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David L. Rice Library Newsletter - Editor, Mona Meyer

SPRING 2019 ISSUE

Happy 100th Birthday, 19th Amendment!

The year 2019 marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote. The Constitution was written in 1787 and by 1788, was ratified by the required number of nine states. The Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, was written and ratified in 1791. It took an additional 128 years to grant women the right to vote, and another year beyond that for ratification.

Before delving deeper into this history, let us be frank.

By law, the 19th Amendment gave all citizens the right to vote, just as the 15th Amendment had earlier stated: “The right of citizens of the United States vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” But law isn’t the same thing as practice, and by practice many African-American men and women were prevented from voting. On March 30, President Grant officially proclaimed the 15th Amendment as part of the Constitution. Washington DC and many other American cities celebrated. More than 10,000 blacks paraded through Baltimore. In a speech on May 5, 1870, Frederick Douglass rejoiced, “What a country — fortunate in its institutions, in its 15th Amendment, in its

future.” The WHAT'S INSIDE . . . jubilation over victory did not last page 2: 19th Amendment, cont'd. long. While page 3: Meet Our Staff Republicans page 4: Additional UASC Materials acquired loyal page 7: Bicentennial Quilt black voters in the page 8: Arch Madness Artifact of North, the South 2019 was an entirely different matter.

The Ku Klux Klan and other violent racist groups intimidated black men who tried to vote, or who had voted, by burning their homes, churches and schools, even by resorting to murder. When the election for president in 1876 ended continued on page 2

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David L. Rice Library Newsletter

Spring Issue 2019

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with a dispute over electoral votes, the Republicans made a deal with the Southern Democrats. First, the Southerners agreed to support Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes for president. In turn, the Republicans promised to withdraw troops from the South and abandon federal enforcement of black’s rights, including the right to vote. Within a few years, the Southern state governments required blacks to pay voting taxes, pass literacy tests and endure many other unfair restrictions on their right to vote. In Mississippi, 67 percent of the black adult men were registered to vote in 1867; by 1892 only 4 percent were registered. The political deal to secure Hayes as president rendered the 15th Amendment meaningless. Another 75 years passed before black voting rights were again enforced in the South.” (African Americans and the 15th Amendment.

Constitutional Rights Foundation.) The Voting Rights Act of 1965 specifically prohibited anti-voting subterfuges such as poll taxes, literacy tests and the like, and provided the enforcement power to ensure voting was a right for all.

Clearly, the struggle for universal rights continues today.

Denying women the right to vote was certainly not a new idea, nor was it uniquely American. Allowing for some variances among cultures, women of the ancient world did not fare better in this regard than their contemporary sisters. Often the right to vote was tied to owning property; women were not permitted to own property, ergo, they could not vote. New Zealand led the way as the first self-governing country to grant suffrage to women in 1893. Even earlier, “female descendants of the Bounty mutineers were allowed to vote for their ruling councils on Pitcairn Island from 1838, and on Norfolk Island after they settled there in 1856. The Isle of Man, an internally self-governing dependent territory of the British Crown, enfranchised women property owners in 1881. Women in the Cook Islands, then a British protectorate, were allowed to participate in elections for island councils and a federal parliament from 1893. This law was enacted several days after New Zealand’s Electoral Act, but Cook Islands women got to the polls first, on 14 October.” (New Zealand History (online)/Politics and Government/Political Milestones/Woman and the Vote)

There were some early instances of female enfranchisement in colonial America. In her March 31,

1776 letter to her husband John, working with the Continental Congress, Abigail Adams wrote, “I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands.

Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”

Her plea went unheard as far as the U.S. Constitution went, but circumstances differed on the state level. The 1776 New Jersey state constitution guaranteed the right to vote to all who met the age, property and residency requirements. Whether or not the original intent was to include women is unclear, but a 1790 state election law used the phrase, “he or she,” clarifying the issue. “Alas, New Jersey’s early experiment with women’s suffrage didn’t last. After a few hotly contested elections in which rampant voter fraud was alleged, there were calls to tighten voter qualifications. In 1807, amid allegations that men dressed as women had been going to the polls to cast a second ballot, the right of women to vote in New Jersey was withdrawn.” (19th Amendment (National Constitution Center)

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David L. Rice Library Newsletter

Spring Issue 2019

Meet Our Staff Rice Library welcomed three new staff members recently. The first is Blake Smith, Senior Library Assistant in Checkout. Blake graduated from the University of Southern Indiana in 2018 with a BA in creative writing. For the last 2 years, he was a student worker in Checkout. He now helps the library provide evening hours by supervising student workers, maintaining attendance statistics and other responsibilities.

Like many of the library’s former student workers, Blake reports that he learned to enjoy working in a library during his student worker days. He’s weighing several options for his future, including pursuing a masters degree in library science or teaching English in Japan. He says he’s a cat lover and a self-proclaimed “nerd,” enjoying computer games and horror movies.

Next was Laura Bernhardt, our new Reference and Instruction Librarian. Laura has a BA in philosophy from Knox College, and an MA and PhD in the same field from the University of Illinois. Laura earned her MLIS from San Jose State University in 2016.

Laura comes to us from Buena Vista University. She was a tenured professor in the Philosophy and Religion program there when BVU conducted a program prioritization review in 2014-2015; the outcome of this was that the philosophy program was eliminated. Prior to this, BVU’s vice president for academic affairs expressed interest in creating an information literacy program and housing this within the philosophy and religion department. The program faculty and the head of the library expressed interest and actively sought ways to learn more about this topic. Laura says she found what she learned fascinating and eye-opening. She further investigated information ethics and was deeply interested in becoming a part of the conversations librarians were having. When it became clear that she would no longer be able to teach philosophy at BVU, she took her newfound knowledge about library issues and opted to pursue a degree and employment in that field. Laura sees library science as an applied philosophy/interdisciplinary field, and is excited to begin her new profession.

She enjoys teaching and helping others to find, understand and use information. She also has a special interest in scholarly communication.

Laura is another self-proclaimed “big nerd,” and proud of it! A dog lover, she is the proud mother of 3 terriers. Laura also plays the violin (as well as an assortment of other stringed instruments) and sings.

BLAKE SMITH

LAURA BERNHARDT

As of March 4, Rice Library welcomed Shane White as our new Head of Reference and Instructional Services. A Beech Grove, Indiana native, Shane earned his BA in literature from the University of Evansville and his MLS from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is proud to be the first in his family to earn a college degree and the first to earn an advanced degree.

Shane has always been interested in libraries and media centers, even volunteering in his public library as a teenager, and particularly enjoys the collaborative nature of library work. While in graduate school, he worked as the weekend reference librarian at Elon College before coming to the University of Evansville in 2008 as the instruction librarian.

He is a big animal lover, the proud father of a cat, a dog, and a foster puppy. Shane’s academic interests include Romantic and Victorian literature and anthrozoology. He reads and has taught horror literature.

Please stop by the library and meet Blake, Laura and Shane!

SHANE WHITE

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David L. Rice Library Newsletter

Spring Issue 2019

New Collection for UASC

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University Archives and Special Collections (UASC) recently received a collection from the Girl Scouts of Southwest Indiana, a regional council serving 11 counties. It moved into a new and smaller location and needed a temporary home for its archives.

The collection includes uniforms, cookie tins, dolls, toys, badges, photographs and scrapbooks, dating back as far as 1923. It might be utilized as primary research material in history, gender studies, marketing, MPA and other classes.

UASC accepted this temporary donation as a good-will gesture, and will inventory the contents and do basic preservation where needed. In two years, after Girl Scouts of Southwest Indiana has settled into its new location, it will make a decision as to whether to reclaim this collection or turn this donation into a permament one.

