Month: February 2022

For my civic issues blog, I’ve decided to focus on the history of gerrymandering and the severe ramifications that it has had on political representation and law/policy in the US.

Since this is my first post, I’d like to begin by providing a brief overview of gerrymandering. About once every decade, each state will redraw its electoral districts. These are the districts that determine which people will be represented by which politician. In certain states, independent commission handle the drawing of district lines; but most states lack these safeguards, which results in politicians gathering around computer screens, attempting to figure out how to manipulate district lines to maximize the power of their political party and minimize the power of their opponents. Moreover, to put it simply, gerrymandering is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries.

This blog post is going to focus on the negative effects that gerrymandering has on political representation. To do that we are going to analyze examples of gerrymandered districts. The first being, Ohio’s 9th Congressional District:

It’s safe to say that this district has a rather odd shape. It’s long and skinny and stretches all the way from Toledo to Cleveland. In fact Ohioans often refer to it as “The Snake by the Lake” due to its shape and geographic location. The 9th district was formed following the 2010 census, and was designed by the [then] Republican-controlled state legislature. The redesigned 9th district attempted to pack as many Democratic voters as possible in to a single district. It also ended up getting rid of a Democratic House member, as the new 9th district absorbed a portion of the 10th district in which a Democratic House member lived. This action resulted in two incumbents living over 100 miles apart competing for one seat in the House. There’s also an incredibly amount of socio-economic differences across the district. For example, Cleveland is known for its [scientific] industry, whereas Toledo is far more rural and dependent on agriculture. While major cities were being packed together in the 9th district, smaller more rural communities in Ohio [like Florence who only had 2,400 residents and 2 representatives] were being given far more representation. Moreover, packing large cities together while spreading small communities out, only creates a disproportionate inequitable form of representation that completely alters the political representation of the state as a whole.

The next district that I want to analyze is Maryland’s 3rd district:

Sources like the Washington Post, amongst others, refer to Maryland’s 3rd district as the most gerrymandered district in the nation. It’s been described as “a blood splatter, a Rorschach test, [and] a praying mantis.” Living up to its name, the districts boundaries are quite tumulus, as it encompasses parts of Baltimore, Howard, Anne Arundel, and Montgomery counties and Baltimore city. In fact one sliver [of the district] in northeast Baltimore is no wider than two city blocks.

The district was fairly compact–until 2011. In 2011, Maryland had not only a Democratic governor, but a democratic state legislature as well. Congressmen, like John Sarbanes, saw the redistricting as an opportunity to move more wealthy Democratic voters into the 3rd district–“potential donors for [his] future Senate campaign,” the New Republic suggested in 2012. The idea that any given representative could simply alter democratic representation for personal gain proves how truly dangerous gerrymandering is. Democracy is meant to allow people to vote for who represents them, but it seems like gerrymandering is allowing representatives to choose who they represent instead. Moreover, Maryland’s 3rd district is further indicative of the adverse complications that come with partisan gerrymandering.

The final district that I’d like to analyze, as part of a discussion on partisan gerrymandering, is yet another district in Maryland. Maryland’s 6th district:

Maryland’s 6th district was yet another district gerrymandered during the 2010 redistricting cycle. This district in particular was created under the influence of a Democratic legislature. To create this district the legislature moved a total of 353,088 people into the district and 358,074 people out of it. That’s a great deal of movement. Eventually in  federal court, Democrats were forced to admit that their goal was to move enough voters around to dilute GOP voting power and deter Republican candidates from winning legislative positions. By admitting to this, Democrats from Maryland’s 6th district, blatantly admitted to gerrymandering the district. Moreover, it is evident that this gerrymandering was done to make the state more vote in favor of Democrats more–regardless of the opinions of its people.

Furthermore, partisan gerrymandering subverts the views of the American people in favor of a political party. From these three districts alone it is clear that Republicans and Democrats alike will draw absurd district lines in order to give themselves power or in order to keep themselves there. Redistricting, however, comes at the expense of the American people. In the case of Ohio, major cities with societal and economic differences were confined to one district, in order to subvert the Democratic vote. Meanwhile in Maryland, the legislature created distracts with the goal of diluting the GOP vote.

