Both articles are very broad on the topics they talk about; they do not focus on one event in the 1920s but talk about multiple throughout their writings. However, despite talking about the same decade, both articles had different viewpoints on certain historical events, and the future of America after this decade. An example of this is in the article published in 1956 by May, in which he argues for the reason that America’s prosperity during the 1920s was the result of postwar errors, particularly World War I, that brought manufacturing jobs and America’s help in rebuilding Europe after the war. However, in the article published in 2007 by Goldberg, he argues the reason why America prospered during the 1920s was due to entrepreneurs like Henry Ford, a lack of government involvement, corporate greed, and a high labor market, mostly due to immigration. May is right that America did prosper after both world wars in the 20s and the 50s. In addition, he doesn’t point out what exactly made the economy so strong or the problems that led to the stock market crash of 1929. However, Goldberg does point out the causes of a booming economy but also realizes the devastation it could have if not properly managed. 

From the evidence that was just presented, we can safely say that these two articles disagree more than they agree on what the 1920s decade brought to America. Something else that needs to be noted when comparing these two articles is that the one by Goldberg mentions more than the broad topics the 1920s brought us. The article mentioned things like the KKK, unions developing, presidents’ flaws/achievements, racism, jazz errors, and women’s rights. Whereas we look at the May 1956 article. Most of those topics are either not mentioned or completely looked over in the article. However, May does mention key problems in the 1920s but fails to explain or elaborate on those issues. We can see by looking at both articles that both have different ideas on what is an important topic to talk about when looking into the 1920s decade. Both articles do mention key factors and events that happened during the 1920s but failed to bring up more defining issues (women’s suffrage, corporate greed, causes for certain events, and discrimination problems) that impacted not just the United States but the rest of the world.

How I see the change in historical events in the 1920s from then to now is that today we can take responsibility for our actions. Whereas I have seen back, then we either hide those tragic events or justify our bad behavior. Our society today is not afraid to point out the wrongdoings that previous generations did back then. In addition, we can see that papers that were published back then, only talked about one viewpoint of the 1920s, usually white middle-class men. Completely excluding anybody else’s viewpoint or problems during that time. Today, we are more open to seeing everybody’s side and understanding everybody’s problems, and nobody’s problems or issues are more important than others. Also, what helps me understand history is reading articles that were published in the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s, et cetera, because it shows you how people thought of events and portrayed them during that particular time. Overall, the lesson that I would take away from this assignment is to never look at or read one article about a particular time but to read several articles on the same issue and see which ones connect with or agree with one another. 

Bibliography

• Goldberg, David J. “Rethinking the 1920S: Historians and Changing Perspectives.” OAH Magazine of History 21, no. 3 (2007): 7–10. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25162122.
• May, Henry F. “Shifting Perspectives on the 1920’s.” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review 43, no. 3 (1956): 405–27. https://doi.org/10.2307/1893530.

A photo of a section of Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points (National Archives)

Transcription

It will be our wish and purpose that the processes of peace, when they are begun, shall be absolutely open and that they shall involve and permit henceforth no secret understandings of any kind. The day of conquest and aggrandizement is gone by; so is also the day of secret covenants entered into in the interest of particular governments and likely at some unlooked-for moment to upset the peace of the world. It is this happy fact, now clear to the view of every public man whose thoughts do not still linger in an age that is dead and gone, which makes it possible for every nation whose purposes are consistent with justice and the peace of the world to avow now or at any other time the objects it has in view.

We entered this war because violations of right had occurred which touched us to the quick and made the life of our own people impossible unless they were corrected and the world secure once for all against their recurrence. What we demand in this war, therefore, is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It is that the world be made fit and safe to live in; and particularly that it be made safe for every peace-loving nation which, like our own, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be assured of justice and fair dealing by the other peoples of the world as against force and selfish aggression. All the peoples of the world are in effect partners in this interest, and for our own part we see very clearly that unless justice be done to others it will not be done to us. The programme of the world’s peace, therefore, is our programme; and that programme, the only possible programme, as we see it, is this:

I. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understandings of any kind but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view.

II. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants.

III. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance.

IV. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety.

V. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.

VI. The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest cooperation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the independent determination of her own political development and national policy and assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under institutions of her own choosing; and, more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that she may need and may herself desire. The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to come will be the acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of her needs as distinguished from their own interests, and of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy.

VII. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all other free nations. No other single act will serve as this will serve to restore confidence among the nations in the laws which they have themselves set and determined for the government of their relations with one another. Without this healing act the whole structure and validity of international law is forever impaired.

VIII. All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions restored, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may once more be made secure in the interest of all.

IX. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality.

X. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous development.

XI. Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated; occupied territories restored; Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea; and the relations of the several Balkan states to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically established lines of allegiance and nationality; and international guarantees of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered into.

XII. The Turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.

XIII. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant.

XIV. A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.

In regard to these essential rectifications of wrong and assertions of right we feel ourselves to be intimate partners of all the governments and peoples associated together against the Imperialists. We cannot be separated in interest or divided in purpose. We stand together until the end.

For such arrangements and covenants we are willing to fight and to continue to fight until they are achieved; but only because we wish the right to prevail and desire a just and stable peace such as can be secured only by removing the chief provocations to war, which this programme does remove. We have no jealousy of German greatness, and there is nothing in this programme that impairs it. We grudge her no achievement or distinction of learning or of pacific enterprise such as have made her record very bright and very enviable. We do not wish to injure her or to block in any way her legitimate influence or power. We do not wish to fight her either with arms or with hostile arrangements of trade if she is willing to associate herself with us and the other peace- loving nations of the world in covenants of justice and law and fair dealing. We wish her only to accept a place of equality among the peoples of the world, — the new world in which we now live, — instead of a place of mastery.

Jacob Gonzalez

Jacob is a Communication Arts student at Ramapo College. Although creating custom merchandise and promotional products is his passion, he has a soft spot for discovering interesting and obscure history.

jgonzalezdesigns.myportfolio.com

There is little to nothing known about Mae Capone save for her parents, birthday, and the ways in which she suffered from the actions and decisions made by her husband, Al “Scarface” Capone. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Capone had an unusual start for their time. The couple’s first and only child, Albert Francis “Sonny” Capone, was born out of wedlock three week before the couple’s wedding in December 1918. Over the course of their union, Mr. Capone transferred syphilis onto Mrs. Capone, resulting in her later infertility. He continually cheated on her throughout their marriage until he went away to prison

Despite her husband’s status as a high profile public figure, Mae was able to remain out the public eye if she so desired; but at times she would come to her husband’s defense in the press. Her relationship with the public was very in and out, black and white. At this point in 1934, Mae’s husband Al Capone, has been in prison for close to three years of his eleven year sentence.

This declassified document from her husband’s FBI file reels reveals that while Mae Capone remained out the public eye, private eyes were watching her.

Transcription

Dear Sir:

Under date of May 28, 1934, you wrote to me the effect that you you had received confidential information that Mrs. Alphonse Capone, Sr. [Mae Capone (1897-1986)], wife of Al Capone, had established a residence in Reno, Nevada, with a view of divorcing her husband. You asked that when an agent was nest at Reno, that such inquiries as can be discreetly and diplomatically made, should be made to determine whether there was any foundation to the story.