Girl Scout memorabilia

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Stop by UASC to view this new collection and learn more about Girl Scout history!

Girl Scout dolls

Girl Scout memorabilia

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Spring Issue 2019

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progress in eliminating the property requirement for voting rights, pressing towards universal suffrage for men. Unwilling to give up the battle, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and other like-minded individuals called a women’s rights conference in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. About 300 were in attendance, not all women - the reformer and former slave Frederick Douglass attended and spoke in support. He was one of 32 men present who voted for the adoption of a Declaration of Sentiments, which included this controversial (for the time) thought: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal.”

Progress stalled in the middle of the century with the focus on abolition and the advent of the Civil War. Women rolled bandages, sewed uniforms, cooked, planted gardens and did laundry for the troops. Clara Barton, Dorothea Dix and Louisa May Alcott were among many who served as nurses. Harriet Tubman also served as a nurse and later as a spy. Some women disguised themselves as men and fought on the front lines of battle.

With the war was over, women, empowered and emboldened by their Civil War experiences, once again turned their energies towards suffrage. The 14th Amendment, passed in 1866 and ratified in 1868, stated in part, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Many, including Susan B. Anthony, declared this gave

the women the right to vote. Women had always been citizens and if a citizen had the right to vote, then so did a woman. The 1872 election provided a perfect opportunity to test the waters. “When Anthony tried to vote, to her surprise, she was permitted to do so. Her victory was, however, short-lived. Two weeks after the election she was arrested for illegal voting. Despite her argument about the significance of the Fourteenth Amendment, she was convicted. Meanwhile, in Missouri, Virginia Minor had also attempted to register to vote, but had been refused. She launched her own lawsuit also citing the Fourteenth Amendment. In Minor v.

Happersett, 88 U.S. 162 (1875), the Supreme Court rejected the argument, holding that while women were citizens within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment, citizenship alone did not confer the right to vote.” (19th Amendment (National Constitution Center) In 1878, what would eventually become the 19th amendment was introduced in Congress, and re-introduced in every new session for the next 41 years.

Change may be glacial, but the glaciers were beginning to melt just a little. Even prior to the Seneca Falls meeting, there had been progress on the state level. The New York Married Women’s Property Act was one example of support for the cause. The territory of Wyoming had granted women the right to vote in 1869. When Wyoming applied for statehood in 1890, there was some pushback due to this, but Wyoming stood firm. “We will remain out of the Union one hundred years rather than come in without the women.” (19th Amendment (National Constitution Center) Congress relented and Wyoming statehood, women’s suffrage intact, was granted. By 1896, Colorado, Utah and Idaho also became women’s suffrage states. By 1918 one territory and 16 states, including Indiana, extended voting rights to women.

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In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt’s “Bull Moose” Party included a plank that included women’s suffrage. The 1913 inauguration of Woodrow Wilson saw a huge suffragist parade, but Wilson was not on board. Six years later, however, his mind had been changed, in part due to America’s entry into World War I and the role women played in that effort. “When the amendment came up for vote, Wilson addressed the Senate in favor of suffrage. As reported in The New York Times on October 1, 1918, Wilson said, 'I regard the extension of suffrage to women as vitally essential to the successful prosecution of the great war of humanity in which we are engaged.' However, despite Wilson’s newfound support, the amendment proposal failed in the Senate by two votes. Another year passed before Congress took up the measure again.” (19th

of the 24-year old delegate from McMinn County, Republican Harry T. Burn. Burn was opposed to the amendment, but shortly before he cast his ballot, he received a note from his mother urging him to be a “good boy” and vote for the amendment. Honoring his mother’s plea, he voted yes. Upon certification by the U.S. Secretary of State on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment became the law of the land. The remaining 12 states dragged their heels for 60 years before Mississippi became the last state to ratify the amendment in 1984.

Interestingly, the 19th amendment says nothing about women. It reads: “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.

Amendment (History Channel)

The amendment was introduced yet again in 1919, and

by May 21, had passed the House of Representatives.

