Stone encouraged the family to help the suffragists as "singing evangelists." [13] For the campaign, John W. Hutchinson co-wrote "The Kansas Suffrage Song," which was sung to the tune of "Old Dan Tucker." [11] On the election day, the Hutchinson family traveled with Stanton and Susan B. Anthony to all the polling places in Leavenworth, Kansas. [14] The activists gave speeches and the Hutchinsons sang suffrage songs. [14] During the next Kansas campaign in 1881, the Hutchinson returned and Stanton wrote that the Hutchinsons' songs were able to appeal to emotions and hearts in a way that speakers and lecturers could not. [11]

Suffrage organizations began to compile and sell songs that were heard at rallies and meetings. [15] The South Dakota Suffrage Organization printed a twenty page songster in 1888 and sold it for ten cents at their Huron headquarters. [15] The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) printed their own book in 1889 and sold it for fifteen cents. [15] National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) conventions would sometimes list song leaflets for suffragists at their conventions. [16] NAWSA often borrowed imagery from the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom to illustrate sheet music covers. [17] In 1896, NAWSA also published suggestions for suffrage meetings, which included words for rally songs. [15] Selling music helped fund suffrage organizations and it also brought the music and ideas into the home of Americans. [18] Plays or pantomimes set to music were also popular with suffragists. [19]

Another example of how singing provided a voice for women during protests was seen in Los Angeles. Prior to their protest on July 14, 1911, "prohibitive ordinances" had been enacted. [20] Women who wanted to protest had been told by the authorities that they were unable to if they made political speeches. [20] The women managed to maneuver around this ordinance by setting their speeches to music. [20] Instead of speaking their political rhetoric they instead sang their sentiments. [20] Similarly in 1917, music was used again in the fight for women's rights when six women were arrested for protesting outside of the White House. [21] In response the women formed a song service which sparked song competitions across the country wherein the public could write and submit their own suffragist music. [22]

Over time, the most popular song collection was compiled in 1912 by Eugenie M. Raye-Smith. [15] This collection, called the "Equal Suffrage Song Sheaf," had twenty-five different songs and was dedicated to Anna Howard Shaw. [15] Raye-Smith, a professor and editor of the Woman Lawyer's Journal, had often been called on to write music for the suffrage movement before she died in 1914. [23] The Detroit Free Press wrote in 1914 that "Since suffrage has become popular and more or less fashionable, the different suffrage societies have spent a great deal of their time answering the hundreds of people who are continually sending in suggestions for songs and suffrage trinkets." [24] All women's suffrage song sheets and songsters were popular until women earned the right to vote in 1920. [15]

African American and Native American women

Adella Hunt Logan wrote "Just As Well As He" in 1912 based on the tune and poem of "Comin' Through the Rye." [25] Her version turns an objectification of women into a song of strength and a plea for full enfranchisement. [25] Frances Ellen Watkins Harper also wrote song lyrics like her "Songs for the People." [25]

Often, however, African Americans and Native Americans alike were used as "punchlines" to make the point that it was ridiculous that white women were unable to vote. [26] If Black men could vote, then why couldn't white women some of these songs asked. [26] "American Citizens Who Cannot Vote" and "Is It Right?" were both songs that asked this question. [26] The idea was "meant to shock by placing white women—the embodiment of 'civilization'--on par with incompetent and mentally incapacitated men." [26]

Anti-suffrage music

Anti-suffragists often used red and specifically, a red rose, as their symbol. [27] This often appeared on covers for their sheet music. [27]

Legacy

Music continues to be a medium to promote feminism today. As the second wave of feminism began to develop there was a resurgence in suffragist songs. [28] This famously included the, "Sister Suffragette" song in the hit 1964 Disney film Mary Poppins. [4] Well known hymns were used again during this time period. The Battle Hymn of the Republic was parodied by women in a suffrage style song during a Women's Liberation March at Harvard. [4] The song was entitled, "The Battle Hymn of Women," replacing the lyrics, "glory, glory hallelujah," with, "move on over or we'll move on over you." [4] The introduction of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the 1970s led to the rise of pop culture songs playing a role in the feminist movement. [4] This included songs such as Lesely Gore's, "You Don't Own Me," and "Respect" by Aretha Franklin. [4] In fact, in December 1972, Helen Reddy's, "I Am Woman,'' topped the music charts at number one. [4] Evidence that this year was important for women's rights as Shirley Chilsom was running for President and Roe v. Wade had reached courts. [4] Music continues to play a huge role in women's empowerment and modern day feminist movements with the creation of songs such as Beyonce's, “Who Runs the World," and Taylor Swift's, "The Man," which aim to commentate on the current status of women. [29]