On July 17, 1934, Special Agent J.F. O’Connell of this office, while at Reno, Nevada, interviewed Postmaster W.E. Kinnikin, who stated that he heard nothing of the matter, and had not heard that Mrs. Alphonse Capone Sr., was receiving mail at Reno. If Mrs. Capone is, or has been at Reno for the purpose referred to, it is quite probable that she would be living under an assumed name, with her identity known only to her attorney, while if she had instituted a suit for divorce she would, of necessity, file complaint under her right name, and as soon as filed, the newspapers at Reno would learn it and publish it, as is their practise. It is a daily routine matter for representatives of newspapers at Reno to learn the identities of the persons filing suits for divorce.

If the Division wishes this matter pursued further at Reno, I suggest that the Division, through its Jacksonville or Chicago Division offices, in which territory Mrs. Alphonse Capone Sr. is said to have resided in the past, endeavor to determine her last known address, and then make such inquiry as is possible for the purpose of determining if she has been absent from that place, and if so where. 

Either one or both of these offices might also learn the name and address of the Attorney who has represented her interests in the past, and through some contact with the office of the attorney, determine the accuracy or inaccuracy of the information related to any contemplated divorce on her part. 

Very Truly Yours,

John A. Dowd, Special Agent in Charge

Significance

Information was given to the FBI claiming Mrs. Capone had moved to Reno, Nevada for the purpose of seeking a divorce from Mr. Capone. If she was, the scandal surrounding it would be equivalent to a circus. A divorce would end their marriage with the same shame that started with it. What’s puzzling is why would Mrs. Capone seeking a divorce peak the interest of the FBI? Mr. Capone was already imprisoned, so the fact that she could possibly testify against him seems insignificant at this point. It’s possible the FBI’s interest in Mae Capone resulted from her hot and cold relationship with the press.

When Mr. Al “Scarface” Capone was released from prison, he had the advocacy of his wife, Mae, to thank. She did not divorce him, she did the opposite. She cared for him in his deteriorated state until he passed away in 1947. However, this document ignites further pause for thought about the mysterious Mrs. Al “Scarface” Capone.

Bibliography

“Al (Alphonse) Capone.” Federal Bureau of Investigation – Freedom of Information Privacy Act, Part 9c. Accessed May 4, 2023. https://webharvest.gov/peth04/20041015123315/http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/capone.htm.

Michelle Steidle

Michelle Steidle is a History Major at Ramapo College, graduating with the Class of 2023. She enjoys historical research, long walks on the beach, and a good joke.

STATEMENTS ON RAILROAD STRIKE

New York, July 24.- Asserting that the rail strike has not already been settled “because the die hard group of Eastern road executives want it to go on” shop craft union leaders today submitted that only the roads’ refusal to assure returning strikers reinstatement of seniority rights prevents an immediate [immediate misspelled in original] settlement of the controversy. 

“The government now admits that the railroad strike is a grave public issue; the public knew it two weeks ago,” was a statement issued by the central strike committee. 

“It is only the die hard group of Eastern executives who deny it. They deny it because they want the strike to go on. They are using this crisis in a vain attempt to install the open shop.

“If the government wants to relieve the transportation crisis it will settle and strike. And the war to settle the strike is to persuade Gen. W. W. Atterbury and his ‘hard boiled’ Wa;; street clique to cease holding up the nation’s business by their private refusal to allow seniority rights to workers. It is inconceivable that a half dozen men can impose their selfish will upon the welfare of a hundred million.”

These charges brought from the Eastern executives; conference in session today a declaration through their chairman, L.F. Loree, president of the Delaware & Hudson, that the “possibility of the strikers typing up the Eastern railroads had passed.” 

He announced that the 88,804 men are now employed at full time in Eastern shops, compared with the 145,872 the day before the walkout and declared that the 60.8 per cent force now employed “has an output that compared favorably with the work of the larger force before the strike.” 

“This is due,” The statement continued, “to the fact that we formerly employed more men than we needed because there was not enough repair work to keep the shops going at capacity, and partly due to the fact that many union rules designed to restrict output have been eliminated. One willing mechanic now does the work that formerly was taken up in the routine by several, with the consequent delays.” 

The conference made plans for inaugurating on additional roads the “company union system” which already has been started on four eastern lines as an outgrowth of the strike. Although it was tacitly admitted that the effect of such organizations would be to weaken the national strength of the mother union of the six shop crafts, the American Federation of Labor, rail presidents refused to comment on the conference program.

The Union daily times. (Union, SC), Jul. 25 1922. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86071063/1922-07-25/ed-1/.

gregk

Gregory Kruimer is currently enrolled in his senior year at Ramapo College as a History major.

The letter was written by the NHAAPA to the senator of Washington state citing events of spies and undercover agents being used to crack down on the sale and use of liquor. The document goes further and points out that these government agents have been getting drunk themselves, therefore leading to hypocrisy and distrust in the government.

Transcription

Hon. Wesley L. Jones,

Washington D.C.

Dir Sir:

We observed that the Secretary of the Treasury has sent to Congress a bill proposing an appropriation of $500,000 to employ informers and spies to enforce prohibition. The Internal Revenue Commissioner and the Assistant Treasurer in charge of prohibition enforcement both state, in a letter to the Senate, that prohibition cannot be enforced except with the aid of undercover men — spies and informers.

Kindly permit us to direct your attention to the manner in which funds for the employment of undercover men have been spent.

Last year the Prohibition Enforcement Department set up an elaborate undercover scheme at Norfolk, VA to operate in Norfolk and vicinity and in parts of North Carolina.

The records of this investigation are printed in Senate Document 198 entitled “Prohibition Enforcement”.

These records show:

That the investigation was instigated by J.W. Hough, described in the documents as a representative of the Anti-Saloon League.

The agents of the Federal Government, under assumed names, were sent to Norfolk to report to and recieve instructions from J.W. Hough, representative of the Anti-Saloon League.

That J.W. Hough, representative of the Anti-Saloon League, furnished money to the agents of the Federal Government to buy liquor, and that the liquor was stored in Hough’s vault.

That agents of the Federal Government had thier mail from Wasington addressed to them in Norfolk in care of J.W. Hough agent of the Anti-Saloon League.

That the federal agents, sent to Norfolk, at the request of the representative of the Anti-Saloon League, engaged in the following activities:

They established a negro poolroom and saloon in Norfolk, employed a negro bartender and negro informers to spy upon the police force of the city of Norfolk and entrap these policemen.

They entered into partnerships with bootleggers and other individuals described in the records as notorious and untrustworthy and engaged in the buying and selling of liquor, and aided by thier negro informers, invited policemen come in and drink with them and then filed charges against the policemen, having a number of them removed from office.

They employed a swarm of negro spies to entrap state and county officials in Virginia and North Carolina, and set up and operated moonshine stills.