In 2019, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 [in the case of Rucho v. Common Cause] that “Federal judges have no license to reallocate political power between two major political parties, with no plausible grant of authority in the Constitution, and no legal standards to limit and direct their decisions.” This ruling means that federal courts cannot get strike down district maps simply because they are designed to help/hurt a particular political party. This ruling raises the question, how do we combat gerrymandering then? That question becomes more and more relevant as election years approach. One solution would be to force individual states to take action–as state constitutions are permitted to have policies regarding gerrymandering. Regardless, it is incredibly important that we, as a nation, find a way to combat gerrymandering, as the system takes away political representation and in a way poses a limitation to democracy.

Sources:

Court Cases and Gerrymandering — Vox

Gerrymandering Districts — Fulcrum

Is Gerrymandering Good Now? — Rothman 

District Images –Fulcrom/Meyers

 

 

 

 

 

 

For this week’s blog post I’m going to discuss the triumphant and impactful life of Shirley Chisholm.

Chisholm was born on November 30, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York. She was the eldest daughter [of four] to immigrant parents. Her father was Charles St. Hill, a factory worker from Barbados, and her mother was Ruby Seale St. Hill, a seamstress from Barbados.

While living in New York her father took on two jobs, working in a burlap bag factor and as a baker’s helper. Her mother continued to worker as a seamstress, dabbling in other types of domestic work as well. However, being so incredibly hardworking made raising four children quite difficult. So [when she was around 5] her parents made the decision to send Chisholm and her sisters to Barbados to live with their grandmother, Emaline Seale. Chisholm spent quite a bit of her childhood in Barbados, returning in 1934. Life in Barbados had quite an impact on her and she has stated numerous time that she would always consider herself a Barbadian American.

In 1939, she started attending the Girls’ High School in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The school had a great reputation and was also integrated. Chisholm perfumed quite well academically. In fact, she was offered scholarships to several highly selective colleges, including Vassar College and Oberlin College. Unfortunately, however, her family could not afford either school–even with the help of scholarships.

Subsequently she ended up attending Brooklyn College in 1942, where she would end up graduating cum laude [with a degree in sociology and Spanish] in 1946. She also managed to win a multitude of prizes on the college’s debate team. Her talent for debate and discourse was so noticeable that several professors advised her to pursue a career in politics. Despite their advice, she believed that a career in politics would be impossible, as she “faced a ‘double handicap,'” being both African American and a woman.

So, instead, she took a job as a nursery school teacher, following graduation. In terms of her personal life, she got married to Conrad Q. Chisholm, a private investigator, in 1949 at the age of 25. [The couple would later divorce in 1977]. Eventually, she also went back to school to earn her master’s degree. She graduated from Columbia University with a master’s in early childhood education in 1951. She continued to work in this field, and by 1960 she had earned a position as a consultant to the NYC Division of Day Care. Simultaneously she was engaging in a number of social causes–specifically this in relation to racial and gender inequality. She was a member of local chapters of the League of Women Voters, the NAACP, the Urban League, and the Democratic Party.

As a member of the Unity Democratic Club (UDC), she campaigned for Thomas R. Jones, who was running for an assembly seat in 1960. Jones lost in 1960, but ended up running again and winning two years later [making him Brooklyn’s second black assemblyman]. When his term was up, Jones chose to accept a judicial appointment rather than run for reelection. After much consideration, Chisholm decided to run for his seat in the New York State assembly in 1964. Throughout her campaign she faced a great deal of backlash for both her gender and her race–even the UDC was hesitant to support a female candidate. Eventually she decided that she would have to appeal directly to female voters, using her role as the president of the Brooklyn brand of Key Women of America to garner support from other women voters. After a great deal of work she managed to win the Democratic primary in June of 1964, and eventually she won the seat by a great margin.

She served as a member of the New York State Assembly for 3 years [1965 to 1968]. However, in 1968, court-ordered redistricting ended up creating a new highly Democratic district in her neighborhood. This restricting enabled her to run for, and win, a seat in Congress in 1968. While working in Congress she earned the nickname “Fighting Shirley” because she introduced and advocated for over 50 pieces of legislation. She was also championed a number of important causes, including racial and gender equality, the plight of the poor, and ending the war in Vietnam. Similarly, she co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971. 6 years later, in 1977, she would also become the second woman and first Black woman to serve on the House Rules Committee. That same year she also got divorced and remarried to Arthur Hardwick Jr., who was a New York State legislator.