Music is also being used to teach about the suffragette movement and nineteenth amendment. For example, Soomo Learning released a parody of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance," called Bad Romance: Women's Suffrage. [30] The video centers around the famous American Suffragette Alice Paul. [31] Similarly, the educational television program Horrible Histories released "The Suffragettes’ Song," a song relating events of women's suffrage. [32] These songs have been used as tools to recount to younger generations and educate them on the struggle towards women's rights.

Selected suffrage songs

"The Franchise: Campaign March for Suffrage" by Norman Chester, 1914 The Franchise, Campaign March for Suffrage by Norman Chester, 1914.pdf
"The Franchise: Campaign March for Suffrage" by Norman Chester, 1914

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seneca Falls Convention</span> First womens rights convention (1848)

The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention. It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman". Held in the Wesleyan Chapel of the town of Seneca Falls, New York, it spanned two days over July 19–20, 1848. Attracting widespread attention, it was soon followed by other women's rights conventions, including the Rochester Women's Rights Convention in Rochester, New York, two weeks later. In 1850 the first in a series of annual National Women's Rights Conventions met in Worcester, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National American Woman Suffrage Association</span> US 19th century suffrage association

The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an organization formed on February 18, 1890, to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States. It was created by the merger of two existing organizations, the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). Its membership, which was about seven thousand at the time it was formed, eventually increased to two million, making it the largest voluntary organization in the nation. It played a pivotal role in the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which in 1920 guaranteed women's right to vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silent Sentinels</span> Group of American women suffragists

The Silent Sentinels, also known as the Sentinels of Liberty, were a group of over 2,000 women in favor of women's suffrage organized by Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party, who nonviolently protested in front of the White House during Woodrow Wilson's presidency starting on January 10, 1917. Nearly 500 were arrested, and 168 served jail time. They were the first group to picket the White House. Later, they also protested in Lafayette Square, not stopping until June 4, 1919 when the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed both by the House of Representatives and the Senate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paulina Wright Davis</span> American activist and educator (1813–1876)

Paulina Wright Davis was an American abolitionist, suffragist, and educator. She was one of the founders of the New England Woman Suffrage Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in the United States</span>

Women's suffrage, or the right of women to vote, was established in the United States over the course of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, first in various states and localities, then nationally in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom</span>

A movement to fight for women's right to vote in the United Kingdom finally succeeded through acts of Parliament in 1918 and 1928. It became a national movement in the Victorian era. Women were not explicitly banned from voting in Great Britain until the Reform Act 1832 and the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. In 1872 the fight for women's suffrage became a national movement with the formation of the National Society for Women's Suffrage and later the more influential National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). As well as in England, women's suffrage movements in Wales, Scotland and other parts of the United Kingdom gained momentum. The movements shifted sentiments in favour of woman suffrage by 1906. It was at this point that the militant campaign began with the formation of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The March of the Women</span>

"The March of the Women" is a song composed by Ethel Smyth in 1910, to words by Cicely Hamilton. It became the official anthem of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and more widely the anthem of the women's suffrage movement throughout the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Activists sang it not only at rallies but also in prison while they were on hunger strike. Smyth produced a number of different arrangements of the work.