Both the Comissioner of Internal Revenue and the United States District Attorney at Norfolk, in reporting upon the activities of these agents and their negro informers, stated that they were frequently in a high state of intoxication and in his condition they directed the activiteis of their army of negro spies to entrap the duly elected and chosen county, state and municiple officials.

Months of time, and thousands of dollars were employed in this investigation with the net result that a number of policemen were dismissed from office upon the evidence of the undercover men of the Federal Prohibition Enforcement Department and their negro spies, but not a singular prosecution (and very porley so) was instituted by the Unites States DIstrict Attorney upon the evidence they gathered.

While it is not the policy of this organization even to make suggestions to members of Congress in the matter of appropriations for the enforcement of the prohibiton law, we feel justified in protesting against this proposed legislation which would provide for the employment of spies, snoopers and informers. We feel that the employment of such measures by the Prohibition Enforcement Department can lead to nothing but contempt for our government.

It is the announced policy of the Government to depend, more and more, upon the states for the suppression of violations of the prohibition law, and it is only with the existance of good feeling between the state and federal authorities that this can be acomplished. Good feeling, most certantly, cannot exist when the Federal Enforcement Department, at the instgation of the Anti-Saloon League, employs negro spies and enters into partnerships with notorious characters for the purpose of spying upon and entrapping local officials. Such practices on the part of our Government are obnoxious not only to the communities involved, but to those of us who feel that these things are contrary to the letter as well as the spirit of the Constitution.

Legislation that provided for the employment of spies, snoopers, and informers in the enforcement of prohibition is bad in itself, but when the power of such legislation is placed in the hands of a department which has reeked with bribery, misconduct, and conspiracy, in spite of the efforts of the Treasury official charged with enforcement, it is many times worse.

We feel that this view will have the general support of drys as well as wets, and, therefore, are giving it the widest possible publicity.

Very truley yours,

National Chairman

Citation

National Headquarters Association Against Prohibition Amendment. National Headquarters Association Against Prohibition Amendment A Letter to Senator Wesley Jones regarding corruption in enforcement of prohibition March 3, 1927. Documents, 1927. https://jstor.org/stable/community.29380025.

Jeffrey Horn

Jeffrey Horn is a senior history major at Ramapo College and will graduate in May 2023. He is also a captain of the Ramapo College Swim team and aspires to become a High School history teacher after gradutation.

Margaret Sanger’s Birth Control speech in 1921 focused on the need for women to have access to safe and effective contraception.  She argued that the ability to control reproduction was essential for women’s freedom and independence.  Sanger believed that the widespread availability of birth control would not only improve women’s lives but also benefit society as a whole by reducing poverty and overpopulation.  She also emphasized the importance of sex education and the need for women to have control over their own bodies.  Sanger’s speech was a call to action for women to demand their right to access birth control and take control of their own reproductive health.

Margaret Sanger gave many of these speeches over the years, advocating for women’s right to access birth control. Her activism, along with the efforts of many others, eventually led to the legalization of birth control in the United States.  Sanger’s speech and her activism were instrumental in raising awareness about the need for safe and effective contraception.  She established the first birth control clinic in the United States in 1916, which led to her arrest and imprisonment.  However, this did not deter her from her advocacy work.  She continued to speak out and educate people about birth control, and eventually her efforts paid off.

In 1936, a federal court ruled that doctors could legally prescribe birth control to their patients for medical reasons.  This ruling was a significant milestone in the fight for reproductive rights.  In 1965, the supreme court’s landmark decision in Griswold v. Connecticut struck down state laws that prohibited the use of birth control for all women in the United States. Sanger’s speeches and other activism played a critical role in effecting change in regards to women’s reproductive rights.

Sanger’s birth control speech in 1921 had a clear message, that women should have access to safe and effective contraception.  The speech aimed to raise awareness about the importance of birth control for women’s health, freedom, and independence.  She argued that women should have the right to control their own bodies and make decisions about when and whether to have children.  She believed that this right was essential for women to achieve equality and freedom in all aspects of their lives.

Margaret Sanger’s Birth Control Speech 1921

The meeting tonight is a postponement of one which was to have taken place at the Town Hall last Sunday evening.  It was to be a culmination of a three day conference, two of which were held at the Hotel Plaza, in discussing the Birth Control subject in its various and manifold aspects.

The one issue upon which there seems to be the most uncertainty and disagreement exists in the moral side of the subject of Birth Control.  It seemed only natural for us to call together scientists, educators, members of the medical profession and the theologians of all denominations to ask their opinion upon this uncertain and important phase of the controversy.  Letters were sent to the most eminent men and women in the world.  We asked in this letter, the following questions:

1. Is over-population a menace to the peace of the world?

2. Would the legal dissemination of scientific Birth Control information through the medium of clinics by the medical profession be the most logical method of checking the problem of over-population?

3. Would knowledge of Birth Control change the moral attitude of men and women toward the marriage bond or lower the moral standards of the youth of the country?

4. Do you believe that knowledge which enables parents to limit the families will make for human happiness, and raise the moral, social and intellectual standards of population?

We sent such a letter not only to those who, we thought, might agree with us, but we sent it also to our known opponents.  Most of these people answered.  Everyone who answered did so with sincerity and courtesy, with the exception of one group whose reply to this important question as demonstrated at the Town Hall last Sunday evening was a disgrace to the liberty-loving people, and to all traditions we hold dear in the United States.  I believed that the discussion of the moral issue was one which did not solely belong to theologians and to scientists, but belonged to the people.  And because I believed that the people of this country may and can discuss this subject with dignity and with intelligence, I desired to bring them together, and to discuss it in the open.

When one speaks of moral, one refers to human conduct.  This implies action of many kinds, which in turn depends upon the mind and the brain.  So that in speaking of morals one must remember that there is a direct connection between morality and brain development.  Conduct is said to be action in pursuit of ends, and if this is so, then we must hold the irresponsibility and recklessness in our action is immoral, while responsibility and forethought put into action for the benefit of the individual and the race becomes in the highest sense the finest kind of morality.

We know that every advance that woman has made in the last half century has been made with opposition, all of which has been based upon the grounds of immorality.  When women fought for higher education, it was said that this would cause her to become immoral and she would lose her place in the sanctity of the home.  When women asked for the franchise it was said that this would lower her standard of morals, that is was not fit that she should meet with and mix with the members of the opposite sex, but we notice that there was no objection to her meeting with the same members of the opposite sex when she went to church.

The church has ever opposed the progress of woman on the ground that her freedom would lead to immortality.  We ask the church to have more confidence in women. We ask the opponents of this movement to reverse the methods of the church, which aims to keep women moral by keeping them in fear and in ignorance, and to inculcate into them a higher and truer morality based upon knowledge.  And ours is the morality of knowledge.  If we cannot trust woman with the knowledge of her own body, then I claim that two thousand years of Christian teaching has proved to be a failure.

We stand on the principle that Birth Control should be available to every adult man and woman.  We believe that every adult man and woman should be taught the responsibility and the right use of knowledge.  We claim that woman should have the right over her own body and to say if she shall or if she shall not be a mother, as she sees fit.  We further claim that the first right of a child is to be desired.  While the second right is that it should be conceived in love, and the third, that is should have a heritage of sound health.

