Kenneth C. Davis's Blog, page 107

"The Blood and Sweat Behind Labor Day" (CNN.com)

"To most Americans, the first Monday in September means a three-day weekend and the last hurrah of summer, a final outing at the shore before school begins, a family picnic.

But Labor Day was born in a time when work was no picnic. As America was moving from farms to factories in the Industrial Age, there was a long, violent, often-deadly struggle for fundamental workers' rights, a struggle that in many ways was America's "other civil war."

Read more about the history of Labor Day at CNN.com

"The Blood and Sweat Behind Labor Day"

"To most Americans, the first Monday in September means a three-day weekend and the last hurrah of summer, a final outing at the shore before school begins, a family picnic.

But Labor Day was born in a time when work was no picnic. As America was moving from farms to factories in the Industrial Age, there was a long, violent, often-deadly struggle for fundamental workers' rights, a struggle that in many ways was America's "other civil war."

Read more about the history of Labor Day at CNN.com

Don't Know Much About the 19th Amendment

Ninety-one years ago, on AUGUST 18, 1920, Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment, giving it the needed number of states to become part of the U.S. Constitution. Finally, all American women could enjoy the basic right of citizenship. It was a victory in a long struggle for "suffrage" fought by the "Suffragists."

 

Who were the suffragists?

Women in America always endured plenty of suffering. What they lacked was "suffrage" (from the Latin suffragium for "vote"). Many American women as far back as Abigail Adams—who admonished her husband John to "Remember the Ladies" when he went off to declare independence—had pressed for voting rights, but just as consistently had been shut out. Women were fighting against the resistance of church, Constitution, an all-male power structure that held fast to the reins, and many of their own –who believed in a woman's divinely ordained, second-place, "submissive" role.

But at the 19th-century progressed, more women were pressed to work, and they showed the first signs of collective strength. For instance, in the 1860 Lynn, Massachusetts, shoe worker strike, many of the 10,000 workers who marched in protest were women.

Women were also a strong force in the abolitionist movement. But even in a so-called freedom movement, women were accorded second-rate status. To many male abolitionists, the "moral" imperative to free black men and give them the vote carried much greater weight than the somewhat blasphemous notion of equality of the sexes. In fact, it was the exclusion of women from an abolitionist gathering that sparked the first formal organization for women's rights.

The birth of the women's movement in America can be dated to July 19, 1848, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) and Lucretia Mott (1793–1880) called for a women's convention in Seneca Falls, New York, after they had been told to sit in the balcony at a London antislavery meeting.

By the turn of the 20th century, some women began concentrating on winning the vote state by state, a strategy that succeeded in Idaho and Colorado, where grassroots organizations won the vote for women. After 1910, a few more western states relented, and the movement gained new momentum.

At about the same time, American suffragists took a new direction, borrowed from their British counterparts. The British "suffragettes" (as opposed to the commonly used American term "suffragist") had been using far more radical means to win the vote. Led by Emmeline Pankhurst, British suffragettes chained themselves to buildings, invaded Parliament, blew up mailboxes, and burned buildings. Imprisoned for these actions, the women called themselves "political prisoners" and went on hunger strikes that were met with force-feedings. The cruelty of this official response was significant in attracting public sympathy for the suffragette cause.

Alice Paul (1885–1977)  a Quaker-raised woman who studied in England and had joined the Pankhurst-led demonstrations in London, helped bring these tactics back to America. At the 1913 inauguration of Woodrow Wilson, who opposed the vote for women, Paul organized a demonstration of 10,000 people, most of them women. Her strategy was to hold the party in power—the Democrats in this case—responsible for denying women the vote. By this time, several million women could vote in various states, and Republicans saw, as they had in winning the black vote in Grant's time, that there might be a political advantage in accepting universal suffrage.

After Wilson's 1916 reelection, in which women in some states had voted against him two to one, the protest was taken to Wilson's doorstep as women began to picket around the clock outside the White House. Later imprisoned, Paul and others imitated the British tactic of hunger strikes. Again, sympathies turned in favor of the women. After their convictions were overturned, the militant suffragists returned to their White House protests.