This timeline highlights milestones in women's suffrage in the United States, particularly the right of women to vote in elections at federal and state levels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in states of the United States</span>

Women's suffrage was established in the United States on a full or partial basis by various towns, counties, states, and territories during the latter decades of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century. As women received the right to vote in some places, they began running for public office and gaining positions as school board members, county clerks, state legislators, judges, and, in the case of Jeannette Rankin, as a member of Congress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in film</span>

Women's suffrage, the legal right of women to vote, has been depicted in film in a variety of ways since the invention of narrative film in the late nineteenth century. Some early films satirized and mocked suffragists and Suffragettes as "unwomanly" "man-haters," or sensationalized documentary footage. Suffragists countered these depictions by releasing narrative films and newsreels that argued for their cause. After women won the vote in countries with a national cinema, women's suffrage became a historical event depicted in both fiction and nonfiction films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stornoway Women's Suffrage Society</span> Womens suffrage campaigners in Scotland

The Stornoway Women's Suffrage Association was an organisation that campaigned for women's suffrage across the UK, based in Stornoway, Lewis in the Western Isles of Scotland, the Hebrides.

"The Women's Marseillaise" was the former Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) official anthem. It was sung to the tune of La Marseillaise and included words about women's suffrage written by Florence MacAulay. The song was sung by suffragists in both the United Kingdom and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Native Americans and women's suffrage in the United States</span>

Native American women influenced early women's suffrage activists in the United States. The Iroquois nations, which had an egalitarian society, were visited by early feminists and suffragists, such as Lydia Maria Child, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Lucretia Mott, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. These women discussed how Native American women had authority in their own cultures at various feminist conventions and also in the news. Native American women became a symbol for some suffrage activists. However, other white suffragists actively excluded Native American people from the movement. When the Nineteenth Amendment was passed in 1920, suffragist Zitkala-Sa, commented that Native Americans still had more work to do in order to vote. It was not until 1924 that many Native Americans could vote under the Indian Citizenship Act. In many states, there were additional barriers to Native American voting rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in Ohio</span> History of womens suffrage in Ohio

Women's rights issues in Ohio were put into the public eye in the early 1850s. Women inspired by the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention created newspapers and then set up their own conventions, including the 1850 Ohio Women's Rights Convention which was the first women's right's convention outside of New York and the first that was planned and run solely by women. These early efforts towards women's suffrage affected people in other states and helped energize the women's suffrage movement in Ohio. Women's rights groups formed throughout the state, with the Ohio Women's Rights Association (OWRA) founded in 1853. Other local women's suffrage groups are formed in the late 1860s. In 1894, women won the right to vote in school board elections in Ohio. The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was headquartered for a time in Warren, Ohio. Two efforts to vote on a constitutional amendment, one in 1912 and the other 1914 were unsuccessful, but drew national attention to women's suffrage. In 1916, women in East Cleveland gained the right to vote in municipal elections. A year later, women in Lakewood, Ohio and Columbus were given the right to vote in municipal elections. Also in 1917, the Reynolds Bill, which would allow women to vote in the next presidential election was passed, and then quickly repealed by a voter referendum sponsored by special-interest groups. On June 16, 1919, Ohio became the fifth state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in Pennsylvania</span>

The women's suffrage movement in Pennsylvania was an outgrowth of the abolitionist movement in the state. Early women's suffrage advocates in Pennsylvania wanted equal suffrage not only for white women but for all African Americans. The first women's rights convention in the state was organized by Quakers and held in Chester County in 1852. Philadelphia would host the fifth National Women's Rights Convention in 1854. Later years saw suffragists forming a statewide group, the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association (PWSA), and other smaller groups throughout the state. Early efforts moved slowly, but steadily, with suffragists raising awareness and winning endorsements from labor unions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art in the women's suffrage movement in the United States</span>