In 1972, she formally announced her candidacy for President of the United States. While campaigning to be the Democratic Party’s nominee, she faced a massive amount of discrimination. She wasn’t allowed to participate in televised primary debates. She attempted to counter this ban by taking legal action, but in the end she was only given the opportunity to make a single speech. Regardless of the discrimination she faced, students, women, and countless minority groups supported her. Over the course of the 12 primaries that she entered, she received 152 of the delegates’ votes [10% of the total]. In the end, she lost but it was still a tremendous feat for her to do as well as she did [or to even simply enter the race] given the discrimination that faced her.

After her loss, she continued to serve in Congress. She only just retired in 1983. Following retirement, she went on to teach at Mount Holyoke College. She also co-founded the National Political Congress of Black Women. In 1991, she moved to Florida, declining a nomination to be the US Ambassador to Jamaica on account of health reasons. Unfortunately she passed away in 2005–her legacy, however, lives on. She was a trailblazer for racial equality and women’s rights. Her dedication and hard work is beyond admirable. I firmly believe that she is someone who has a tremendous impact on our society, and she deserves to be recognized for that.

 

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For this weeks blog post I want to highlight the momentous life of Robert Smalls.

Smalls was born in 1839. His mother, Lydia Polite, was a slave. He spent is childhood in the city, where his mother lived as a servant to Henry McKee and the McKee family. Despite working as a servant during his childhood, his mother grew up working the fields–he didn’t. He was a favorite of the McKee family, which made his mother fearful that he might grow up not understanding the struggles of enslaved field workers. To rectify this issue, she asked for him to be put into work in the fields and she would force him to watch whippings.

Once he turned 12, he was sent to Charleston to work as a laborer for one dollar a week–the rest of the wage went to his master. He took on a number of jobs in Charleston, working in a hotel and eventually a lamplighter. However, he preferred working on the docks and wharves due to his love for the sea. He worked as a longshoreman, a sail maker, and eventually he worked his way up to become a wheelman [better known as a helmsman, but slaves weren’t allowed to hold that title].

On December 24, 1856, at age 17, Smalls married Hannah Jones, an enslaved hotel maid. She was 22 years old and already had two daughters. Together Smalls and Jones had two children of their own: Elizabeth Lydia Smalls [born 1858] and Robert Jr. [born 1861]. Robert Jr, however, ended up dying at age 2. Robert attempted to purchase freedom for his family–but the price was far too high for him to afford [$800].

In April 1861, the [American] Civil War began with the Battle of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Months later, in the fall of 1861, Smalls was assigned to the CSS Planter, a Confederate military transport. The Planter was expected to deliver dispatches, troops, and supplies and was under the command of Charleston’s District Commander Brigadier General Roswell S. Ripley. Smalls drove the Planter through the Charleston harbor and other areas along the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

In 1862, Smalls began to plan an attempt to escape. He would discuss the idea with other enslaved people on the crew except one that he didn’t trust. He also would reveal his plans to members of his family on one of their permitted visits.

His plan was put into action around May 13 of 1862. Around 3 am on the 13th Smalls and 7/8 of his fellow enslaved crewmen attempted their plan to escape. The first stage in their plan required Smalls to disguise himself in a captain’s uniform. He sailed the ship past the Southern Wharf and stopped along the way to pick up his family and the families of the other crew members. He managed to steer the ship past five Confederate harbor forts without being caught or even suspected of any wrongdoing–and at around 4:30 am the Planter had sailed past Fort Sumter.

Eventually an alarm was sounded, but only after the ship had gotten out of gun range. Rather than attempt to go any further east, Smalls steered the ship straight towards the Union Navy fleet. At the same time the crew replaced the ship’s Confederate flags with a white bed sheet that his wife has brought aboard. The USS Onward eventually caught sight of The Planter and was preparing to fire until a crewman saw the white flag.

John Frederick Nickels, captain of The Onward then boarded The Planter. Small’s instantly surrounded the Planter and its cargo. He then asked for a US flag to simply. His escape plan was a success. He had also managed to pass a Confederate signal book along with a bunch of ammunition. Most valuable, however, was Smalls himself. He had a ton of intelligence and information that was incredibly helpful for the Union. In fact some of the intelligence he provided would allow Union forces to capture Coles Island with ease on May 20–just a week after his escape.