In 1918, Paul's political tactics paid off as a Republican Congress was elected. Among them was Montana's Jeannette Rankin (1880–1973), the first woman elected to Congress. Rankin's first act was to introduce a constitutional suffrage amendment on the House floor. The amendment was approved by a one-vote margin. It took the Senate another eighteen months to pass it, and in June 1919, the Nineteenth Amendment was submitted to the states for ratification. Now fearful of the women's vote in the approaching presidential election, Wilson shifted to support of the measure.

One year later, on August 18, 1920, Tennessee delivered the last needed vote, and on August 26, the Secretary of State certified the ratification. The Nineteenth Amendment was added to the Constitution. It stated simply –

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

It took more than 130 years, but "We the People" finally included the half of the country that had been kept out the longest.

 

There is more about the 19th Amendment at the National Archives website.

 

This material is adapted from Don't Know Much About History–

Don't Know Much About@ History: Anniversary Edition

 

Don't Know Much About® the 19th Amendment

Ninety-one years ago, on AUGUST 18, 1920, Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment, giving it the needed number of states to become part of the U.S. Constitution. Finally, all American women could enjoy the basic right of citizenship.

Who were the suffragists?

Women in America always endured plenty of suffering. What they lacked was "suffrage" (from the Latin suffragium for "vote"). Many American women as far back as Abigail Adams—who admonished her husband John to "Remember the Ladies" when he went off to declare independence—had consistently pressed for voting rights, but just as consistently had been shut out. Women were fighting against the enormous odds of church, Constitution, an all-male power structure that held fast to its reins, and many of their own –who believed in a woman's divinely ordained, second-place role.

But in the 19th-century, more women were pressed to work, and they showed the first signs of strength. In the 1860 Lynn, Massachusetts, shoe worker strike, many of the 10,000 workers who marched in protest were women.

Women were also a strong force in the abolitionist movement. But even in a so-called freedom movement, women were accorded second-rate status. To many male abolitionists, the "moral" imperative to free black men and give them the vote carried much greater weight than the somewhat blasphemous notion of equality of the sexes. In fact, it was the exclusion of women from an abolitionist gathering that sparked the first formal organization for women's rights.

The birth of the women's movement in America can be dated to July 19, 1848, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) and Lucretia Mott (1793–1880) called for a women's convention in Seneca Falls, New York, after they had been told to sit in the balcony at a London antislavery meeting.

By the turn of the 20th century, some women began concentrating on winning the vote state by state, a strategy that succeeded in Idaho and Colorado, where grassroots organizations won the vote for women. After 1910, a few more western states relented, and the movement gained new momentum.

At about the same time, American suffragists took a new direction, borrowed from their British counterparts. The British "suffragettes" (as opposed to the commonly used American term "suffragist") had been using far more radical means to win the vote. Led by Emmeline Pankhurst, British suffragettes chained themselves to buildings, invaded Parliament, blew up mailboxes, and burned buildings. Imprisoned for these actions, the women called themselves "political prisoners" and went on hunger strikes that were met with force-feedings. The cruelty of this official response was significant in attracting public sympathy for the suffragette cause.

Alice Paul (1885–1977)  a Quaker-raised woman who studied in England and had joined the Pankhurst-led demonstrations in London, helped bring these tactics back to America. At the 1913 inauguration of Woodrow Wilson, who opposed the vote for women, Paul organized a demonstration of 10,000 people, most of them women. Her strategy was to hold the party in power—the Democrats in this case—responsible for denying women the vote. By this time, several million women could vote in various states, and Republicans saw, as they had in winning the black vote in Grant's time, that there might be a political advantage in accepting universal suffrage.

After Wilson's 1916 reelection, in which women in some states had voted against him two to one, the protest was taken to Wilson's doorstep as women began to picket around the clock outside the White House. Later imprisoned, Paul and others imitated the British tactic of hunger strikes. Again, sympathies turned in favor of the women. After their convictions were overturned, the militant suffragists returned to their White House protests.

