Basic Information : Synopsis : Expectations : Thoughts : Evaluation : Book Group : New Words : Book References : Good Quotes : Table of Contents : References
Basic Information:
Author:
Angelica Shirley Carpenter
Edition:
Hardback
Publisher:
South Dakota Historical Society Press
ISBN:
1941813186 (ISBN13: 9781941813188)
Start
Date: November 1, 2019
Read
Date: March 17, 2020
272
pages
Genre:
History, Biography, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Feminist
Language
Warning: None
Rated
Overall: 4 out of 5
History:
4 out of 5
Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):
Carpenter
goes through Matilda Joslyn Gage’s life from birth to her death. As
a young girl, her father made sure she had a good science background.
Also she was developed as an independent thinker. She was attracted
to a lawyer, but he wanted a more traditional woman for his wife. She
instead went for a shopkeeper.
She
takes lead in trying to get the woman’s right to vote, but the
Civil War gets in the way. Then after the War, people decided that it
was the Negro’s turn for rights. But she with Susan B Anthony and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton lead the charge to get women their rights.
Several books and articles are written. They meet with Congress and
make some progress.
But
there are some big ego’s in the movement. Gage gets cut out. She is
angry, not understanding what is happening.
Her
health starts to deteriorate. She goes on extended visits to her
children. At the age of 71, she dies.
Expectations:
Recommendation:
Val-Author a friend and came to speak to our book group
When:
August 2019
Thoughts:
Introduction
When
Matilda Joslyn Gage registred to vote, she was charged with a crime
since women were not allowed to vote. She wrote: All
of the crimes which I was not guilty of rushed through my mind, but I
failed to remember that I was born
criminal
- a woman.
Interesting way to put it. This may have been a reference to the
work of Cesare
Lombroso
who thought and put out the theory that criminals were born.
1-Risking
Arrest, July 4, 1876
Matilda
Joslyn Gage was the president of the National Woman Suffrage Movement
(short hand the National).
Susan
B Anthony was a Quaker.
Were
the movements to: outlaw slavery, woman’s rights equality, and
temperance, all connected? Sounds like they drew from the same source
and inspiration.Also sounds like there were roots in religion as
well. How come the women's movement went more secular, while the
abolitionists and temperance seems more religious? Or do I have it
misinterpreted?
2-A
Family Secret 1826-1836
Sounds
like Matilda Joslyn Gage's father was a child of science (opinions
should be based upon science, logic, and reason.) Her father was a
profound influence on her. It formed how she thought. She was able to
hear and engage in the progressive ideas of her time: outlawing
slavery, granting woman equal rights, and prohibition.
3-Think
for Yourself 1837-1845
Matilda
Joslyn Gage’s parents attended a Baptist church. They invited
clergy to their house for discussions each year. But Matilda Joslyn
Gage chose to be associated with the Disciple of Christ. This was
influenced by letters from them about abolitionists.
4-Defying
the Law 1845-1850
He[Matilda
Joslyn Gage’s father]
taught me to think for myself and not to accept the word of anyman,
or society, or human being, but to fully examine for myself.
How do you think for yourself?
Is
being like minded politically a requirement for good marriage?
Matilda Joslyn Gage was attracted to a lawyer who was a conservative,
but did not marry him. Instead she married a shopkeeper who was
reform minded.
Her
son was named Clarkson after Thomas Clarkson, the British
abolitionist. Ran into his name when we were looking at William
Wilberforce.
5-Bold
and Daring 1851-1852
Carpenter
notes that bloomers were born of necessity: a baby in one hand and
walking upstairs with a long dress.
The
Quakers treated males and females equally which is probably why a lot
of women were drawn to this group, or had its roots here.
Matilda
Joslyn Gage lists and talks about prominent women, both before her
time and current to her. It surprised audiences.
6-A
Woman of No Ordinary Talents 1853-1854
7-Liberty
for All 1855-1865
8-The
Negro’s Hour? 1866-1869
In
1866, Matilda Joslyn Gage felt that it was time for equal rights for
all, not just the negro. But not many others felt the same way.
9-The
National Woman Suffrage Association 1869
10-Strong
Minded Women 1869-1871
Matilda
Joslyn Gage had organizational capabilities. To rally groups, she had
people submit sympathizers names and locations to form support
groups. Also she organized conventions in those areas.