Upon these principles the Birth Control movement in America stands.  When it comes to discussing the methods of Birth Control, that is far more difficult.  There are laws in this country which forbid the imparting of practical information to the mothers of the land.  We claim that every mother in this country, either sick or well, has the right to the best, the safest, the most scientific information.  This information should be disseminated directly to the mothers through clinics by members of the medical profession, registered nurses and registered midwives.

Our first step is to have the backing of the medical profession so that our laws may be changed, so that motherhood may be the function of dignity and choice, rather than one of ignorance and chance.  Conscious control of offspring is now becoming the ideal and the custom in all civilized countries.  Those who oppose it claim that however desirable it may be on economic or social grounds, it may be abused and the morals of the youth of the country may be lowered.  Such people should be reminded that there are two points to be considered.  First, that such control is the inevitable advance in civilization.  Every civilization involves an increasing forethought for others, even those yet unborn.  The reckless abandonment of the impulse of the moment and the carless regard for the consequences, is not morality.  The selfish gratification of temporary desire at the expense of suffering to lives that will come may seem very beautiful to some, but it is not our conception of civilization, or is it our concept of morality.

In the second place, it is not only inevitable, but it is right to control the size of the family for by this control and adjustment we can raise the level and the standards of the human race.  While nature’s way of reducing her numbers is controlled by disease, famine and war, primitive man has achieved the same results by infanticide, exposure of infants, the abandonment of children, and by abortion.  But such ways of controlling population is no longer possible for us.  We have attained high standards of life, and along the lines of science must we conduct such control.  We must begin farther back and control the beginnings of life.  We must control conception.  This is a better method, it is a more civilized method, for it involves not only greater forethought for others, but finally a higher sanction for the value of life itself.

Society is divided into three groups.  Those intelligent and wealthy members of the upper classes who have obtained knowledge of Birth Control and exercise it in regulating the size of their families.  They have already benefited by this knowledge, and are today considered the most respectable and moral members of the community.  They have only children when they desire, and all society points to them as types that should perpetuate their kind.

The second group is equally intelligent and responsible.  They desire to control the size of their families, but are unable to obtain knowledge or to put such available knowledge into practice.

The third are those irresponsible and reckless ones having little regard for the consequence of their acts, or whose religious scruples prevent their exercising control over their numbers.  Many of this group are diseased, feeble-minded, and are of the pauper element dependent entirely upon the normal and fit members of society for their support.  There is no doubt in the minds of all thinking people that the procreation of this group should be stopped.  For if they are not able to support and care for themselves, they should certainly not be allowed to bring offspring into this world for others to look after.  We do not believe that filling the earth with misery, poverty and disease is moral.  And it is our desire and intention to carry on our crusade until the perpetuation of such conditions has ceased. We desire to stop at its source the disease, poverty and feeble-mindedness and insanity which exist today, for these lower the standards of civilization and make for race deterioration.  We know that the masses of people are growing wiser and are using their own minds to decide their individual conduct.  The more people of this kind we have, the less immorality shall exist.  For the more responsible people grow, the higher do they and shall they attain real morality.

Footnotes

Margaret Sanger – An American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse.  She was the founder of the American Birth Control League, which later became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.  Sanger is widely recognized as a pioneer in the birth control movement and played a significant role in promoting women’s rights and reproductive health.

“Race of degenerates” – This phrase refers to the eugenicist idea that certain races or groups of people were genetically inferior or prone to degeneracy.  Sanger believed that birth control could help prevent the reproduction of “unfit” individuals and improve the overall health of the human race.

“Sterilization of the insane and feeble-minded” – Sanger advocated for the sterilization of individuals who were deemed mentally or intellectually “unfit” to have children.  This idea was based on eugenicist beliefs that certain traits were inherited and could be eliminated from the gene pool through selective breeding or sterilization.

“Eugenicist” – refers to a set of beliefs and practices aimed at improving the genetic quality of the human population by controlling reproduction.

“Unrestricted breeding of the unfit” – This phrase refers to the belief that individuals who were deemed mentally or physically “unfit” should not be allowed to reproduce freely.

“Positive morality of birth control” – Sanger believed that birth control was a moral choice that could improve the health and well-being of individuals and society as a whole.  She argued that access to birth control would allow women to control their own bodies and make informed choices about their reproductive health.

Sources

A&E Networks Television. (n.d.). Margaret Sanger. Biography.com. Retrieved May 1, 2023, from https://www.biography.com/activists/margaret-sanger

Michals, D. (n.d.). Biography: Margaret Sanger. National Women’s History Museum. Retrieved May 1, 2023, from https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/margaret-sanger

The morality of Birth Control – Nov. 18, 1921. Archives of Women’s Political Communication. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2023, from https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/2017/03/21/the-morality-of-birth-control-nov-28-1921/#:~:text=We%20must%20begin%20farther%20back,the%20value%20of%20life%20itself.

The Morality of Birth Control. The morality of birth control – Margaret Sanger 1921. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2023, from http://www.emersonkent.com/speeches/the_morality_of_birth_control.htm

New York Herald 14 Nov 1921, page 1. Historical Newspapers from 1700s-2000s – Newspapers.com. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2023, from https://www.newspapers.com/image/471546472/?terms=margaret+sanger+speech&match=1

Laurel and Hardy were a comedy duo composed of Stanley Laurel (1890-1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892-1957). Laurel and Hardy were featured in their first silent short The Lucky Dog (1921). Their first silent short as a comedy duo was The Second Hundred Years (1927). Their career followed the new technological advances of sound in film. In addition to silent shorts in the 1920s, they also released silent films with music and effects. Their first talkie, Unaccustomed As We Are, was released in 1929. Unaccustomed As We Are stars Laurel and Hardy. The talkie was written by Thomas “Leo” McCarey and Harley “H.M.” Walker. The directors were Lewis Foster and Harold “Hal” Roach Sr. The following transcription is from a scene that take place between the 5:39 and 12:31 minute marks.

Video

Text

(In Hardy’s apartment. Hardy brought Laurel over to his apartment for dinner without telling Mrs. Hardy. Mrs. Hardy refused to make dinner and left) 

Laurel: Well, l guess we don’t eat.

Hardy: Oh, yes, we do eat. l’ll cook you a meal like you’ve never eaten. 

(to himself, cleaning off a table in the center of the room) Nobody else needs to cook my meals for me. One thing about me, l am absolutely independent. l’ve cooked loads of meals.

(Laurel sits reclined in a chair; Hardy trips over Laurel’s outstretched legs)

(to Laurel) Why don’t you do something to help me?

Laurel: What can l do?

Hardy: Set the table. That’s simple. You don’t have to use any brains for that.

(Laurel places plates previously on table on the floor. Hardy trips over the plates. Laurel continues to fumble with table. Hardy swats at Laurel’s hands) 

Get your hands off of that. Go in the kitchen and light the oven. (Laurel trips over Hardy’s foot)

And pick your feet up. And take your hat off. Now go in and light the oven. Thank you.

(Laurel looks at oven and around kitchen with a confused expression on his face. He checks the pockets of his pants. Laurel walks out of the kitchen to Hardy.) 