Smalls went on to contribute greatly to the success of the Union throughout the Civil War. At just 23 he had proved himself to be a valuable asset. The US Congress even passed a bill awarding Smalls and his crewmen prize money for the planter. Smalls, himself, received $1,500 [the equivalent of $38,885 today]. He continued to help serve the Union Navy with tremendous success. In fact, he was even made pilot of the ironclad USS Kekouk in 1863 and took part in the attack on Fort Sumter on April 7th of the same year. Later, in May of 1864, his contributions to the Union allowed for him to be named an unofficial delegate to the Republican National Convention. Finally, in December of 1864, he piloted the Planter in Savannah, Georgia where he aided William T. Sherman’s army. He then took part in the ceremonial resining of the US flag at Fort Sumter in June of 1865.

Following the Civil War he partook in a number of civil rights campaigns and business ventures. His wartime fame and incredible dialect allowed for him to have great success. One of his most impressive ventures was building a school for African-American children, after teaching himself to read and write over the course of nine months. He also founded a black-owned newspaper known as the Beaufort Southern Standard in 1872.

Politically, Smalls was a staunch Republican. He partook in a number of state ventures and was eventually elected to the US House of Representatives in 1874, serving two terms between 1875 and 1879.

Eventually Smalls passed away on February 23, 1915 at the age of 75. His death was caused by malaria and diabetes. There’s a monument near his burial that is inscribed with one of his most famous quotes: “My race needs no special defense, for the past history of them in this country proves them to be the equal of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life. [1895]”

Furthermore it is evident that Smalls contributed greatly to the success of the Union during the Civil War. His bravery and intelligence most be commended along with his dedication to equality and humility. He is not someone who is brought up nearly enough when we discuss the Civil War, so I truly hope that this blog shed some light on such a tremendous legacy.

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For today’s blog post I’m going to be spotlighting Bessie Coleman, a figure both monumental in the Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s Rights Movement.

Bessie was born on January 26 of 1892 in Atlanta, Texas. She had was one of thirteen children born to Susan Coleman, an African American maid, and George Coleman, a sharecropper of mixed Native American [Cherokee] and African American descent. Unfortunately despite it being relatively surprising for the time, Coleman started attending school in Waxahachie, Texas at the age of six. Due to the segregation, sexism, and racism of the time Coleman had to walk 4 miles ever single day to attend her segregated, single-room school. Despite all the challenges she faced, Coleman absolutely loved school, and she quickly became highly regarded as an outstanding math student.

In 1901, her father George left his family. He then proceeded to move to Oklahoma [then referred to as Indian Territory] in attempts to escape discrimination–his wife and 9 surviving children, however, did not follow. Instead they opted to stay in Texas, where Bessie would pick cotton and wash laundry to earn extra money. She was determined to succeed in life and by the age of 18, she had saved up enough money to attend what is now Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma–unfortunately, she ended up being forced to drop out after one semester due to her inability to afford full tuition

At the age of 23, she moved in with a few of her brothers who were living in Chicago. In Chicago she attended the Burnham School of Beauty Culture in 1915. Upon her graduation from that school she took up work as a manicurist at a local barbershop. All the while her brothers were serving overseas fighting in World War I. They came back telling stories of their time in France. One brother would tease her because in France women were allowed to fly airplanes but American women were not. His teasing motivated her desire to become a pilot. She ended up applying to flight schools all over the USA but was rejected from every last one because she was both African American and a woman. Eventually, a famous African American newspaper published–Robert Abbott–advised her to move to France where she could learn to fly–and so she did. However, in order to apply she had to spend her nights taking French classes, as the applications needed to be written in French.

After much hardworking, Coleman was accepted into the Caudron Brother’s School of Aviation in Le Crotoy, France; and on June 15 of 1921 she received her international pilot’s license. Following graduation, her dream was to own a plane and open her own flight school. She would give speeches and show films of her air tricks to earn the money. She spoke at churches, theaters, and schools–but refused to speak anywhere that discriminated against or segregated African Americans. In 1922, she would perform the first public flight by an African American woman. She became famous for doing “loop-the-loops” and “figure 8s” in the air. People found her performances fascinating and she became an international sensation, traveling the country giving lessons, performing, and encouraging others to follow her lead.

