"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" November 11, 1995 - Episode 470 - Women of Achievement and Herstory compiled by Irene Stuber """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Women of Achievement and Herstory has been awarded THREE Stars by the NetGuide. Thank you. Born Nov. 11, 1744, Abigail Smith Adams, wife of the second President of the US and mother of the sixth, she won celebrity as a gifted letter-writer. She managed the farm and business matters, while her husband spent much of his time away during and after the Revolutionary War, and made him a wealthy man. John often extolled his wife's wisdom and claimed she would make an ideal politician. The following well-known exchange of letters occurred while he was in Philadelphia with the Continental Congress in 1776: Abigail wrote: "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 in the hands of 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." John Adams, the future President of the United States and signer of the Declaration of Independence which declared all men are created equal, was not pleased by his wife's letter. He answered: "As to your extraordinary code of laws, I cannot but laugh! "We have been told that our struggle has loosened the bonds of government everywhere -- children and apprentices...schools and colleges....Indians and Negroes grow insolent. But your letter was the first intimation that another tribe more numerous and powerful than all the rest, were grown discontented...Depend on it, we know better than to repeal our masculine systems. Although they are in full force, you know they are little more than theory. We are obliged to go fair and softly, and you know in practice we are the subjects. We have only the name of masters, and rather than give up this which would completely subject us to the despotism of the petticoat, I hope General Washington and all our brave heroes would fight!" What has been pointed out is that Abigail wrote with an inclusive "ladies" and "we" which indicates that there was a definite, active feminist movement at the time which has been overlooked by HIStorians... and some of the states had accepted women voting without until AFTER the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. The study of HERSTORY puts a different light on our forFATHER's "justice for all" and the defects in HIStory coverage. 11-11 Anniversaries ........................................... B. Nov. 11, 1846, Anna Katharine Green, writer of detective fiction who helped to make the genre popular in America. Her _The Levenworth Case_ (1878) is considered the first detective story written by a woman and is considered the developer of the scientific detective novel. Her Ebenezer Gryce's scientific and deductive reasoning investigator predates Sherlock Holmes. Although her writing was of the age, her plotting and adherence to factual legal maneuvering is admirable today. Legend has it that President Andrew Johnson presented Dr. Mary Edwards Walker the US Congressional Medal of Honor at the personal recommendation of General Sherman for her heroism in treating wounded in hospitals and on the battle fields. Legend also has it she was taken prisoner for several months by the Confederates. How much is true? No one seems to be able to agree. She *had* angered many officers because she insisted on wearing an Army uniform when she had been refused an Army commission because of her sex, but allowed to served as a volunteer. She had been married in trousers and refused to take the vows of honor and obey or her husband's name. She had served in military hospitals. After the war she continued her ways by wearing trousers and speaking out for women's suffrage and dress reform. She became more and more eccentric and eventually became a sideshow attraction. On June 3, 1917, an Army review board revoked the medal saying she had not warranted it and that there was no existing proof that she actually was awarded it and said that the tales were just tales. She refused to give it up. She died several years later. On June 10, 1977, the medal was formally restored by an act of the US Congress. Everyone has a different opinion on what was the truth of the matter and they swear *they* are right. B. Nov. 11, 1907, Shirley Graham, author and musician. Best known for her children's biographies of famous black personages. Her opera _Tom-Tom_ was produced in 1932 and she supervised the Negro unit of the Chicago Federal Theatre. Event, Nov. 11, 1922: the Women's Overseas Service League published the names of 162 women known to have been killed in military service during World War I. {{{ PLEASE - Who has information about these women and the Women's Overseas Service League???? }}} B. Nov. 11, 1940, Barbara Boxer, U.S. Representative (D. CA-9th District), U.S. Senator California (1992). Quotes du jour ................................................ "I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions." -- Lillian Hellman in defying US Senator Joseph McCarthy. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- >>(C) 1995, All Rights Reserved, Irene Stuber, PO Box 6185, Hot Springs National Park, AR 71902, voice mail or fax, 501-624-5262 ID #300, or email irenestuber@delphi.com with comments and suggestions. Distribute verbatim copies freely with copyright notice for non-profit use. We are accepting *limited* donations (only what can be spared) to help offset the online costs of posting WOA.<<