Two weeks later the Senate voted for passage. By this date, 15 states already granted women the right to vote, and others granted at least some level of voting rights.

Only seven states held out, denying the franchise to women entirely. Now 36 states needed to ratify the amendment for it to pass into federal law. With the number of states already granting women the right to vote, it might have seemed an easy victory. Indeed, six states ratified it within the first month, and by March 1920, 35 state “aye” votes had been cast. The southern states of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia were vehement in their denial, however.

Tennessee was the next state to vote, and Harry T. Burr its legislators were Calvin M. McClung Historical locked in a tie. It all Collection Knoxville County Public came down to the vote

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Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

But for the more than 8 million women who voted in the November 2, 1920 election, it said enough.

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(from the Thomas Mueller digital photographic collection, University Archives/Special Collections)

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David L. Rice Library Newsletter

Spring Issue 2019

Indiana Bicentennial Quilt: 1816-2016 To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Indiana statehood, the Raintree Quilter’s Guild partnered with the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library to create a beautiful quilt. Once the pattern was designed by Olivia TenBarge, the guild held a series of workshops at various branches of the public library for the community to help sew blocks for the quilt during the summer of that year.

The blocks of the quilt are modeled after log cabin blocks, similar to what early Hoosiers might have used to make their quilts. The colors of the Indiana flag, blue and gold, were chosen for the color scheme. There are 18 gold stars along the border and one large one in the center, representing Indiana as the 19th state to enter the Union.

Images incorporated in the quilt include a log cabin to symbolize how early settlers lived, our state bird the cardinal, a race car representing the Indianapolis 500 and a train, to reflect both Indiana’s location as the crossroads of America and also its participation in the Underground Railroad. In the center is the shape of the state itself.

Rice Library is now the proud owner of this quilt, donated by the Raintree Quilter's Guild. It is displayed on the first floor, opposite Lab B. Stop by and enjoy its beauty!

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Resources consulted for this article:

Passing the 19th Amendment (National Women’s History Museum)

19th Amendment (History Channel) (19th Amendment (National Constitution Center) 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (Library of Congress libguide) African Americans and the 15th Amendment.

Constitutional Rights Foundation.

Woman Suffrage and the 19th Amendment: Failure is Impossible (National Archives) Women's Fight for the Vote: The Nineteenth Amendment (University of Missouri at Kansas City)

New Zealand History (online)/Politics and Government/Political Milestones/Woman and the Vote Pageforward - page 7

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And the winner is…………………

University Archives and Special Collections (UASC) has been hosting Arch Madness for the past month. Based on the concept of March Madness, the contest began with a Sweet Sixteen round of artifacts from UASC, Evansville’s Willard Library, USI’s Lawrence Library, and the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science. Online and in-person balloting has been intense and spirited. Making it to the final round were The UASC contestant: A city with a strong German heritage, Evansville once had as many as seven breweries. One of the largest was F.W. Brewing Company. The company began in 1853 as a partnership between Fredrick Washington Cook and Louis Reis. Cook became the sole owner in 1873 and the company was incorporated as F.W. Brewing Company in 1885. With small name changes, it was in business until the mid-1950’s. Goldblume Beer, which they advertised as “The Best Beer in the World,” was one of their signature brews. Note that one of these bottles still contains some beer!

The Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science contestant: These pistols were made for the famous English poet and politician Lord George Gordon Byron, 1788-1824. Among Byron’s best-known works are Don Juan and Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Lord Byron had several controversial relationships before he married Annabella Milbanke in 1815, who left him a year later because of his infidelity. The pistols are engraved with Lord Bryon’s coronet and a “B” and were crafted by H.W. Mortimer and Company of London circa 1809. These dueling pistols were gifts of Harry D. Oppenheimer.

Congratulations to the big winner Lord Byron's Dueling Pistols, winner of 204-90 votes! A total of 2,871 votes were cast throughout the entire contest.

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