In 1918, Paul's political tactics paid off as a Republican Congress was elected. Among them was Montana's Jeannette Rankin (1880–1973), the first woman elected to Congress. Rankin's first act was to introduce a constitutional suffrage amendment on the House floor. The amendment was approved by a one-vote margin. It took the Senate another eighteen months to pass it, and in June 1919, the Nineteenth Amendment was submitted to the states for ratification. Now fearful of the women's vote in the approaching presidential election, Wilson shifted to support of the measure.

One year later, on August 18, 1920, Tennessee delivered the last needed vote, and on August 26, the Secretary of State certified the ratification. The Nineteenth Amendment was added to the Constitution. It stated simply –

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

It took more than 130 years, but "We the People" finally included the half of the country that had been kept out the longest.

 

There is more about the 19th Amendment at the National Archives website.

 

This material is adapted from Don't Know Much About History–

Don't Know Much About@ History: Anniversary Edition

 

DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT ELECTING THE U.S. PRESIDENT? A Classroom Skype Invitation

BEAM ME IN TO DISCUSS THE AMERICAN ELECTION PROCESS

The Presidential Election of 2012 is about a year away. Americans will go to the polls on Tuesday November 6, 2012.

While the campaigning is already well underway among the Republican ranks, the real business of choosing a candidate in 2012 to face President Obama, the presumptive Democratic candidate, will soon be in full swing. The marathon of caucuses, primaries, conventions and delegate counts will begin in earnest in early 2012 and preoccupy the nation for most of the year.

That makes this a good time to get a handle on America's crazy quilt of election history and rules.

In a session lasting approximately 30 minutes, I would like to use Skype to "Beam in" to your classrooms this Fall to engage your students on the basics of the Presidency and the American election process. I will speak briefly, then take questions from students in a wide-ranging conversation about a system that doesn't always seem to make sense. Here are some of the topics I have in mind–

-Why a President? When they were inventing the American system of government back in 1787, how did those men decide what the office of the President should be?

-Who elected George Washington and what's different today?  How has the process of electing the President changed since George Washington won the office first back in 1789?

-Is the Electoral College a Party School? The Constitution doesn't specifically mention the "Electoral College." What is it? Do I need good SAT scores to get in? Most important, why do we still have it?

-Do we need a President? Are the problems of the country too big for one Chief Executive to handle? Maybe we should split the job up. Benjamin Franklin thought we should have three men to do the job. Was he right?

If you would like to organize a free Skype session, please go to the website Contact page and send me an email request. Please be sure to include the name and location of your school, how many students are in your class, and the grade level. The schedule and dates of the sessions will be set at a mutually convenient time. (Please note: A limited number of Skype visits will be scheduled based on my availability.)

I would also encourage you to consider turning this into a "FAMILY EVENT" by inviting parents and other family members into the classroom to make this an exciting discussion about the role of voting and citizenship in our democracy.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Very best,

Kenneth C. Davis

Don't Know Much About@ History: Anniversary Edition

 

DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT® ELECTING THE U.S. PRESIDENT? A Classroom Skype Invitation

BEAM ME IN TO DISCUSS THE AMERICAN ELECTION PROCESS

The Presidential Election of 2012 is about a year away. Americans will go to the polls on Tuesday November 6, 2012.

While the campaigning is already well underway among the Republican ranks, the real business of choosing a candidate in 2012 to face President Obama, the presumptive Democratic candidate, will soon be in full swing. The marathon of caucuses, primaries, conventions and delegate counts will begin in earnest in early 2012 and preoccupy the nation for most of the year.

That makes this a good time to get a handle on America's crazy quilt of election history and rules.

In a session lasting approximately 30 minutes, I would like to use Skype to "Beam in" to your classrooms this Fall to engage your students on the basics of the Presidency and the American election process. I will speak briefly, then take questions from students in a wide-ranging conversation about a system that doesn't always seem to make sense. Here are some of the topics I have in mind–

-Why a President? When they were inventing the American system of government back in 1787, how did those men decide what the office of the President should be?

-Who elected George Washington and what's different today?  How has the process of electing the President changed since George Washington won the office first back in 1789?

-Is the Electoral College a Party School? The Constitution doesn't specifically mention the "Electoral College." What is it? Do I need good SAT scores to get in? Most important, why do we still have it?