In February of 1923, Coleman suffered her first major airplane accident. Her engine stopped working and she crashed. She was terribly injured, suffering a broken leg, cracked ribs, and cuts across her face, but luckily she was able to fully heal from said injuries. Her accident didn’t stop her from quickly returning back to flying though. Her hard work and dedication allowed her to save up enough money to purchase her own plane, a Jenny–KN-4 with an OX-5 engine–around 1925. Eventually she made plans to return to perform in her home state of Texas; however Texas was still very segregated, so the managers of the stadium planned to use two separate entrances for whites and African Americans. Coleman refused to come back unless everyone used the same gate, and after many meetings they agreed [even though people were still forced to sit in segregated sections within the stadium, her advocation is monumental].

Unfortunately Coleman’s story came to a tragic end on April 30 0f 1926. She was taking a test flight with a mechanic known as William Wills. Wills was flying and Coleman was in the passenger seat. At around 3000 feet in the air a loose wrench got stuck in the engine of the plane, causing Wills to lose control of the steering wheel–resulting in the plane flipping over. Coleman was devastatingly not wearing a seatbelt, as airplanes of that time did not have a roof for protection. She immediately fell out of the plane and died. Wills crashed shortly after and died as well. Her death was heartbreaking for many and famous activists like Ida B. Wells even attended the ceremony to honor Coleman in Chicago. In 1931, the Challenger Pilot’s Association of Chicago started a tradition of flying over her grave every year, and in 1977 African American women pilots formed the Bessie Coleman aviators club, and by 1995, the “Bessie Coleman Stamp” was made in remembrance of all of her accomplishments.

Moreover, Bessie Coleman was an activist that contributed greatly towards both the feminist movement and the Civil Rights movement. Apart from simply being a skilled aviator her dedication to justice and passion for equality is beyond admirable. She is not nearly talked about enough so it’s incredibly important to understand and appreciate her many accomplishments.

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So far in this blog I’ve talked about two influential women, both of whom have contributed greatly to the development/advancement of the USA. This week I am going to continue that trend by discussing one of the earliest female politicians in the US–Victoria Woodhull.

Victoria Woodhull [born Victoria California Claflin] was born on September 23 of 1838. She was the 7th out of 10 children born to Reuben Buckman Claflin and his wife. Reuben came from a very poor Scottish-American family from an impecunious area in Massachusetts.

When she was a child, Woodhull’s father claimed that she has a “spiritual; clairvoyance” and “fortune-telling abilities.” Abilities that he would attempt to use to garner money for the family by creating a traveling medicine show, during which Woodhull would tell fortunes and sell medicine to patients. Claiming that his daughter had extraordinary powers was only one of her father’s many efforts to get rich quick. In fact on one occasion he burnt down his family’s own gristmill in an attempt to collect its insurance policy. Unfortunately for Woodhull, her father’s arson and fraud were quickly discovered and she was forced to drop out of school and move to the Ohio.

The fact that Woodhull had a “gift” wasn’t entirely a lie though. Since childhood, she claimed to be guided and protected by spirits, who would sometimes allow her to visit a utopian world in heaven. A world incredibly different from the cruel, mundane one in which she lived. Apart from her father’s schemes it would later be claimed by historians and biographers that Woodhull and her siblings were beaten, starved, and sexually abused by their father–but the validity of that claim is unknown.

By the time she turned 15 [in 1853], she was desperate to escape her father’s cruelty. So she decided to elope with 28-year-old Canning Woodhull, a patent medicine salesman, who claimed to be a doctor–at the time the state of Ohio did not require doctors to have formal medical education or licensing. The pair married on November 20th, 1853–two months past her 15th birthday. Some accounts claim that Woodhull abducted Victoria and coerced her into marrying him [the validity of this claim also is unknown]. Soon after they were officially married, Victoria would learn that her husband was an alcoholic and a womanizer. His shortcomings would force her to work outside of her home to support her family. The pair had two children: Byron [who was disabled] and Zulu/Zula Maude, whose delivery was so poorly done by her father that she almost bled to death.