Laurel: Got a match?

Hardy: Yes. l’ll light it. You fix the table. (Hardy enters kitchen)

(Laurel begins to places cutlery on table)

(Off screen explosion. Fire blazes out of the kitchen for a brief second while Hardy is thrown from the kitchen.)

Why don’t you be careful? You might have blown the whole house up.

You know, there’s a right and wrong way to do everything.

(Off screen explosion. Fire blazes out of the kitchen for a brief second while Hardy is thrown from the kitchen.)

(unintelligible) light that again.

Laurel: Now wait a minute now. l didn’t mean anything-

Hardy: l’m sorry l brought you here! You’ve done nothing-

(knock at the door)

Mrs. Kennedy¹: What in the world is happening, Mr Hardy?

Hardy: Well, l was cooking dinner for my friend and l, and we had a slight accident.

Mrs. Kennedy: Oh, you poor dear boy. Maybe there’s something l could do to help you.

Hardy: That’s awfully sweet of you, Mrs Kennedy.

Mrs. Kennedy: Why, lt would be a pleasure, Mr Hardy.

Hardy: You’re sure l’m not imposing, Mrs Kennedy?

Mrs. Kennedy: Oh, not at all, Mr Hardy.

Hardy: Thank you, Mrs Kennedy.

(Mrs. Kennedy enters kitchen)

Laurel: Was that Mrs Kennedy?

Hardy: Oh, shut up!

(off screen explosion, Mrs. Kennedy screams)

Hardy: Quick What’s the matter?

Mrs. Kennedy, exiting the kitchen: I’m on fire, put me out. I’m on fire, put me out. Oh please put me out. Mr. Hardy, please. Please put me out, Mr Hardy! Put me out!

(Laurel uses his hat and Hardy uses his jacket to put the fire out. Laurel hits Hardy multiple times instead of the fire.) 

Oh please, something to cover me up. (Laurel covers Mrs. Kennedy with the table cloth).

Hardy: Goodness gracious, are you hurt?

Mrs. Kennedy: No, Mr Hardy. lt frightened me to death.

Hardy: l’m awfully sorry that happened, Mrs Kennedy.

Mrs. Kennedy: Oh that’s all right Mr Hardy, accidents will happen.

Hardy: You’re right, Mrs Kennedy.

Mrs. Kennedy: It won’t take me but a minute to put on another dress, Mr. Hardy.

Hardy: You sure l can’t help you Mrs. Kennedy?

Mrs. Kennedy: Oh no, thank you, Mr Hardy.

(Mrs. Kennedy goes to leave. She sees her husband entering the Kennedy apartment. She reenters the Hardy apartment and closes the door). 

My husband.².lf he sees me, he’ll, I think, he’ll kill all of us. What’ll l do?

Hardy: Do? Why, we’ll tell him the truth.

Laurel: The whole truth.

Hardy: And nothing but the truth.

Laurel: Absolutely.

Hardy: Pardon. 

(Hardy exits the apartment to approach Mr. Kennedy. He sees his wife in hallway and returns to his apartment)

My wife. What’ll we do?

Laurel: Tell her the truth.

Hardy: Oh shut up. We’ve got to get out of here. (all enter the Hardy’s bedroom) Right in here. (to himself) l don’t know where to go. (to Laurel) Close that door.

(to Mrs. Kennedy) ln the trunk.

(Laurel gets in trunk) 

Mrs. Hardy³ (off-screen): Yo-hoo

Hardy: (to Laurel) No, not you! Get up!

(to Mrs. Kennedy) Now keep your head down.

Mrs. Hardy: Oh, pussums.

Hardy: What do you mean, pussum?

Mrs. Hardy: Don’t be cross. l’m sorry for what happened and l’ll fix Stan dinner. Look, l brought him some nuts.

Hardy: No, Barbara. We are through.

Mrs. Hardy: Oh but what do you mean?

Hardy: You’ve broken the camel’s back once too often. My trunk is packed and l’m leaving for South America tonight to do big things.

Mrs. Hardy: Oh! But, Oliver…

Hardy: And l’m burning my bridges behind me.

Laurel: Burning your what?

Hardy: Burning my bridges.

Laurel: Oh, l thought you said britches.

Mrs. Hardy: Oh oh but, Oliver, why are you leaving me?

Hardy: Because my friend advised me to go.

Hardy: Come, Stan.

Mrs. Hardy: Oh.

(Laurel and Hardy carry trunk with Mrs. Kennedy out of bedroom)

Mrs. Hardy: Just a minute (grabs Laurel’s shoulder).

You wolf in sheep’s clothing (Mrs. Hardy hits Laurel on his shoulder). lt’s men about town like you that cause all the trouble between man and wife. What do you mean by taking this poor little innocent to South America and advising him to burn his bridges when he never even started a fire in his life?

(Laurel does not respond)

l’m talking to you. Come on. Answer me.

(getting more agitated) What do you mean? Well come on. What do you mean? 

Can’t you answer? 

(Laurel uses his arms to cover his head)

Oh! You’d thrash me, would ya? Oh you would?

Hardy: That boy wasn’t gonna hit you.

Mrs. Hardy: You’d thrash me!

Hardy (yelling over Mrs. Hardy): He wasn’t gonna hit you.

(Hardy and Mrs. Hardy start indistinctly yelling over each other. Camera cuts to outside of apartment where yelling can still be heard). 

Source

Unaccustomed as We Are. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1929.

Bibliography

IMDb. “Unaccustomed as We Are (Short 1929).” www.imdb.com. Accessed April 25, 2023. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020531/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_2_nm_1_q_unaccustome.

Unaccustomed as We Are. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1929. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BHU6MPJ-_o.

mkukan

Michelle Kukan is a spring 2023 student of Discovering Digital History at Ramapo College. She is a sophomore studying history, American studies and museum & exhibition studies. She is a volunteer for Mahwah Museum’s Veterans Project and works on the Jane Addams Paper Project.

From 1914-1918 the world faced its first armed global conflict known as the great war, world war one. The war caused millions of people to die and left more people displaced and wounded. The war also devastated the European landscape causing trillions of dollars worth of damages.This globally traumatic event prompted activists to organize and in 1921 the women’s peace union was founded by women in the United States and Canada. The group advocated for peace and lobbied against militarization. This document “Outlaw War by Constitutional Amendment” is a 1925 proposition created by the women’s peace union to get the United States government to agree to pacifism and argue for it on the global stage. This document is important because while it was unsuccessful it shows how the trauma of war causes public outcry and reveals international efforts to bring peace.

Record of “Outlaw War by Constitutional Amendment”

Transcription

Outlaw War By

Constitutional Amendment

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the

United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), that the following article be and hereby is, proposed to the states as an amendment to the constitution, which shall be valid as a part of the constitution when ratified by conventions in three-fourths of the several states.

Article—.

