Emma Goldman-- reassurance, 1917... a question, 1919

 

Keep the spark of liberty alive,

the night cannot last forever.

A bookmark from The Emma Goldman Papers, University of California, Berkeley.  On the reverse side, a contemporary message about the importance of remembering our history of struggle,  "Stirring the embers of the past to inspire the future. 

Emma Goldman (1869-1940) and Alexander Berkman in a "Farewell, [to] Friends and Comrades," wrote this line before serving almost two years in prison for opposing the conscription of young men into the First World War.

Partial to her feisty spirit, I once bought a 1916 issue of Emma's publication, Mother Earth News.  It includes a reminder of the upcoming "Mother Earth Ball" to celebrate the publication's 11th anniversary (Admission 35 cents, Hat Check, 15 cents). Somewhere in my photos, there's one of me standing in front of a brownstone where she lived near Union Square in New York City. 

In the Portland Red Guide, I learn she came here in 1915 to speak, was arrested for distributing birth control information. A Portland Circuit Judge dismissed the case with the words, "There is too much tendency to prudery nowadays."  She also spoke at the Portland Public Library on "The Sham of Culture." A local blogger last year named her Portland's Fairy Godmother. Her spirit lives on!

A few years ago, the bookmark on the right arrived in the mail.  I've saved it for its message and its different, gentler view of Emma--feminist, anarchist, immigrant--to share among ourselves.  In these days when it often feels as if the forces of evil have taken over reasonableness, I offer her words to recall that we have survived narrowness of thought in earlier times.  Her message, as always, is pertinent to 2010.

"Sooner or later the American people are going to wake up.  --Emma Goldman, Detroit, Michigan, 11/26/1919, on deportation to Russia" reads a cup (mug)  on my kitchen counter.  Make sure you click on this image from her  1901 arrest, a frequent happening.

Celebrate her birthday on June 27, with a contribution to the Papers so you too can be a part of the ongoing effort to write women back into history.

Comments

[Hattie]

Goldman's challenge to the American status quo of that time was extreme. I wonder if she knew what she was up against. Oh, I guess she did but cared more for justice than for success.
Immigrants were supposed to work hard and keep their heads down, but Emma Goldman did not do that.
Anyway, I will contribute.

[m.e.]

In the photo taken in Union Square, I see only ONE woman--Emma Goldman. ?????

[Anne Gibert]

Time is running out. I hope she's right and they wake up soon.

[Z]

Oh good, what a good idea. Anecdote: my great-aunt, a Wobbly, went to meet Emma Goldman on the docks in SF when she arrived in 1917. When I was younger than I am now and this aunt was still alive, she lectured heatedly: now Z, don't believe Emma Goldman on birth control - she was on the right track, but not all the methods she recommends are really foolproof, and her faith in them was deceptive to less educated women! (My aunt was referring to instructions given to create diaphragms at home ... and it was many decades later ... but you can see how they were arguing about gender and class then, things don't change 100%). ;-)

[Hattie]

Well, not to drag this thread away, but I recall a nurse telling us about cannula abortions. She had had seven kids and an equal number of self-induced abortions, and she had done numbers of abortions on other women. And she was only 35.
Women are tough.

[Lydia]

I was unaware of Emma Goldman until the movie REDS was released in theaters, only one of the reasons why it is my favorite film. She was remarkable and so is this post!

[Hattie]

I sent off a contribution to the fund.