Women walk the Suffrage Centennial March in Washington, D.C.

 

Delta Sigma Theta members march down Pennsylvania Avenue March 3, 2013 to commemorate the Women's Suffrage March 100 years ago on the same route/Photo by Patricia Leslie

On a cold and blustery day, thousands of members of Delta Sigma Theta sorority from around the world turned out to herald the 100th anniversary of the Women's Suffrage March in Washington, D.C.

 

Delta Sigma Thetas from Arkansas on Pennsylvania Avenue March 3, 2013/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Members from Germany, England, and Bermuda mixed with their U.S. sisters, most wearing red coats, scarves, hats, pants, or gloves which seemed to warm up the marchers who walked, talked, and celebrated the day with smiles and knowledge of how far they have come, and ongoing efforts to make more aware of their common goals. 

Delta Sigma Thetas from Washington, D.C. walk the walk March 3, 2013 down Pennsylvania Avenue/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The website says Delta Sigma Theta was founded on January 13, 1913 by 22 women at Howard University who "wanted to use their collective strength to promote academic excellence and to provide assistance to persons in need."  The sisterhood's first public act was participation in the March 3, 1913 women's suffrage march when 5,000 women marched to the White House.

1913's march was quite different from 2013's.  In 1913 a woman on a white horse led the women who were "jeered, tripped, grabbed, [and] shoved" and pelted with vulgar language by men along the route who were seemingly encouraged by police, one of whom, according to a report, said "women should stay at home where they belong." 

Upon request from the chief of police who sought assistance in 1913 to help control the crowds, the U.S. Secretary of War authorized troop reinforcements.  The women were forced by the crowd size to march single file in some parts of the route, and 100 were taken to hospitals.  (Read more of the details here in a Library of Congress document.)

Hello from England and Florida, say Delta Sigma Theta members/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

And Georgia.  Don't forget Delta Sigma Thetas from Georgia/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Fortunately, none of that was observed today.  "We've come a long way, baby," but we ain't there yet.

Delta Sigma Theta has more than 200,000 members and 900 chapters whose mission targets economic and educational development, international and political awareness and involvement, physical and mental health.  On March 3, 2013, they talked the walk, strengthened by numbers, energy, and enthusiasm to never abandon the quest for common good.

Children and babies walked (or rode) in the Delta Sigma Theta 100th anniversary walk/Photo by Patricia Leslie

"Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" asked Delta Sigma Theta members from Germany and behind them, members from Hawaii said "Aloha!"/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

"Anybody heya speak 'Suthern'?" Delta Sigma Theta members from Louisiana wanted to know, celebrating their centennial and the Women's Suffrage Centennial, too, on their walk down Pennsylvania Avenue March 3, 2013/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

Stretching all the way to the U.S. Capitol, the crowd looked like it numbered more than 20,000/Photo by Patricia Leslie

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A trifle of women at the National Portrait Gallery

The exhibit, A Will of Their Own: Judith Sargent Murray and Women of Achievement in the Early Republic at the National Portrait Gallery/Patricia Leslie.  That's Mrs. Murray centered on the wall, and Phillis Wheatley's book in a case in front of the Murray portrait.

In an alcove at the end of a hallway at the National Portrait Gallery is a tiny exhibit, A Will of Their Own: Judith Sargent Murray and Women of Achievement in the Early Republic which features "eight [although a guard and I could only find seven] remarkable women from the early days of this nation."

As you enter the Portrait Gallery on F Street and turn right on the first floor, you'll spy in the distance, the portrait of Judith Sargent Murray surrounded on adjacent walls by the other women in the show. 

 

John Singleton Copley (1738–1815), Judith Sargent Murray (1751-1820), Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois. Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund.  Mrs. Murray wrote “On the Equality of the Sexes” in 1790, arguing that women were just as capable of intellectual accomplishment as men and that an education would liberate women from economic dependence. In 1798, Murray became the first woman in America to self-publish a book: The Gleaner.

Where was Margaret Todd Whetten (1739-1809) whom I discovered later on the website?  We could not find her.
Does it matter?

Margaret Todd Whetten whose home in New York City housed American spies during the American Revolution.  President George Washington sent her a "thank you" letter.

On the upcoming 100th anniversary of the suffragists' march down Pennsylvania Avenue which will be commemorated by another march March 3, 2013, one would think the Portrait Gallery could have done better.

Especially since one of its Smithsonian sisters, the National Museum of American History, is one of the presenters of the Suffrage Centennial Celebration.

The Portrait Gallery says its exhibit is about "the struggle for women’s rights," and these "portraits showcase the important achievements of women during this period. Together, they also demonstrate the early efforts to gain gender equality in America."

Prithee, how did Theodosia Burr Alston (1783-1813) "demonstrate the early efforts to gain gender equality in America"? 

She was well-educated and the daughter of Vice President Aaron Burr and wife of wealthy landowner Joseph Alston, and that qualifies her to be "a woman of achievement"?  Oh, and she was a "hostess" and lost at sea.  I guess I am missing something.  A struggle by the Portrait Gallery to come up with meaningful women of the era from its collection, perhaps.

John Vanderlyn (1776-1852), Theodosia Burr Alston, 1802, Yale Library/Wikimedia Commons. This portrait is not in the show.

Of the eight portraits listed, six belong to the Portrait Gallery which helps reduce costs for an exhibition.

In checking six websites* for notable American women in history, only four of the eight women in the show are found, and they are not listed at every site:  Abigail Smith Adams (1744-1818) was listed on four; Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-1784), three; Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton (1774-1821), two; and Patience Wright (1725-1786), one.

Anne Catharine Hoof Green (c.1720-1775) is also included in the exhibition.

Pages from Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773) by Phillis Wheatley. She came to the colonies as a slave from Africa and became the first African American to publish a book. (The white splashes in the picture are lights reflected in the glass.)
 

For women of that era, where are Molly Pitcher, Deborah Sampson, Sacajawea, and Hannah Adams?  Just asking.  Or why focus on “early women” only?

The Portrait Gallery's website says "the eight women who are highlighted here did not produce a collective movement for women’s rights, but they were important in sowing the seeds for future progress." 

 

In the meantime, I hope readers participate next month in Women's History Month and the events of March 1-3 and march in the centennial parade.  After the 1913 parade, it took eight more years before the 19th amendment was ratified, and women gained the right to vote. How long will it take to elect a woman, president?

The Terra Foundation for American Art sponsored the Portrait Gallery's exhibit and all the related publications and programs.

Whenever I visit the National Portrait Gallery, I usually stop by the second floor to see the reproduction of Augustus Saint-Gaedens's 1891 memorial to Clover Adams which her husband, Henry Adams, commissioned after her suicide in 1885. The original is at Mrs. Adams's gravesite in Washington's Rock Creek Cemetery.

What: A Will of Their Own: Judith Sargent Murray and Women of Achievement in the Early Republic

When: 11:30 a.m.- 7 p.m. every day now through September 2, 2013

Where: The National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F Streets NW, Washington, D.C.  20001

How much:  No charge

Metro station:  Gallery Place-Chinatown or walk 10 minutes from Metro Center

For more information: 202-633-8300

*The six websites checked were:   Women in History,   Discovering American Women's History Online,  
75 Suffragists, the Hip Forums, Important and Famous Women in America,  and American Women in History


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