11-The
United States on Trial 1871-1873
While
getting a lot of people favorable to them, the suffragists did not
get much legal traction-neither in the courts or in the state houses.
They were still counted as citizens, but not able to vote.
12-To
Us and Our Daughters Forever 1873-1876
She
wanted a complete separation of church and state. To the extent that
she wanted the Centennial Exposition celebrating the signing of the
Declaration of Independence open on Sundays. She felt this was part
of the great religious question of her time.
She
proposed Five
Principles of Just Government:
- The natural right of each individual to self-government.
- The exact equality of these rights
- That these rights when not delegated by an individual. Are retained by the individual
- That no person can exercise these rights of others without delegated authority
- That non-use of these rights does not destroy them
13
A Hundred Years Hence July 1876
14
The History
of Woman Suffrage
1876-1878
Matilda
Joslyn Gage analysises Susan B Anthony’s strengths, and weaknesses.
Anthony can figure out how to do things, a good critic, proof-reads,
and acts as an intermediary. But Matilda Joslyn Gage feels it is
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and herself who does the heavy work of
writing. This is a reference to the History
they were writing. Also Anthony fact-checked and copied the
manuscripts-by hand, as well as collected photographs-these were
expensive to print.
Before
the House, they were not able to speak about the need for Equal
Rights. But before the Senate’s committee on Privileges and
Elections they were able to. Twelve people including Matilda Joslyn
Gage spoke to them.
15
The National Citizen and Ballot Box 1878-1880
Matilda
Joslyn Gage has become more anti-religious, at least
anti-establishment religious. In a Rochester meeting to celebrate the
thirtieth anniversary of the Seneca Falls convention, Matilda Joslyn
Gage put forward three resolutions:
- The duty of every one is self-development. She feels that the Christian lessons of self-sacrifice and obedience has been detrimental to women.
- The right of individual conscience and scripture interpretation has been denied females.
- That women have been held back due to the clergy and superstition.
Many
of her fellow suffragettes felt that she was against religion.
Certainly seems that way. Carpenter goes on and talks about how
Matilda Joslyn Gage felt that the doctrine of original sin punished
women.
Matilda
Joslyn Gage turns to a group called the Freethinkers. They tried to
form their ideas based upon scientific discoveries which contradicted
traditional religious beliefs. Later on Carpenter talks about how
Matilda Joslyn Gage goes into spiritualism. That seems to be the
opposite side of scientific inquiry.
Note:
As I was writing this review, I was also reading a book called Bunk:
The True Story of Hoaxes, Hucksters, Humbug, Plagiarists, Forgeries,
and Phonies
by Kevin Young. He does not explicitly talk about Gage. But he does
note that around the Seneca Falls area-where Gage and others came
from-there was a rise in non-Christian spiritual activity. He
particularly notes Mormonism, theosophy, and spiritualism. There is a
single line where he notes that several of the women’s rights
leaders also came from this area and were attracted to these
movements. He wonders if they are attracted because a lot of the
movements were lead by women.
16
Fayetteville’s First Woman Voter 1880-1881
Christian
custom: Marquette-what is it? When I Google this, all which I find
is references to the University in Michigan. Carpenter said that it
created a serfdom for women of a kind of sexual slavery. Carpenter
references page 762 of the The
History
of Woman Suffrage
17
Intolerable Anxiety 1881-1883
18
Broken Up 1883-1884
19
A Courageous, Fateful Woman 1884-1886
Matilda
Joslyn Gage has a dilemma. Her husband has died and she does not want
to live there without him. But she does not have enough money to move
someplace else and does not think she can sell the property. Also the
house has expenses-taxes, insurance, repairs. She goes and lives with
her children.
She
now gets into spiritualism in the forms of palmistry and Theosophy.
Sounds like she is straying from her thoughts on scientifically
provable ideas. Carpenter thinks that Matilda Joslyn Gage may have
been attracted to Theosophy because the founder was a woman. Does not
sound very good, if that is true. Was she not attracted because of
some truth she saw? Matilda Joslyn Gage writes her son saying that
Theosophy is not a religion, that it is a science. According to
Wikipedia,
Theosophy is a
religion established in the United States during the late nineteenth
century. It was founded primarily by the Russian immigrant Helena
Blavatsky and draws its beliefs predominantly from Blavatsky's
writings. Categorized by scholars of religion as both a new religious
movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism,
it draws upon both older European philosophies such as Neoplatonism
and Asian religions such as Hinduism and Buddhis.