-Do we need a President? Are the problems of the country too big for one Chief Executive to handle? Maybe we should split the job up. Benjamin Franklin thought we should have three men to do the job. Was he right?

If you would like to organize a free Skype session, please go to the website Contact page and send me an email request. Please be sure to include the name and location of your school, how many students are in your class, and the grade level. The schedule and dates of the sessions will be set at a mutually convenient time. (Please note: A limited number of Skype visits will be scheduled based on my availability.)

I would also encourage you to consider turning this into a "FAMILY EVENT" by inviting parents and other family members into the classroom to make this an exciting discussion about the role of voting and citizenship in our democracy.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Very best,

Kenneth C. Davis

Don't Know Much About@ History: Anniversary Edition

 

Labor Pains: A Don't Know Much About Minute

The end of summer, a three-day weekend, burgers on the grill, and a back-to-school shopping spree, right? And the most important question, "Can I still wear white?"

But very few people associate Labor Day with a turbulent time in American History. That's what Labor Day is really about. The holiday was born during the violent union-busting days of the late 19th century, when sweat shop conditions killed children, when there was no minimum wage and when going on vacation meant you were out of work.

If you like holidays, benefits and a five-day, 40-hour work week, you need to know about Labor Day.

When Labor Day was signed into law by Grover Cleveland in 1894, it was a bone tossed to the labor movement. And it was deliberately placed in September to ensure that it would not recall the memory of the deadly rioting at Chicago's Haymarket Square in May 1886. Europe's workers, and later the Communist Party, adopted May Day as a worker's holiday to commemorate the deadly Haymarket Sqaure Riot which came about during a strike against thee McCormack Reaper Company.

Although Labor Day did become federal law in 1894, most of labor's successes –the minimum wage, overtime, the end of child labor – did not come about until the Depression-era reforms of the New Deal.

Labor Day was created to celebrate the "strength and spirit of the American worker." But this holiday should remind us that — like so many things we take for granted — those victories for working people came at great cost, in blood, sweat and tears.

For more on the history of Haymarket Square, here is a link to the Chicago Historical Society's web project.

"American Experience," the PBS documentary series, produced a Homestead Strike piece as part of its film about Andrew Carnegie.

You can read more about the history of the trade union movement in Don't Know Much About History: Anniversary Edition.

Don't Know Much About@ History: Anniversary Edition

 

Labor Pains: A Don't Know Much About® Minute

The end of summer, a three-day weekend, burgers on the grill, and a back-to-school shopping spree, right? And the most important question, "Can I still wear white?"

But very few people associate Labor Day with a turbulent time in American History. That's what Labor Day is really about. The holiday was born during the violent union-busting days of the late 19th century, when sweat shop conditions killed children, when there was no minimum wage and when going on vacation meant you were out of work.

If you like holidays, benefits and a five-day, 40-hour work week, you need to know about Labor Day.

When Labor Day was signed into law by Grover Cleveland in 1894, it was a bone tossed to the labor movement. And it was deliberately placed in September to ensure that it would not recall the memory of the deadly rioting at Chicago's Haymarket Square in May 1886. Europe's workers, and later the Communist Party, adopted May Day as a worker's holiday to commemorate the deadly Haymarket Sqaure Riot which came about during a strike against thee McCormack Reaper Company.

Although Labor Day did become federal law in 1894, most of labor's successes –the minimum wage, overtime, the end of child labor – did not come about until the Depression-era reforms of the New Deal.

Labor Day was created to celebrate the "strength and spirit of the American worker." But this holiday should remind us that — like so many things we take for granted — those victories for working people came at great cost, in blood, sweat and tears.

For more on the history of Haymarket Square, here is a link to the Chicago Historical Society's web project.

"American Experience," the PBS documentary series, produced a Homestead Strike piece as part of its film about Andrew Carnegie.

You can read more about the history of the trade union movement in Don't Know Much About History: Anniversary Edition.

Don't Know Much About@ History: Anniversary Edition

 

Don't Know Much About Salman Rushdie

On today's date, August 15, in 1947, at midnight, India and Pakistan were born. The partition of mostly Hindu India and Islamic Pakistan created decades of war and mistrust.