In 1860, the Woodhulls  moved to New York City, where members of Victoria’s paternal family currently lived. Upon arrival, her sister Tennessee (Tennie) and her took up work as mediums. The stayed in NYC for about 4 years, until the sisters moved their families to Cincinnati, and later Chicago, to find more clients and dodge complaints and potential legal trouble. However, despite their best efforts, Tennessee was imprisoned for manslaughter after one of her “treatments” failed to cure a woman suffering from breast cancer.

Shortly after her sister’s imprisonment, Canning left Victoria and their children–only occasionally returning for money. Tired of his antics, she divorced him in 1864, after 11 years of marriage.

As a result from her tumultuous marriage, she became an outspoken supporter of free love: the idea that a person has the right to stay with a person only so long as they choose, and that they can commit to another (monogamous) relationship when they decide to move on. Her devotion to the cause was important because 19th century women had few options when it came to marriage. After all, divorce was still very much taboo, and women who did get divorced often became societal pariahs.

It is rumored that Woodhull later remarried. This time wedding Colonel James Harvey Blood, a Union officer who served in the Civil War. Whether of not they legally got married, the pair moved back o NYC to reunite with members of Woodhull’s family. It was there that Woodhull began to engage in political discourse. She opened a salon where radicals would come to intellectually spar. It was this salon that earned her fame as a gifted conversationalist. In addition to the success of her salon, she would use her new found platform to advocate for women’s rights.

After her sisters release from prison, the two would become spiritual advisers to Cornelius Vanderbilt, famed shipping and railroad tycoon [and a self-made multi-millionaire]. Vanderbilt’s wife had recently died and the sisters helped him to “contact” her spirit. He would also listen to their financial insight, bankrolling their financial ventures on Wall Street, where they would actively partake in the stock market.

In 1870, they opened a brokerage house–Woodhull, Claflin & Company–where they would go on to make a small fortune from the New York Stock Exchange. They were the first women to own a brokerage firm. Many men would attempt to sexualize or berate the pair, but Victoria would reply, saying “a woman’s ability to earn money is better protection against the tyranny and brutality of men than her ability to vote.

The sister’s would later use the money that their brokerage house had earned to start a newspaper known as Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly. The paper ran from about 1870 until 1876, making them the first women to start a weekly newspaper–in which they would address issues that concerned women’s rights and labor reform. It also was notorious for advocating for sex education, free love, spiritualism, and licensed prostitution.

Admits running her paper, she became an outspoken advocate for Women’s Rights. On one occasion she even spoke to the House Judiciary Committee in favor of women’s suffrage. She argued that women already had the right to vote–they simply needed to exercise it–since the 14th and 15th Amendments granted suffrage to all citizens [since neither amendment had bothered to specify gender].

In 1871, Victoria Woodhull announced her candidacy for President of the United States–50 years before women would even legally be allowed to vote. However, contrary to popular belief, there was no law preventing a woman from running for office. She was backed by the newly founded Equal Rights Party in 1872, and her nomination was ratified at their convention in 1872. The party would also nominate Frederick Douglas, a former slave and abolitionist leader, for Vice President.

She was the first women to run for President in the United States; however, some constituents denied the validity of her nomination, claiming that as a woman she was not a full citizen. These claims wouldn’t matter though because Woodhull, her husband James Blood, and her sister Tennessee Claflin were arrested for publishing an “obscene” article exposing an adulterous affair between Reverend Henry Ward Beecher [a minister who spoke out against free love–something Woodhull was an advocate of] and a parishioner. They were held in the Ludlow Street jail for months before eventually being cleared of the charges–ironically enough, the first female presidential candidate spent Election Day in jail.

By 1877, she had lost her newspaper and was left bankrupt. She divorced her husband and moved to England with her sister Tennessee, where she would remarry [John Biddulph Martin] and continue to advocate for women’s rights up until her death in 1937 [at age 88].

In the end, Woodhull lost the election, but that does not diminish the impact that she had on politics and the fight for women’s rights. To even attempt to run for office in the 19th century, as a woman, was somewhat of a death wish but she did it anyway. Her devotion to the fight for equality is not one that can be overlooked. Not only did she fight for suffrage but she also fought for a woman’s right to dress the way she wanted to, to get a divorce, and to exist outside of the home. Moreover, it is incredibly important that we remember Victoria Woodhull and her efforts, in spite of her tumultuous upbringing, to help fight for equality.

 

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