National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)

National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was founded in 1890. Preceded by: National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) Succeeded by: League of Women Voters (1920) Key Figures Founding figures: Lucy Stone, Alice Stone Blackwell, Susan B. Anthony, Harriot Stanton Blatch, Rachel Foster, Elizabeth Cady StantonOther leaders: Carrie Chapman Catt, Anna Howard Shaw, Frances Willard, Mary Church Terrell, Jeannette Rankin, Lillie Devereux Blake, Laura Clay, Madeleine McDowell Breckinridge, Ida Husted Harper, Maud Wood Park, Alice Paul, Lucy Burns Key Characteristics Used both state-by-state organizing and push for a federal constitutional amendment, organized large suffrage parades, published many organizing and other brochures, pamphlets, and books, met annually in convention; less militant than the Congressional Union / National Womans Party Publication: The Womans Journal (which had been the publication of the AWSA) remained in publication until 1917; followed by the Woman Citizen About the National American Woman Suffrage Association In 1869, the woman suffrage movement in the United States had split into two main rival organizations, the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). By the mid-1880s, it was apparent that the leadership of the movement involved in the split was aging. Neither side had succeeded in convincing either many states or the federal government to adopt womens suffrage. The Anthony Amendment extending the vote to women through constitutional amendment had been introduced into Congress in 1878; in 1887, the Senate took its first vote on the amendment and soundly defeated it. The Senate would not vote again on the amendment for another 25 years. Also in 1887, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Susan B. Anthony and others published a 3-volume History of Woman Suffrage, documenting that history mostly from the viewpoint of the AWSA but also including history from the NWSA. At the October 1887 convention of the AWSA, Lucy Stone proposed that the two organizations explore a merger. A group met in December, including women from both organizations: Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Stone Blackwell (Lucy Stones daughter) and Rachel Foster. The next year, the NWSA organized a 40th-anniversary celebration of the Seneca Falls Womans Rights Convention and invited the AWSA to take part. Successful Merger The merger negotiations were successful, and in February 1890, the merged organization named the National American Woman Suffrage Association, held its first convention, in Washington, DC. Elected as the first president was Elizabeth Cady Stanton and as vice president Susan B. Anthony. Lucy Stone was elected as the chairman [sic] of the Executive Committee. Stantons election as president was largely symbolic, as she traveled to England to spend two years there right after being elected. Anthony served as de facto head of the organization. Gage's Alternative Organization Not all suffrage supporters joined the merger. Matilda Joslyn Gage founded the Womens National Liberal Union in 1890, as an organization that would work for womens rights beyond just the vote. She was president until she died in 1898. She edited the publication The Liberal Thinker between 1890 and 1898. NAWSA 1890 to 1912 Susan B. Anthony succeeded Elizabeth Cady Stanton as president in 1892, and Lucy Stone died in 1893. Between 1893 and 1896, womens suffrage became law in the new state of Wyoming (which had, in 1869, included it in its territorial law). Colorado, Utah, and Idaho amended their state constitutions to include womens suffrage. The publication of The Womans Bible by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Matilda Joslyn Gage and 24 others in 1895 and 1898 led to a NAWSA decision to explicitly disavow any connection with that work. The NAWSA wanted to focus on womens vote, and the younger leadership thought criticism of religion would threaten their possibilities for success. Stanton was never invited to the stage at another NAWSA convention. Stantons position in the suffrage movement as a symbolic leader suffered from that point, and Anthonys role was stressed more after that. From 1896 to 1910, the NAWSA organized about 500 campaigns to get woman suffrage on state ballots as referenda. In the few cases where the issue actually got on to the ballot, it failed. In 1900, Carrie Chapman Catt succeeded Anthony as president of the NAWSA. In 1902, Stanton died, and in 1904, Catt was succeeded as president by Anna Howard Shaw. In 1906, Susan B. Anthony died, and the first generation of leadership was gone. From 1900 to 1904, the NAWSA focused on a Society Plan to recruit members who were well-educated and had political influence. In 1910, the NAWSA began to try to appeal more to women beyond the educated classes and moved to more public action. That same year, Washington State established statewide woman suffrage, followed in 1911 by California and in 1912 in Michigan, Kansas, Oregon, and Arizona. In 1912, the Bull Moose / Progressive Party platform supported woman suffrage. Also at about that time, many of the Southern suffragists began to work against the strategy of a federal amendment, fearing it would interfere with