I wonder how she saw this as a science?
20
Protesting Lady Liberty 1886
21
The International Council of Women 1887-1888
When
you enter the realm of politics, things become mixed. Such as Susan B
Anthony felt that if the Women’s movement would help with the
Women’s Christian Temperance Union, then the women Temperance
Movement would want women to vote so that Temperance would have more
chance of passing. Of course the temperance movement had other goals
which did not sit well with Matilda Joslyn Gage.
22
Betrayed 1888-1890
Matilda
Joslyn Gage was opposed to merging the two big femenist
organizations. But Susan B Anthony and Lucy Stone had met and were
pushing for a merger of the two.A proposal was put forth by women
whom the two had appointed, mostly younger women. This was pushed for
and gotten by some a committee which got stacked with people who were
for the merger. Plus after most of the convention had left, the
proposal was pushed to the general meeting and approved. This smacks
of the type of backstabbing which men are accused of and women say
they are above it.
23
Witchcraft and Priestcraft 1891-1893
I
wonder how this worked with her Spiritualist beliefs. She remained a
member of the Fayetteville Baptist Church. Was this a change of
belief as she got older and more weary of the wars she had been in
both getting women’s rights and her fellow women movement
“friends”. On the other hand, she went to Chicago with her
daughter. The family thought their house was haunted. Gage could feel
the haunting. Wonder what the Baptist part of her felt with the
Spiritualist part.
Her
work, Woman,
Church and State,
was finished. She hoped that it would free people from the church and
open people to new thought.
Matilda
Joslyn Gage equates witches with women. So she saw this as a means of
prejudice against women.
24
Born Criminal 1893-1894
There
is definitely a rift between Stanton/Anthony and Gage. In trying to
promote her book, the publishers approached Gage to see if he could
use their names. She forbids him even mentioning their names again.
A
new New York law gives women the right to vote for school
commissioner. She registers to vote. Then she is summoned to appear
before a judge. It is then she remembers that she is Born
Criminal
as a woman with no rights. Even though frail at the outset, with
opposition she grew stronger.
Matilda
Joslyn Gage was adopted by the Wolf Clan of the Mohawk nation. Her
Indian name was Sky Carrier-she who holds the sky. She had voting
rights there. Gage felt the US Government was based upon the
Haudenosaunees(Iroquois). Carpenter does not give details why Gage
felt that way. Historians are mixed on this. See Wikipedia.
Her
book, Women,
Church and State
was declared obscene and not fit for children to read. This seemed to
invigorate her.
25
The
Woman’s Bible
1894-1897
Matilda
Joslyn Gage had committed to Elizabeth Cady Stanton to write a
revised version of the Bible. This was The
Woman’s Bible.
But
this also became the source of contention as well. Matilda Joslyn
Gage wrote a commentary from a woman’s point of view. Stanton asked
her to file the copyright, but evidently had second thoughts because
then she had another woman submit the application. Gage’s name was
taken off the list of authors from the first volume.
Someplace
around this time, there was some reconciliation with Anthony and then
with Stanton as well. Matilda Joslyn Gage contributed to the second
volume.
Matilda
Joslyn Gage was going downhill.
26
That Word is Liberty 1897-1898
Matilda
Joslyn Gage dies after looking like there might be a recovery.
27
Erased from History, The Matilda Effect
After
Matilda Joslyn Gage’s death, Stanton lived four years and Anthony
about eight. During that time Gage was not mentioned much.
Consequently she was semi-forgotten in the history of the women’s
suffrage movement. It is unknown if this was on purpose or just
oversight as time passed on. In their official biographies there is
limited mention of Matilda Joslyn Gage.
Carpenter
says that the Ozma character in The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz
was patterned after Matilda Joslyn Gage.
Carpenter
talks about a book, Women
of Ideas: And What Men Have Done to Them
by Dale Spender. In Gage’s case, it sounds that at least half of
the “What Have They Done” is what females have done to her.
