Calvert Sufferagettes

Calvert Sufferagettes

personal photo

During Hillary Clinton's speech tonight, she mentioned that this is the anniversary of the Suffragette movement. ( I looked it up and noticed that the sign in this photo is spelled sufferagette, while online it is spelled suffragette. I went with the way the sign in my picture has it spelled. After all, the photo shows women who were involved and, if that's the way they spelled it then, that's fine with me.)

I thought it would be appropriate to remember the women (and men) who were involved in obtaining voting rights for women. Many of them went through a great deal.

Do you know who these women are?

Flossie gave me this wonderful old photo and asked if I know who the ladies are. I don't have any idea. But it's a great historical photograph of a time that we don't often hear about.

We assume that they are Calvert ladies.

The fire escape steps behind them sort of remind me of the fire escape that is on the back of Calvert High School, leading from the auditorium down past the cafeteria. However, depending on when this picture was taken, the school may not have even been there, yet. I don't really know where the picture was taken.

While women couldn't vote, in times past, they still could persuade their husbands, in a lot of cases.

By the time I was old enough to vote, Texas had a poll tax. Most husbands would pay the money for their wives, if they were supportive of their wives. However some still had the idea that wives were something like property, or were to be kept dependent, or "barefoot and pregnant", as the saying went. Stay in the kitchen and out of anything that was deemed really important. The fee was a whopping $2.50, but you would have thought it was a small fortune. And, in most households, the men controlled the pursestrings. Women had to beg for everything they got, trick their husbands, or they had to save back something from anything that they were able to get their hands on.

I had been sick and had to go back home to live at the time that I was old enough to vote. My notice, and my mother's, came in the mail. I wondered how you knew about how to vote, since we didn't have a lot of communication back in the 1950s. Not much in the way of tv, but there were newspapers, radio, newsreels, magazines, and, sometimes, a candidate might come through town to make a speech or shake hands along Main Street. The main thing was to listen to the elders and see who they were endorsing, it seemed. People would visit all along Main Street in small groups, seeing who the elders or their bosses were endorsing. I tried to listen and watch as much as possible.

But, when it came time to pay that poll tax, all I heard was "Women are too stupid to know how to vote right." And there went our opportunity to vote.

Later, when I was working, I was able to pay the tax and vote. And, I've tried not to miss voting since. And I encourage others to participate as well. It hasn't been that long ago when a lot of men probably thought that their horses had more sense than their wives or daughters.

"We've come a long way, baby," from having to fight to get to vote, having to beg for $2.50 to pay the poll tax, to having a woman, "a traveling pantsuit sister", run for our highest office and make a speech before thousands while her husband, a former president, looks on.

Wouldn't the ladies in the photo be thrilled !

*****

Hope that you enjoy seeing this photo as much as I have. There are some wonderful old pictures of Calvert. We really should try to get as many as possible together and do something with them. We talked about that in 1986 for the Sesquicentennial.

This is also a good reminder to label your pictures while you remember who is in them and where they were taken!

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If you can identify these ladies, let me know.

Election Day in Texas

(To the tune of "When It's Roundup Time In Texas")

It's Election Day in Texas

And the sun is shining bright.

Not a cool north wind a blowing,

Nor the sky high cost of gas,

Gonna stop us all from voting

Spin that little wheel on the stand,

Just to think of all

Who've made us free and all

Drinkin' coffee while we can.

You can hear the candidates calling,

Beggin' for every vote they can.

Hear the boring ads

All through the whole day long,

And the pundits everywhere.

They're a flying, flapping, yapping,

with their planes and SUVs,

Flitting place to place

Spending lots of cash,

Wanting votes from you an' me.

Hear the anchors just a wailin',

Hopin' for a scoop each day.

Watch them trying to be there

With their pretty suits,

And the big ole satellite trucks.

Just a readin', watchin', thinkin',

Whose the best to vote for.

To keep our country safe,

To stay free always,

To preserve our sacred ways,

So we can all be healthy, happy,

Smart and secure,

When it's voting day in Texas.

Who to vote for? That is the question.

With apologies to Shakespere!

Boy, has it been busy and exciting around here. I'm just in awe about the people who have been and who are here because of the election.

I'm a news junkie. I guess that's because of my time writing for newspapers and teaching journalism. My daughter said that I just learned to be nosey in my home town. Everyone turned out for everything, appearances, programs, church, wrecks, fires, trials, meetings-you name it-night or day. I still want to be there for everything. And I don't like to vote for anyone who I haven't at least had the opportunity to see in person.