Southern limits on voting rights directed at African Americans. NAWSA and the Congressional Union In 1913, Lucy Burns and Alice Paul organized the Congressional Committee as an auxiliary within the NAWSA. Having seen more militant actions in England, Paul and Burns wanted to organize something more dramatic. The Congressional Committee within NAWSA organized a large suffrage parade in Washington, DC, held the day before Woodrow Wilsons inauguration. Five to eight thousand marched in the parade, with half a million onlookers―including many opponents who insulted, spit on and even attacked the marchers. Two hundred marchers were injured, and Army troops were called in when police would not stop the violence. Although black suffrage supporters were told to march at the back of the march, so as not to threaten support for woman suffrage among white Southern legislators, some of the black supporters including Mary Church Terrell circumvented that and joined the main march. Alice Pauls committee promoted actively the Anthony Amendment, re-introduced into Congress in April of 1913. Another large march was held in May of 1913 in New York. This time, about 10,000 marched, with men making up about 5 percent of the participants. Estimates range from 150,000 to half a million onlookers. More demonstrations, including an automobile procession, followed, and a speaking tour with Emmeline Pankhurst. By December, the more conservative national leadership had decided that the Congressional Committees actions were unacceptable. The December national convention expelled the Congressional Committee, which went on to form the Congressional Union and later became the National Womans Party. Carrie Chapman Catt had led the move to expel the Congressional Committee and its members; she was elected president again in 1915. The NAWSA in 1915 adopted its strategy, in contrast to the continued militancy of the Congressional Union: the Winning Plan. This strategy, proposed by Catt and adopted at the organizations Atlantic City convention, would use the states that had already given women the vote to push for a federal amendment. Thirty state legislatures petitioned Congress for womens suffrage. At the time of World War I, many women, including Carrie Chapman Catt, became involved in the Womans Peace Party, opposing that war. Others within the movement, including within NAWSA, supported the war effort or switched from peace work to war support when the United States entered the war. They worried that pacifism and war opposition would work against the suffrage movements momentum. Victory In 1918, the US House of Representatives passed the Anthony Amendment, but the Senate turned it down. With both wings of the suffrage movement continuing their pressure, President Woodrow Wilson was finally persuaded to support suffrage. In May of 1919, the House passed it again, and in June the Senate approved it. Then the ratification went to the states. On August 26, 1920, after the ratification by the Tennessee legislature, the Anthony Amendment became the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution. After 1920 The NAWSA, now that woman suffrage had passed, reformed itself and became the League of Women Voters. Maud Wood Park was the first president. In 1923, the National Womans Party first proposed an Equal Rights Amendment to the constitution. The six-volume  History of Woman Suffrage  was completed in 1922 when  Ida Husted Harper  published the last two volumes covering 1900 to victory in 1920.

Biography of Audrey Hepburn, Elegant Actress

Biography of Audrey Hepburn, Elegant Actress Audrey Hepburn (May 4, 1929–Jan. 20, 1993) was an Academy-Award winning actress and a fashion icon in the 20th century. Having almost starved to death in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, Hepburn became a goodwill ambassador for starving children. Considered one of the most beautiful and elegant women in the world then and now, Hepburns beauty shone through her doe eyes and contagious smile. A trained ballet dancer who never performed in a ballet, Hepburn was Hollywood’s most sought-after actress in the mid-20th century. Fast Facts: Audrey Hepburn Known For: Famous 20th-century actressAlso Known As: Audrey Kathleen Ruston, Edda van HeemstraBorn: May 4, 1929 in  Brussels, BelgiumParents: Baroness Ella van Heemstra, Joseph Victor Anthony RustonDied: Jan. 20,1993 in  Vaud, SwitzerlandNoted Films: Roman Holiday, Sabrina,  My Fair Lady, Breakfast at Tiffany’sAwards and Honors: Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe for Best Actress (Roman Holiday, 1954), BAFTA (The Nuns Story, 1960), Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (1993), Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming (Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn, 1993)Spouse(s): Mel Ferrer (m.  1954–1968), Andrea Dotti (m.  1969–1982)Children: Sean Hepburn Ferrer, Luca DottiNotable Quote: The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. Early Years Hepburn was born the daughter of a British father and a Dutch mother in Brussels, Belgium, on May 4, 1929. When Hepburn was 6 years old, her father Joseph Victor Anthony Hepburn-Ruston, a heavy drinker, deserted the family. Hepburns mother Baroness Ella van Heemstra moved her two sons (Alexander and Ian from a previous marriage) and