Rise & Shine - August 30, 2020

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Divine Things

Rise & Shine, August 30th

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Matthew 16:21-28
Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

In the News

from The Wired Word

A century ago, on August 26, 1920, the U.S. Secretary of State proclaimed that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution had been ratified. The words "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged ... on account of sex" were added to the U.S. Constitution. Though some hurdles, including racism, still remained -- and still do -- in places, legally the passage of this amendment ended a long struggle for women's suffrage in the United States, a movement that sought to give women the ability to vote and run for office.

Today, Sen. Kamala Harris is running for Vice President on the Democratic ticket, after similar attempts by Gov. Sarah Palin (R) and Rep. Geraldine Ferraro (D). This week, President Trump announced a posthumous pardon to celebrate suffragette Susan B. Anthony -- convicted of voting in 1872 -- to mark this anniversary.

In the mid-1800s, women in several countries, including the U.S. and Britain, formed organizations to fight for suffrage. Among the leaders were Millicent Fawcett in Britain and Carrie Chapman in the United States. Women were granted unrestricted voting rights by Wyoming Territory in 1869, followed by Utah Territory in 1870. The first countries to grant national-level voting rights to women were New Zealand (1893) and Australia (1902). Other countries followed soon after, with limited voting rights granted to women in Sweden, Britain, Finland and some U.S. states.

At the start of World War I, many suffrage organizations shifted their focus to supporting the war effort. But when men went to fight in the war, women took on many roles that had been traditionally held by men, and this caused a shift in thinking about the capabilities of women. Such changes gave additional momentum to the suffrage movement. In November 1918, the British Parliament passed the Eligibility of Women Act, allowing women to be elected to Parliament.

In the United States, the suffrage movement began at the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, the first women's rights convention in the world. Organized by abolitionists Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the convention demanded the recognition of women as equal members of society. Stanton wrote a document that included 11 resolutions, with the ninth calling for women's suffrage, which Mott feared would be contentious. Stanton remained adamant, however, and said, "To have drunkards, idiots, horse racing rum-selling rowdies, ignorant foreigners, and silly boys fully recognized, while we ourselves are thrust out from all the rights that belong to citizens, is too grossly insulting to be longer quietly submitted to. The right is ours. We must have it." Finally, all 11 resolutions were passed, with help from the vocal support of Frederick Douglass, the ex-slave and abolitionist editor of the North Star. "Right is of no sex," he argued; woman is "justly entitled to all we claim for man."

After the abolition of slavery, several women's suffrage associations emerged, and in the 1880s they merged into one group. Stanton became president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), with Susan B. Anthony serving as vice president. NAWSA became a national parent organization to hundreds of local groups that campaigned for the right to vote. In the early 20th century, NAWSA began to recruit celebrities to support the cause, along with organizing parades and rallies. Their members wore white uniforms and carried banners calling for women's suffrage.

In 1914, a more radical organization was formed: The Congressional Union, later renamed the National Woman's Party (NWP). At the beginning of World War I, the NWP criticized the government for supporting democracy abroad while denying women the right to vote at home. Members of this group picketed and held demonstrations in front of the White House. In June 1917, NWP members were arrested on the charge of obstructing traffic, but they were not deterred. They continued their efforts in the face of arrests, jail time, hunger strikes and force-feedings.

In November 1917, 33 suffragettes from the NWP were arrested for picketing outside the White House. Taken to the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia, they were clubbed, beaten and tortured by guards in what came to be known as the "Night of Terror." Male guards restrained the party's co-founder, Lucy Burns, tying her hands to the bars above her cell and forcing her to stand all night. Dorothy Day, who went on to establish the Catholic Worker houses, was slammed over the back of an iron bench. Dora Lewis was thrown into a dark cell and was knocked out when her head hit an iron bed. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, suffered a heart attack and received no medical care until the next day. As terrifying as the night was, it led to greater public support for the suffrage movement.

At the same time, NAWSA continued its work under the leadership of Carrie Chapman Catt, president from 1915 to 1920. Then Chapman Catt distanced herself and NAWSA from the NWP, calling their behavior unladylike. In 1916, she set up a publicity bureau in Washington, D.C., to exert face-to-face pressure on members of Congress. Finally, 72 years after the Seneca Falls Convention, the 19th Amendment was ratified and women were given the right to vote.