1. War for any purpose shall be illegal, and neither the United States nor any state shall

prepare for, declare, engage in, carry on, or in any way sanction war or other armed conflict, expedition, invasion or undertaking within or without the United States or any state; and

Neither the United States nor any state or subdivision thereof,

Nor any territory, corporation, association or person within the jurisdiction of the United States shall organize, train, maintain, hire, manufacture, purchase, employ, use, or authorize the use of an army, militia, or other armed forces, or of armed ships, aero planes, machines or other armaments; nor shall the United States or any state or subdivision thereof, or any territory, corporation, association or person within the jurisdiction of the United States levy taxes or appropriate or expend funds for any such purpose.

2. After on year from the ratification of this amendment, the

manufacture, sale, transportation, possession, or use, of arms, munition, or other articles, implements or chemicals designed for the destruction of human life, within, or the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from, the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof, is hereby prohibited.

3. All provisions of the Constitution and of the Articles in

addition thereto and amendment thereof, which are in conflict with or inconsistent with this article are hereby rendered null and void and of no effect.

4. The congress and the several states shall have concurrent

power to enact appropriate legislation to give effect to this Article.

Amendment drafted and proposed by

WOMEN’S PEACE UNION

Membership Affirmation

I wish to join the Women’s Peace Union.

I affirm it is my intention never to aid in or sanction war, offensive or defensive

international or civil, in any way, whether by making or handling munitions, subscribing to war loans, using labor for the purpose of setting others free for war service, helping by money or work any relief organization which supports or condones war.

Please sign and return to

Women’s Peace union

180 Lexington Ave

New York City

———–

Signature

——–

P.O Address

(OVER)

[page 2]

Declaration of Independence from the Tyranny of War—-1925

To be Published and Proclaimed, Wherever Feasible on July 4

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to choose between self-perseveration and surrender to destruction, common sense assumes that we peoples of the earth, if the alternatives are made clear to us, will choose self-perseveration. The time for such choice is now at hand. We have reached the point where war imperils the continued life of mankind.

We hold these truths to be self evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We hold it to be equally self-evident that War is subversive of all these rights; it checks men in the pursuit of happiness, it destroys liberty and life itself. Therefore, it behooves the human race to abolish war before War abolishes the human race.

Cooperation, Not Violence

Prudence indeed might seem to dictate that nations should not lightly throw aside the right of self-defense, and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses, usurpation and avoidable disasters have proved that this so-called self-defense does not defend, but exposes those who rely upon it to the very evils it would avert, then it is the right, it is the duty of mankind to abandon this false and evil defense founded upon violence and bloodshed and to provide new guards for our future security, such guards to be based upon moral in place of physical force, passive resistance rather than armed resistance, the voluntary co-operation of the peoples of the earth instead of the rule of autocratic and militaristic governments.

The history of War is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having as an inevitable result the establishment of an absolute tyranny over mankind. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

The Crimes of War

In order to promote the steady and dangerous growth of militaristic power, War has tampered unscrupulously with legal systems and fundamentally altered forms of government

War has quartered among all peoples large bodies of armed troops and has protected these from punishment for any murders they should commit

War has dissolved or rendered futile representative assemblies.

War has obstructed the administration of justice and made judges dependent on the purposes of War alone

War has made the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power

War has erected a multitude of new offices, with swarms of officers to harass nations and eat out their substance.

War has imposed taxes for military purposes to which our consciences will not consent.

War has cut off trade between certain parts of the world, leaving millions to die by famine and disease.

War has plundered seas and ravished coasts, it has ruined the finest fruits of culture and turned beautiful and flourishing territories into a desert.

War had murderously sacrificed untold numbers of human lives, the precious youth of the peoples being always the first to be destroyed

War has constrained mankind against their most solemn convictions and against the sacred teachings of religion to bear arms against their fellowmen; thus compelling them to act as butchers of their kind and degrading them below the level of beast.

War is even now preparing agents of chemical destruction, poison gases, disease germs and deadly liquid fire to be spread abroad by bombs and aeroplanes, destroying whole cities in a night; and whereas in the past War has on occasion made pretense of sparing non-combatants and the civil population, in future its known rule of warfare will be an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

Pledge to End War

We therefore declare that mankind is, and of right ought to be free and independent of and absolved from all allegiance to War; that the women of this country in particular, now that they are possessed of political power, wish and indeed are bound to use that power for the annihilation of War; that all connection between our own government and War should be totally dissolved, by making War illegal and impossible; and that we hereby contract an eternal alliance with Peace, and that we hereby contract an eternal alliance with Peace, and with all those everywhere who have pledged themselves to Repudiation of War, to last as long as this world shall endure. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

Analysis

Overall this post document is about wanting to end all war so the world no longer needs to face the traumas of war after recently disengaging in WWII.

References

Women’s Peace Union–Working Committee

New York, NY

KC

Ramapo College senior majoring in history. My concentration is in the 1920s machine politics in major cities. In particular the unsustainability of the machine politic model.

Throughout the 1920s, there were many achievements for women’s rights, beginning with the nineteenth amendment in 1920. This was the beginning of the evolution of women’s roles. While many are familiar with the gender roles that were historically known to be strict, other countries, such as India, had much worse gender stereotypes and gender violence. Women were heavily oppressed and were discouraged from fighting for their rights. This document, “Women and New India,” is an article that was written by Agnes Smedley, an American journalist, quoting from her interview with Lila Singh, a women suffragist in India on women’s roles in the 1900s. This document is important in the greater context of understanding the 1920s, as the concept of women’s rights in this time period tend to be discussed only in the light of the United States, however, the oppression of women occurred in many other countries, and at times, were treated much more poorly.

Record of “Women and New India”

Transcription

Women and New India 
(An Interview with Mrs. Lila Singh, a Suffragist of India) 

"The women of India are part and parcel of Hindustan; [term used to reference the modern day India] they retain the traditions and customs of India, and they are the greatest potential forces in the struggle for freedom through which India must and is passing."

These are the words of Mrs. Lila Singh, [women suffragist in India] of Behar, India, who toured the United States in company with her husband, Mr. Deep Narayan Singh. [Mr. Singh was an Indian politician and served as the Chief Minister of Bihar] While in this country Mrs. Singh carefully studied the activities of American women. She met women of every walk of life and by her own charming personality, her perfect command of English and her strong and determined character, made a good many friends. 

Mrs. Lila Singh was the first woman student in a college exclusively meant for men. She obtained the degree of Master of Arts in Philosophy and Literature with honors from the Calcutta University.  Her father, Mr. T. N. Palit, before his death bequeathed his entire fortune for the promotion of education. He founded Bengal Technical Institute affiliated with the National Council of Education, and College of Science affiliated with the Calcutta University. Her husband, Mr. Deep Narayan Singh, is a publicist and promoter of education. He is the founder of T. N. College at Bhagalpur, Behar, India. 

Speaking at greater length upon the women of India, Mrs. Singh declared that although education is available to but a few, yet everywhere and with almost all Indian women, there is a vague, or a more clearly-defined unrest because of their lack of opportunity, and because of their suffering. 

"Those who are more conscious of India's position in the world," she continued, "realist that at the bottom of these evils is the denial of education to the people in general, and to women more particularly. The reasons for that denial are deeper and more fundamental still; they are political and economic in origin. 