But that moment also opens Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie's fabulous 1981 novel and one of the great books of our times –a tale of a boy born at the moment of partition, mixing a Dickensian life with magical realism, set against the story of modern India.

When I was starting out as a freelancer 30 years ago, I  was a book reviewer for the trade journal Publishers Weekly. Most of the reviews ran about seven sentences long and bits of them sometimes turned up as blurbs in book ads. But then I reviewed Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. My unsigned review was printed in full on the back jacket of the first American edition. I always felt a secret glory in that anonymous connection to one of the great books of the 20th century.

In naming the novel one of the "Best 100 Books,' Time describes Rushdie's masterpiece:

Two [children} are switched at birth, the illegitimate son of a poor Hindu woman and the offspring of wealthy Muslims. Rushdie follows them through 30 years of partition, violence and Indira Gandhi's iron-fisted rule

Of course, Salman Rushdie went on to make international headlines for another of his books.

Lots of books are considered controversial, but few lead to death threats. When Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses hit bookstores in 1989, the author was forced to go into hiding—for nine years. Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, deemed the book an insult to Islam and declared a fatwa, or religious edict, calling Muslims to execute Rushdie (b. 1947). Only in 1998 did the Iranian Foreign Minister finally drop the official death threat against Rushdie.

What else do you know about this modern master of magical realism? Here are a couple of questions drawn from Don't Know Much About Literature

1. What happens on midnight of August 15 1947 in Midnight's Children?

2. While he was in hiding, what children's book did Rushdie write for his son Zafar?

3. What honor did Rushdie achieve in 2008?

Here is the Time magazine list of Best 100 Novels

Note: This is a revised version of a post originally written published on August 15, 2009.

 

Answers

1. 1,001 children are born with supernatural powers.

2. Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990).

3. In 2008, Midnight's Children was selected as winner of the "Best of the Booker" awards. Readers around the world voted the 1981 novel as the best of the prestigious prize winners.

 

Don't Know Much About® Salman Rushdie

On today's date, August 15, in 1947, at midnight, India and Pakistan were born. The partition of mostly Hindu India and Islamic Pakistan created decades of war and mistrust.

But that moment also opens Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie's fabulous 1981 novel and one of the great books of our times –a tale of a boy born at the moment of partition, mixing a Dickensian life with magical realism, set against the story of modern India.

When I was starting out as a freelancer 30 years ago, I  was a book reviewer for the trade journal Publishers Weekly. Most of the reviews ran about seven sentences long and bits of them sometimes turned up as blurbs in book ads. But then I reviewed Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. My unsigned review was printed in full on the back jacket of the first American edition. I always felt a secret glory in that anonymous connection to one of the great books of the 20th century.

In naming the novel one of the "Best 100 Books,' Time describes Rushdie's masterpiece:

Two [children} are switched at birth, the illegitimate son of a poor Hindu woman and the offspring of wealthy Muslims. Rushdie follows them through 30 years of partition, violence and Indira Gandhi's iron-fisted rule

Of course, Salman Rushdie went on to make international headlines for another of his books.

Lots of books are considered controversial, but few lead to death threats. When Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses hit bookstores in 1989, the author was forced to go into hiding—for nine years. Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, deemed the book an insult to Islam and declared a fatwa, or religious edict, calling Muslims to execute Rushdie (b. 1947). Only in 1998 did the Iranian Foreign Minister finally drop the official death threat against Rushdie.

What else do you know about this modern master of magical realism? Here are a couple of questions drawn from Don't Know Much About Literature

1. What happens on midnight of August 15 1947 in Midnight's Children?

2. While he was in hiding, what children's book did Rushdie write for his son Zafar?

3. What honor did Rushdie achieve in 2008?

Here is the Time magazine list of Best 100 Novels

Note: This is a revised version of a post originally written published on August 15, 2009.

 

Answers

1. 1,001 children are born with supernatural powers.

2. Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990).

3. In 2008, Midnight's Children was selected as winner of the "Best of the Booker" awards. Readers around the world voted the 1981 novel as the best of the prestigious prize winners.