Hepburn from Brussels to her father’s mansion in Arnhem, Netherlands. The following year in 1936, Hepburn left the country and moved to England to attend a private boarding school in Kent, where she enjoyed dance classes taught by a London ballet master. In 1939, when Hepburn was 10, Germany invaded Poland, beginning World War II. When England declared war on Germany, the Baroness moved Hepburn back to Arnhem for safety. However, Germany soon invaded the Netherlands. Life Under Nazi Occupation Hepburn lived under Nazi occupation from 1940 to 1945, using the name Edda van Heemstra so as not to sound English. Still living a privileged life, Hepburn received ballet training from Winja Marova at the Arnhem School of Music, where she received praise for her posture, personality, and performance. Life was normal at first; kids went to football games, swim meets, and the movie theater. However, with half a million occupying German soldiers using up Dutch resources, fuel and food shortages were soon rampant. These scarcities caused the Netherlands child death rate to increase by 40 percent. In the winter of 1944, Hepburn, who had already been enduring very little to eat, and her family were evicted when Nazi officers seized the Van Heemstra mansion. With most of their wealth confiscated, the Baron (Hepburn’s grandfather), Hepburn, and her mother moved to the Baron’s villa in the town of Velp, three miles outside of Arnhem. The war affected Hepburn’s extended family as well. Her Uncle Otto was shot to death for attempting to blow up a railroad. Hepburn’s half-brother Ian was forced to work in a German munitions factory in Berlin. Hepburn’s half-brother Alexander joined the underground Dutch resistance. Working for the Dutch Resistance Hepburn also resisted Nazi occupation. When the Germans confiscated all the radios, Hepburn delivered secret underground newspapers, which she hid in her oversized boots. She continued ballet and gave recitals to make money for the resistance until she was too weak from malnutrition. Four days after Adolf Hitler ended his life by committing suicide on April 30, 1945, the liberation of the Netherlands took place- coincidentally on Hepburn’s 16th birthday. Hepburn’s half-brothers returned home. The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration brought boxes of food, blankets, medicine, and clothes. Hepburn was suffering from colitis, jaundice, severe edema, anemia, endometriosis, asthma, and depression. With the war over, her family tried to resume a normal life. Hepburn no longer had to call herself Edda van Heemstra and went back to her name of Audrey Hepburn-Ruston. Hepburn and her mother worked at the Royal Military Invalids Home. Alexander (age 25) worked for the government in reconstruction projects while Ian (age 21) worked for Unilever, an Anglo-Dutch food and detergent company. Rise to Fame In 1945, Winja Marova referred Hepburn to Sonia Gaskell’s Ballet Studio ’45 in Amsterdam, where Hepburn studied ballet for three more years. Gaskell believed that Hepburn had something special; especially the way she used her doe eyes to captivate audiences. Gaskell introduced Hepburn to Marie Rambert of Ballet Rambert in London, a company performing night revues in London and international tours. Hepburn auditioned for Rambert and was accepted with scholarship in early 1948. By October, Rambert told Hepburn that she did not have the physique to become a prima ballerina because she was too tall (Hepburn was 5-foot-7). Plus, Hepburn didn’t compare to the other dancers since she had begun serious training too late in her life. Ups and Downs Devastated that her dream was over, Hepburn tried out for a part in the chorus line in High Button Shoes, a zany play at London’s Hippodrome. She got the part and performed 291 shows, using the name Audrey Hepburn. Afterward, Cecil Landeau, producer of the play Sauce Tartare (1949) had spotted Hepburn and cast her as the girl walking across the stage holding up the title card for each skit. With her impish smile and large eyes, she was cast at higher pay in the play’s sequel, Sauce Piquant (1950), in a few comedy skits. In 1950, Hepburn modeled part-time and registered herself as a freelance actress with the British film studio. She appeared in several bit parts in small movies before landing the role of a ballerina in The Secret People (1952), where she was able to show off her ballet talent. In 1951, the famed French writer Colette was on the set of Monte Carlo Baby (1953) and spotted Hepburn playing the small part of a spoiled actress in the movie. Colette cast Hepburn as Gigi in her musical comedy play Gigi, which opened on Nov. 24, 1951, on Broadway in New York at the Fulton Theater. Simultaneously, director William Wyler was looking for a European actress to play the lead role of a princess in his new movie, Roman Holiday, a romantic comedy. Executives in the Paramount London office had Hepburn do a screen test. Wyler was enchanted and Hepburn got the role. Gigi ran until May 31, 1952, earning Hepburn a Theatre World Award and plenty of recognition. Hepburn in Hollywood When Gigi ended, Hepburn flew to Rome to star in Roman Holiday (1953). The movie was a box-office success and Hepburn received the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1953 when she was 24 years old. Capitalizing on its newest star, Paramount cast her as the lead in Sabrina (1954), another romantic comedy, directed by Billy Wilder and in which Hepburn played a Cinderella type. It was the top box-office hit of the year and Hepburn was nominated for Best Actress again  but lost to Grace Kelly in The Country Girl. In 1954, Hepburn met and dated actor Mel Ferrer when they co-starred on Broadway in the hit play Ondine. When the play ended, Hepburn received the Tony Award and married Ferrer on September 25, 1954, in Switzerland.