Art played a critical role in the women's suffrage movement in the United States. It was used both as propaganda and as a way to represent the leaders of the movement as historical records. Art sales and shows were also used to raise money for campaigns.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Smith, Eleanor (1915). Hull House songs. Clayton F. Summy Co. OCLC   11002052.
  2. ↑ Love 2002, p. 81.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hobbs, June Hadden (1997). I sing for I cannot be silent : the feminization of American hymnody, 1870–1920. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN   0-585-03445-1. OCLC   42854542.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Hetherly, Marian (26 August 2020). "The em-power of music in the Women's Suffrage Movement". news.wbfo.org. Retrieved 2021-03-19.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Suffrage Song Book – 2 – Kansas Memory". www.kansasmemory.org. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
  6. ↑ Allen, Erin (2016-03-31). "Remember the Ladies | Library of Congress Blog". blogs.loc.gov. Retrieved 2021-03-19.
  7. ↑ Hurner, Sheryl (2006-09-22). "Discursive Identity Formation of Suffrage Women: Reframing the "Cult of True Womanhood" Through Song". Western Journal of Communication. 70 (3): 234–260. doi:10.1080/10570310600843512. S2CID   144646354.
  8. 1 2 H., Penney, Sherry (2003). Expectant at Seneca Falls. OCLC   52161510.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ Brandes 2016, p. 20.
  10. 1 2 3 Florey 2013, p. 163.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Florey 2013, p. 165.
  12. ↑ Brandes 2016, p. 23.
  13. ↑ Hutchinson 1896, p. 436.
  14. 1 2 Colman 2013, p. 120.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Florey 2013, p. 166.
  16. ↑ Brandes 2016, p. 29.
  17. ↑ Florey 2013, p. 76.
  18. ↑ Brandes 2016, p. 34-35.
  19. ↑ Soukup 2020, p. 22.
  20. 1 2 3 4 "SINGING SUFFRAGISTS NOW.; Set Their Speeches to Music and Outwit Los Angeles Authorities". The New York Times. 1911-07-15. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  21. 1 2 "About this Collection | Women's Suffrage in Sheet Music | Digital Collections | Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  22. ↑ Brandes 2016, p. 31.
  23. ↑ "Mrs. Eugenie Smith, Law Teacher, Dies". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1914-07-09. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-01-29– via Newspapers.com.
  24. ↑ "Suffrage Songs and Notions". Detroit Free Press. 1914-08-23. p. 64. Retrieved 2023-02-02– via Newspapers.com.
  25. 1 2 3 4 Haywood, William (2021-05-09). "Black Women in the Abolitionist & Suffrage Movements". ArcGIS StoryMaps. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
  26. 1 2 3 4 Cahill 2020, p. 80.
  27. 1 2 Florey 2013, p. 80.
  28. ↑ "Women's Equality Day: Music of the Suffragists | WQXR Editorial". WQXR. 26 August 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-19.
  29. ↑ "Women Are The Fabric Of 21st Century Pop". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  30. ↑ Macleod, Deb (2012). "Bad Romance Women's Suffrage." Youtube. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
  31. ↑ "Suffrage". www.soomolearning.com. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  32. ↑ The Suffragettes' Song | Potty Pioneers | Horrible Histories, 2 October 2020, retrieved 2021-04-05
  33. 1 2 Florey 2013, p. 168.
  34. ↑ "Fall In Line (Suffrage March), by Victor Military Band (1914)". History on the Net. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  35. ↑ "Music Sheet, "Female Suffrage," 1867". The Henry Ford. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  36. ↑ Garrison, William Lloyd (1871). Human Equality [manuscript]. Boston Public Library.
  37. ↑ "Songs of Women's Suffrage". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  38. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Crew, Danny O. (2002). Suffragist sheet music : an illustrated catalogue of published music associated with the women's rights and suffrage movement in America, 1795–1921, with complete lyrics. McFarland. ISBN   0-7864-1298-4. OCLC   248665150.
  39. ↑ Let Us All Speak Our Minds if We Die for It (1863), 2 March 2020, retrieved 2023-02-01
  40. ↑ Florey 2013, p. 170.
  41. ↑ "Rights of Ladies. Song & Chorus". Levy Music Collection. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  42. ↑ "Rights of Woman, 1795, song lyrics". Protest Song Lyrics. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  43. ↑ "Shall women vote". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  44. ↑ Gilman, Charlotte (1911). Suffrage Songs and Verses. Charlton Company. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
  45. ↑ "The Socialist and the Suffragist". A Celebration of Women Writers. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
  46. ↑ "Suffrage March, song lyrics". Protest Song Lyrics. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
  47. ↑ Crew, p. 337
  48. ↑ "Woman's Rights. A Right Good Ballad Rightly Illustrating "Womans Rights."". Levy Music Collection. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  49. ↑ Tompkins (composer), C.; Baker (arranger), Miss Julia F. (1853). "Woman's Rights Convention Waltz".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.