A
Couple of trails mentioned: Votes
for Women Trail
and the Freethinkers
Trail.
Carpenter also notes that New York has recognized her house as place
on the Underground Railroad.
====
Matilda
Joslyn Gage sounds like a very driven person who will move mountains
to make goals achievable. But she also reminds me of a person whom I
knew, particularly towards the end of Gage’s life. There was a
sense that she was important, but being cut out by the other two
important people in the movement. I wish the author had talked more
about why the other two felt that they needed to minimize Matilda
Joslyn Gage’s influence. Was it that Gage was more important in her
own eyes than in reality? Were Stanton and Anthony having big ego’s
and did not want to share? That would help to put things in
perspective.
Evaluation:
How
many of you ever heard of Matilda Joslyn Gage? I think almost all
Americans have heard of Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
But until reading this book, I was not familiar with Gage’s
contributions to the women's movement. In this way, Angelica
Carpenter has made a good contribution.
She
has written an easy to read book, but not a children's book. The
author has visited the important places in Gage’s life to get a
first hand idea of Gage’s life. Carpenter brings the relations Gage
had with other important leaders of the movement, as well as members
of her family. This includes her son-in-law, L. Frank Baum-you know,
The
Wizard of Oz
author.
While
this is a book about Gage, I would have also liked to have a bit more
information about why Anthony and Stanton at the end of Gage’s life
were ignoring Gage’s contributions. We are given Gage’s side of
the story, but not theirs.
Born
Criminal
gives a good walking-through of Matilda Joslyn Gage’s life. If one
wanted a starting pace, it is well worth the read. Note: My book
group had the author talk with us for one of our meetings. She was
engaging and knowledgeable. This also helped to bring understanding
to the book and Gage’s life.
Notes from my book group:
Angelica
Shirley Carpenter. WHen I was reading your biography, I realized you
were my kind of a person. I understand you got in trouble for reading
L Frank Baum’s Ozama
of Oz.
I got in trouble in fourth grade for reading Greek
Mythology
by Edith Hamilton. You have the Masters in Library Services, becoming
the director of Palm Springs Library in Palm Beach County, Florida.
Because of the influence of children’s books, you and your mother
founded the Society of Children’s Book Writers. Seh is also part of
the International Wizard of Oz Club and two Lewis Carroll societies-I
believe I understand she was the president of the Wizard of Oz club
for awhile. Eventually she found her way out west and became the
founding curator at the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s
Literature. She has written several books and biographies. Next year
is the 100th anniversary of national women’s suffrage. The South
Dakota Historical Society Press will be publishing Angelica’s first
picture book, The
Voice of Liberty.
You
have spent much of your life at a librarian. So I am sure you have
seen the insides of many libraries. What is your favorite library?
Why?
How
did you start writing?
I
found the title interesting, Born
Criminal.
I think it sums up the predicament Gage was faced with. Can you talk
about how you found the quote, which you used in the introduction.
Also was it an aha moment for you?
How
do you pick the subjects of your biographies? They are all authors.
But I do not really see an immediate connection.
I
noticed that L. Frank Baum was one of your biographies (Historian
of Oz).
Did
you come to Matilda Joslyn Gage through that door?
I
have not read your other books. It seems like you probably had older
high school students in mind when you wrote Born
Criminal.
Is that your general target audience?
This
may be a question more for the group than the author: Early on the
various progressive emphasis (anti-slaver, women's suffrage and
temperance) had a concern about how to place their energies. Should
they be pushing all three fronts or choose one and place their
energies there? What would you have chosen and why? How did you
decide? What kinds of issues would you have to consider?
Is
it ever right to break the law? When is it right to break the law?
What considerations should you have?
You
noted that L Frank Baum never used the demeaning term of suffragette,
always suffragist. What makes the term suffragette a demeaning term?
A
famous quip is that “behind every successful man is a ___ woman
[and a surprised mother-in-law]”. This seems to be true that there
was a supportive spouse for Matilda Joslyn Gage in Henry Gage. Can
you talk a bit more about him? Could Matilda Joslyn Gage have done
what she was doing without him? Also it seemed like the Gage’s were
pretty well off to allow her to travel. Is this a requirement of
social action, that it must start with people of means?
Many
of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
- Why the title of Born Criminal?