​ After a miscarriage, Hepburn fell into a deep depression. Ferrer suggested she return to work. Together they starred in the film War and Peace (1956), a romantic drama, with Hepburn getting top billing. While Hepburn’s career offered many successes, including another Best Actress nomination for her dramatic portrayal of Sister Luke in The Nun’s Story (1959), Ferrer’s career was on the decline. Hepburn discovered she was pregnant again in late 1958  but was on contract to star in a Western, The Unforgiven (1960), which began filming in January 1959. Later that same month during filming, she fell off a horse and broke her back. Although she recovered, Hepburn gave birth to a stillborn that spring. Her depression went deeper. Iconic Look Thankfully, Hepburn gave birth to a healthy son, Sean Hepburn-Ferrer, on January 17, 1960. Little Sean was always in tow and even accompanied his mother on the set of Breakfast at Tiffanys (1961). With fashions designed by Hubert de Givenchy, the film catapulted Hepburn as a fashion icon; she appeared on nearly every fashion magazine that year. The press took its toll, however, and the Ferrers bought La Paisible, an 18th-century farmhouse in Tolochenaz, Switzerland, to live in privacy. Hepburns successful career continued when she starred in The Children’s Hour (1961), Charade (1963), and then was cast in the universally acclaimed musical film, My Fair Lady (1964). After more successes, including the thriller Wait Until Dark (1967), the Ferrers separated. Two More Lovers In June 1968, Hepburn was cruising to Greece with friends aboard the yacht of Italy’s Princess Olympia Torlonia when she met Dr. Andrea Dotti, an Italian psychiatrist. That December, the Ferrers divorced after 14 years of marriage. Hepburn retained custody of Sean and married Dotti six weeks later. On February 8, 1970, at age 40, Hepburn gave birth to her second son, Luca Dotti. The Dottis lived in Rome, but while Ferrer had been nine years older than Hepburn, Dotti was nine years younger and still enjoyed the nightlife. In order to focus her attention on her family, Hepburn took a lengthy hiatus from Hollywood. Despite all her efforts, however, Dotti’s ongoing adultery caused Hepburn to seek a divorce in 1979 after nine years of marriage. In 1981 when Hepburn was 52, she met 46-year-old Robert Wolders, a Dutch-born investor and actor, who remained her companion for the rest of her life. Later Years Although Hepburn ventured back into a few more movies, in 1988 her main focus became helping with the United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF). As a spokesperson for children in crises, she remembered the United Nations relief in Holland after WWII and threw herself into her work. She and Wolders traveled the world six months a year, bringing national attention to the needs of starving, sick children throughout the world. In 1992, Hepburn thought she had picked up a stomach virus in Somalia  but was soon diagnosed with colon cancer. After an unsuccessful surgery for colon cancer in November 1992, her doctors gave her three months to live. Death Hepburn, age 63, passed away on Jan. 20, 1993, at La Paisible. Her death was announced by UNICEF, the United Nations Childrens Fund, for which she had been a special ambassador since 1988. At a quiet funeral in Switzerland, pallbearers included Hubert de Givenchy and ex-husband Mel Ferrer. Legacy Though Hepburns film career was relatively brief, spanning mainly only the 1950s and 1960s, the American Film Institute named her among the greatest movie stars of all time. The AFI placed Hepburn in the third spot on its AFIs 100 Years...100 Stars  list of the 50 greatest screen legends, behind only Katharine Hepburn, at No. 1, and Betty Davis, at No. 2. (Katherine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn were not related.) Hepburn is still remembered for such films as Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffanys,  and to this day, she is still looked upon as a fashion icon for her style and elegance. Even decades after her death, Hepburn continues to be voted as one of the most beautiful women of all time on numerous polls. Sources â€Å"AFIs 100 Years...100 Stars.†Ã‚  American Film Institute.â€Å"Audrey Hepburn.†Ã‚  Biography.com, AE Networks Television, 22 Jan. 2019â€Å"Audrey Hepburn.†Ã‚  IMDb, IMDb.com.Friedman, Vanessa. â€Å"Givenchy and Hepburn: The Original Brand Ambassadors.†Ã‚  The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Mar. 2018.â€Å"The Most Beautiful Women Of All Time.†Ã‚  Esquire, Esquire, 26 Nov. 2018.James, Caryn. â€Å"Audrey Hepburn, Actress, Is Dead at 63.†Ã‚  The New York Times, 21 Jan. 1993.Riding, Alan. â€Å"25 Years Later, Honor for Audrey Hepburn.†Ã‚  The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Apr. 1991.Roman Holiday. Filmsite.org.