"I admit our social evils. I am not one of those persons who would build a plea upon falsehoods. But the very fact that the social evils exist is the strongest possible argument for a complete political and economic change, because these conditions are but effects of a system. The same situation existed in Europe and America up to a short time ago, comparatively speaking. And the women of Europe and America would be in the same position as the women of India if the same political system prevailed in those countries. 

"I will give but one example, without comment, to show what I mean. I will quote cold figures, [essentially meaning statistics or exact numbers] which are not of my own composition. These figures are of military expenditure in India, and of money spent on education by the present government: 

"In 1915-16, $132,000,000 was spent on the military.

"In 1916-17, $148,000,000 was spent on the military.

"In 1917-18, $180,000,000 was spent on the military. 

"In 1919-20, $346,000,000 was spent on the military. 

"In 1920, the same year when $346,000 was spent on militarism from the revenues of the Indian people, we tried to secure an appropriation for $76,000,000 for primary education - education just for the first few grades. No money could be found! India was poor - the budget did not provide for it! Yet, in that same year, an extra $80,000,000 was needed for additional military expenditure to carry on a war with Afghanistan and in the Near East. And immediately the $80,000,000 was forthcoming!

"Of the entire Indian budget, 63% is spent on military expenditures, and but 6% on education. 

[page 2] "We would be beyond human if, under such circumstances, our women were not ignorant and superstitious, not to mention poverty-stricken.

"Our isolation from the world has been the other great reason for our position. The ideals availble to you have not been available to us. 

"I find that among the women of India, while their political consciousness is not fully developed, yet there is widespread dissatisfaction with things which they are powerless to control. They desire education for their daughters - yet how can they get it? 

"But wherever women have broken away from custom, or wherever they have braved the strom of public life, the men have put no obstacles in their way, and they do not suffer the calumny which pioneer women of Europe and American have suffered. 

"Our women have gone into professions hitherto closed to them, yet they meet with the greatest courtesy and respect from the Indian men. There have been exceptions to this rule, but not many. It is for this reason that I have great hope for the future activities of women in India. This tolerance in the Indian mind, imbred for centuries, will find expression in the future in socail life, just as it has ruled in the religious field in the past. With such tolerance as a foundation, the rapid rise of women in all lines of endeavor is assured. 

"Some of the most prominent national examples of this are, of course, Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, [first Indian woman to become an Indian State Governor and President of the Indian National Congress] the poetess, publicist and lecturer, and Mrs. Sarala Devi Chandhurani, [a founding member of the Indian National Congress] who has been active in the nationalist movement all her life. It was Sarala Devi who revived the national festival and physical training among the boys in Bengal, and who helped revive the industries in the Punjab. Her efforts also contributed to the revival of home industries among the women; these industries not only aided India nationally, but they made the women self-supporting. 

"Mrs. Hazrat Mohani, the wife of an editor who was deported because of his political activities, is known for her educational work. Mrs. Hirabai A. Tata, Miss Mithibai A. Tata, and Mrs. Mrinalini Sen are nationally known for their leading part in suffrage movement. Mrs. Svarnamayee Ghosal is well known as a journalist and novelist. She was the first editor of the powerful Bengali monthly, The Bharati.

"Besides there could be mentioned the names of many women throughout India, such as Mrs. Justice Ranade and Mrs. Parvatibai Arthavale, noted for their educational works among the widows. Mrs. Arthavale is now in America, studying settlement work. 

"The part women have played in famine relief, in education, in social reform, in the revival of industries, in literature and art, not to mention in politics in the past, has been great. 

"Today those of us who are principally interested in the advancement of women demand that men and women be given equal and free educational opportunities.

"The rate at which India is advancing politically and economically is automatically affecting women. But that rate would be accelerated a hundred fold if women could take an active part in it. I advocate actual action in public life, side by side with the men. Because when the women of India undertake a thing they finish it. Furthermore, India is closer to them and they to India than many of the men. 

"We demand the right to walk side by side with the men of our country, and shape the destiny of our beloved Motherland unhampered by any alien interference. We wish no other status. And this status must be real, not theoretical." 

- AGNES SMEDLEY

Analysis

While it was not until the late 1970s that women in India were gaining the confidence to speak out against the mistreatment, violence, and oppression of women, the 1920s were still an important time in India. It was the beginning of a movement that within the next fifty years would snowball into something greater. As written in the article by Ms. Agnes Smedley, it was during these recent times that women were celebrating many firsts. The first section of the document, where Smedly writes, “…they [women] retain the traditions and customs of India, they [women] are the greatest potential forces in the struggle for freedom through which India must and is passing,” is extremely powerful. As mentioned earlier, this marked the early stages of the women’s rights movement as they were trying to find their footing in society and how to gain independence.

To learn more about the achievements of women during the 1920s and to get an understanding of women’s suffrage from the perspective of the United States, you may read another post I wrote titled, “Ida B. Wells’ Role in Women’s Suffrage.”

References

Banka, Neha. “Sarala Devi: From Tagore’s Family, a Leading Light of the Swadeshi Movement.” The Indian Express, March 8, 2020. https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/sarala-devi-tagore-family-swadeshi-movement-bengali-revolutionary-6302759/.

“Sarojini Naidu.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Accessed May 12, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sarojini-Naidu.

The Swaddle. “A Brief History of Indian Women Protesting Gender Inequality.” The Swaddle, October 19, 2020. https://theswaddle.com/a-brief-history-of-indian-women-protesting-gender-inequality/.

“Women and New India, September 1920.” Jane Addams Digital Edition. Accessed May 12, 2021. https://digital.janeaddams.ramapo.edu/items/show/28691.

afarallo

Angelina Farallo is a Law and Society Major at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Ever since she was in elementary school, history has always been her favorite subject. During her studies at Ramapo College, she has studied how the modernization of technology has affected various industries such as the law, and in this case history which is what drew her to take this Digital Humanities course.

Experts Think It May Give a Version of the Flood and of the Oppression of the Jews.

MAY TELL OF ATEN HERESY

It is Also Counted On to Reveal, if Untouched by Robbers, Splendor of Pharaonic Mummies.

No mortuary chamber of a Pharaoh tomb has hitherto been found untampered with and no sarcophagus, the outer stone coffin, has hitherto been found unplundered by robbers, according to Dr. Ambrose Lansing¹, Egyptologist of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The antechamber, and its annex, of the tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen² were entered by the dynastic robbers, probably in the reign of Tut-ankh-Amen’s successor, Hor-em-eb³, but they evidently had to make a hasty retreat after stripping some of the gold from the funerary objects and looting some of the boxes of jewels and other small portable treasures, but the treasure left behind far exceeds in value and interest anything ever before found. The treasures in the inner chambers may be still greater and more important, according to Dr. Lansing, who hopes that these chambers escaped the looters entirely. If so, it is the only tomb of a Pharaoh known to have escaped.

If the inner tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen did escape, and it now seems that it did, it would be almost the only tomb of any great ruler or great personage of antiquity to have had such luck. Prehistoric tombs and early historic tombs in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, almost without exception, have been plundered. Grave-robbing is one of the oldest and most universal crimes. It has the most ancient pedigree of all crimes, except murder, the primal malefuction, according to the Bible.