- Does this story work as a biography?
- Did the ending seem fitting? Satisfying? Predictable?
- Which people was the most convincing? Least?
- Which person did you identify with?
- Which one did you dislike?
- Every story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?
- In what context was religion talked about in this book?
- Was there anybody you would consider religious?
- How did they show it?
- Was the book overtly religious?
- How did it affect the book's story?
- Why do you think the author wrote this book?
- What would you ask the author if you had a chance?
- What “take aways” did you have from this book?
- What central ideas does the author present?
- Are they personal, sociological, global, political, economic, spiritual, medical, or scientific
- What evidence does the author use to support the book's ideas?
- Is the evidence convincing...definitive or...speculative?
- Does the author depend on personal opinion, observation, and assessment? Or is the evidence factual—based on science, statistics, historical documents, or quotations from (credible) experts?
- What implications for you, our nation or the world do these ideas have?
- Are these idea’s controversial?
- To whom and why?
- Describe the culture talked about in the book.
- How is the culture described in this book different than where we live?
- What economic or political situations are described?
- Does the author examine economics and politics, family traditions, the arts, religious beliefs, language or food?
- How did this book affect your view of the world?
- Of how God is viewed?
- What questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?
- Talk about specific passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
- What was memorable?
New Words:
- Phrenologist (6): a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.
- Neuralgia (22): a stabbing, burning, and often severe pain due to an irritated or damaged nerve. The nerve may be anywhere in the body, and the damage may be caused by several things, including: aging. diseases such as diabetes or multiple sclerosis. an infection, such as shingles.
- Woman in the Nineteenth Century by Margaret Fuller
- History of Woman Suffrage by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Eighty Years and More: Reminiscences, 1815-1897 by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
- Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts
- A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstoecraft
- The Secret Doctrine by Madame Blavatsky
- Woman, Church and State by Matilda Joslyn Gage
- Adventures in Phuniland by Fran L Baum
- The Woman’s Bible by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
- Mother Goose in Prose by L. Frank Baum
- The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony by Ida Husted Harper
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
- The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
- The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
- Sexual Politics by Kate Millet
- The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer
- Free and Female by Barbara Seaman
- Gyn/Ecology by Mary Daly
- Women of Ideas: And What Men Have Done to Them by Dale Spender
- Excluded from Suffrage History: Matilda Joslyn Gage, Nineteenth-Century American Feminist by Leila R. Brammer
- Conversations on Chemistry by Jane Marcet
Good Quotes:
- First Line: In 1893 a deputy sheriff knocked on Matilda Joslyn Gage’s door in Fayetteville, New York
- Last Line:Her cause continues
- Introduction
- 1-Risking Arrest, July 4, 1876
- 2-A Family Secret 1826-1836
- 3-Think for Yourself 1837-1845
- 4-Defying the Law 1845-1850
- 5-Bold and Daring 1851-1852
- 6-A Woman of No Ordinary Talents 1853-1854
- 7-Liberty for All 1855-1865
- 8-The Negro’s Hour? 1866-1869
- 9-The National Woman Suffrage Association 1869
- 10-Strong Minded Women 1869-1871
- 11-The United States on Trial 1871-1873
- 12-To Us and Our Daughters Forever 1873-1876
- 13 A Hundred Years Hence July 1876
- 14 The History of Woman Suffrage 1876-1878
- 15 The National Citizen and Ballot Box 1878-1880
- 16 Fayetteville’s First Woman Voter 1880-1881
- 17 Intolerable Anxiety 1881-1883
- 18 Broken Up 1883-1884
- 19 A Courageous, Fateful Woman 1884-1886
- 20 Protesting Lady Liberty 1886
- 21 The International Council of Women 1887-1888
- 22 Betrayed 1888-1890
- 23 Witchcraft and Priestcraft 1891-1893
- 24 Born Criminal 1893-1894
- 25 The Woman’s Bible 1894-1897
- 26 That Word is Liberty 1897-1898
- 27 Erased from History, The Matilda Effect
References:
- Author's Web Site
- Amazon-Book
- Amazon-Author
- GoodReads-Book
- GoodReads-Author
- Forward Reviews
- BBC News-Looks at the opening of a museum about Matilda Gage. The author and this book is also noted in the BBC article.