Well, I got to see John McCain when he was here last spring. Didn't agree with him on many things except the war. He is someone to be admired, though.

Mitt Romney came, but it was a closed event. I wasn't invited, so that ruled him out as someone to vote for.

Mike Huckabee was here, but I couldn't get over there. That ruled him out. Besides, I only think of him as wanting everyone to lose weight, just because he did.

Personally, I think that we haven't seen the candidate that this country really needs.

Sunday afternoon, I took my grandson over to campus to hear the Texas Aggie symphony and concert bands at Rudder Tower. Being the news junkie that I am, we had to, first, go by the MSC to see the Fox News crew, with Shep Smith as anchor, broadcasting from the Flag Room. I couldn't see anything because of the big tv lights! But, I am still thrilled that I got to be in the same room with Shep! I really enjoy Shep and Greta Van Susteran reporting on Fox. Wish I could have met him.

We went on to the concert, came back to see if Shep might still be around. The lights were still on, but the crew was gone. So, we went through one of the several art galleries in the MSC. I had been wanting to see the exhibit of art by actor Anthony Quinn, along with some of his collection of art. Just outstanding!

I told my grandson, "I want to do that!", looking at three large paintings at the entrance.

Of course, after sitting through a band concert, my grandson was tired and wiggly and wanting to go home.

When we got home, I was so surprised that Shep was broadcasting again on Fox News! I thought he had left for the day.

He was back there yesterday for his program, and will have a special election party in the Flag Room later this afternoon. Did my heart good yesterday to hear the Aggie yell leaders, leading some traditional yells with some of the students, and to hear the group doing "The Aggie War Hymn" with "Saw Varsity's Horns Off" ! They needed that great Texas Aggie Band, too. Hope that Shep and crew got to see a lot of Aggieland and its great traditions while they are here.

Also, Sunday, we heard that Bill Clinton was going to be in town for an appearance at Reed Arena. But, no one, including the local tv station, knew if it was by invitation only. So, we ruled that out and decided to go on to the band concert as planned. (Turned out that it was open. I learned that people knew about it from phone calls and Hillary's website.)

Would have been nice for my grandson to be able to say that he saw the former president. I'm not supporting her, but I just like to see and hear everyone that I possibly can.

But, we did get close! As we drove past the airport to campus, Clinton's plane flew over us-really low! I don't think that I can count that as seeing him, though!

I used to support Hillary, as a woman. And she became more human when she and Chelsey had makeovers with a Mary Kay consultant while she was in the White House. I am keenly aware that everyone needs to be able to have healthcare, (It's just criminal to deny healthcare to anyone because of lack of money or adequate insurance, to my way of thingking) so I was listening to that. But, her bad remarks against the president, wanting to bring troops home immediately, and learning that everyone is going to have to buy healthcare, and her "listening to the squeaky wheels" instead of doing what this country needs, just turned me off.

Obama makes nice speeches, but I think he is all wrong for this country. No real plans that could be carried out, too inexperienced, and I don't trust him at all.

So, it looks like I may have to do the old coin toss to make up my mind when I get to the voting place. I've been leaning toward McCain. If our country is not strong and secure, then all our other issues are not going to matter much. But, then, I'm thinking that Hillary needs our support in order to beat Obama. At one point, I thought that it's just too much! Maybe I'll just stay at home and send the rest of the family to vote! Can't do that, though. This is too important.

In times past, back home, when I was growing up, men walked up and down the street, met at the Post Office, in cafes, the grocery stores, etc., talking about who to vote for. Grandpa would sort of "hold court" around the stove and the chairs at the dry goods store, and men would talk about the issues. He would also get Daddy, and his brother, together, to talk about who they were going to support.

They were all involved.

The ladies, however, never talked about politics or issues, that I remember. They were busy with cleaning, cooking, entertaining and such. Some were not allowed to vote, despite the fact that they got the vote, because of the poll tax. If the men didn't want the women to vote, they just refused to pay the poll tax for the ladies. Most of the men controlled the purse strings, and everything else. Some men thought that women were "too stupid to know how to vote right." They wanted to be sure that the candidate they supported won and to keep the women out of it all. Sometimes it was really hard to get hold of that $1.50 or $2.00.

Anyone doing "the Texas Two Step"? That's getting a lot of news coverage.

Today, I hope that we all vote "right", whatever that may be.

This isn't meant to be any kind of endorsement, or anything like that. Just my observations and experiences on this important day.