According to Dr. Lansing, it will be months and perhaps a year before public curiosity can be fully satisfied about the contents of the inner chambers. The jewels on the mummy may be the most complete and interesting specimens of the work of the Egyptian jewelers, who were great masters. Literary treasures also are likely to be found. Because of the high artistic achievement indicated in the other finds in the tomb, it is believed that the paintings in “The Book of Dead,”⁴ that con which is expected to be found, may be the finest of their kind. Papyri relating to the “Aten” heresy⁵ which Tut-ankh-Amen rejected may be discovered.

Hopes for Information on the Flood

Dr. Elliot Smith⁶, the noted British archaeologist, has expressed the hope that legends in the inner chamber may throw a new light on the origin of the narrative of the flood. The destruction of the world because of the wickedness of man, as told in Genesis, is also read in Babylonian records and is suggested in certain tomb inscriptions in angient Egypt, according to Dr. Smith, who believes the account originiated in Egypt.

Arthur Weigall⁷, former Inspector General of Antiquities to the Egyptian Government, and other have put forward the theory that Tut-ankh-Amen was the Pharaoh of the oppression, whose army was overwhelmed in attempting to pursue the Jews in their miraculous passage through the waters of the Red Sea.

Historians and archaeologists will have the keenest possible interest in the papyri that may be found in the tomb, hoping that something will be discovered to give the Egyptian version of their relations with the Jews. So far no reference has been found, in all the early records of Egypt, to the sojourn of the Jews in that country, to the seven years of famine and the seven years of plenty, to the seven plagues, or to the destruction of the army which Pharaoh sent to recall the Jews after permitting them to depart from Egypt.

One of the leading objects of searches for papryi in recent years has been to find corroboration from Egyptian sources for the stay in Egypt and the exodus⁸, but these events, which make so large a figure in Jewish history, are a blank in the Egyptian records which have been recovered so far. Egyptian history, tradition and literature were never consolidated and preserved, and have been pieced together only in modern times and from fragment. The Jews are believed to have been a comparatively small tribe at the time and Egypt a highly populous country, so that the Jewish contact with Egypt has been represented by some historians as a thing of slight consequence to the Egyptians, who would regard it as the deportation or withdrawal of a handful of aliens. The series of terrible plagues, described in the Old Testament are not touched upon in any Egyptian material so far recovered.

Connects Moses with Aten Heresy.

Mr. Wiegall’s theory is that Moses, who had risen in the Egyptian Government service, had succeeded in inaugurating the worship of Jehovah, so that the “Aten heresy” would in reality be the Jewish religion.

The belief that Tut-ankh-Amen was the Pharaoh of the persecution is based on the chronological grounds and on the belief that, since the “Aten” heresy was repudiated during his reign, Moses and his people, who were responsible for it, may well have had their troubles with the Egyptians at this time. Tut-ankh-Amen’s tomb is a short distance from the burial-place of Meneptah, who is generally believed to have been the persecutor of the Jews and the “Pharaoh of the Exodus.”

But it will be months, according to Dr. Lansing, before the curtain can be raised on these and other possibilities.

“I received a letter from one of the workers,” he said, “indicating that the tomb will probably be looked over and then cemented up until next season. Things will be examined in place, inventoried and photographed, but they cannot very well be taken out of the tomb this season. The heat becomes very severe in March, and it is impracticable to continue at work. The things must be studied where they are. Much mischief would be caused by any hasty attempt to transport them. It will be very difficult to remove the heavy sarcophagus. Everything is much safer in the place where it has been preserved for more than thirty-two centuries.

“No other Pharaoh, I believe, has ever been found untouched in the original sarcophagus. The robbers in all other cases smashed the stone lid and took the jewels and valuable things which were buried with the body. As this has invariably happened to the other Pharaohs, we do not know exactly what their funerary equipment was, but it probably consisted of a number of fine pieces of jewelry among other things.

“Many unsmashed sarcophagi have been found, but on being opened, it was discovered that the mummies had been transferred there after having been plundered in earlier sarcophagi. In such cases, the necropolitan authorities had rewrapped the mummies, and re-equipped the bodies, but with less splendor.

“If the mummy is found as originally buried, we might expect to find many valuable articles, such as collars of gold, probably ornamented with stones, gold bracelets and anklets and perhaps some kind of a crown. I don’t believe there would be anything like a breastplate, but there would probably be a pectoral, which is something like the modern lavalliere.

“Judging from the reports, these pieces might be set with stones, especially lapis lazuli, carnelian and turquoise, which are about the old precious stones. This was long before the use of pearls or diamonds as jewelry. There might be found some imitations of lapis lazuli and other stones in glass. Glass was highly esteemed at that early stage in the art of making it, but it was used only for imitations of the precious stones, and on the whole it is probably unlikely that jewels ornamented with glass will be found.

Mummy May Wear Mask.

“Whatever the jewels are, they will probably be found, not next to the body, but wrapped in among the folds of the cloth in which the mummy is wound. There will probably be no robes or articles of clothing, outside of the plain cloth wrapping. There might be a covering of tapestry or something of the kind in the sarcophagus, but that is doubtful. It is expected that there will be a mask on the face. This will probably be made of stucco placed on linen, formed like a human face and then glided.”

The theory of Professor Flinders Petrie⁹ is that the richness of the treasures in Tut-ankh-Amen’s tomb is due to the fact that he was the last of his line and had, therefore, no heir to whom his treasures could be passed, and as a result that most of his personal estate, in the way of jewelry and art, was buried with him. Professor Petrie believes that objects of this kind which he had inherited from generations of ancestors were probably buried with him. On this hypothesis the inner chamber might be exceptionally rich in heirlooms which would make a splendid addition to the treasury of art and archaeology already found in the outer chamber.

“But this is a moot question,” said Dr. Lansing. “The other Pharaohs were so badly plundered that we do not really know how much or little may have been originally buried with them. Several couched, chariot and other furniture have been found in other tomb.”

It is not expected that any more trussed fowl and such objects will be found in the inner chambers, which are supposed to be devoted mainly to magical things which were expected to speed the soul of the dead on its way to its eternal home. It is in [connection] with this that valuable literary remains are expected.

One of the trappings of a splendid funeral in ancient Egypt was the illuminated papyrus roll known as “The Book of the Dead.” This was a religious document in the form of a scroll which might approach 100 feet long, with religious writings, elaborate pictures of the hereafter, as some Dante of ancient Egypt had portrayed it. This was supposed to have a magical function, being a sort of religious Baedeker, outlining the pilgrimage which lay before the Pharaoh. The most interesting point expected in “The Book of the Dead” which is thought almost certain to be found with Tut-ankh-Amen is some reference to the Aten heresy.

This papyrus may indicate alterations in “The Book of the Dead” as a result of the change of religion made by Khu-n-aten. The prayers and magical formulae of “The Book of the Dead” are almost certain to have been changed during the Aten period, and it is possible that some change may be retained in the document buried with Tut-ankh-Amen. Whether changed or not, it is likely to be a fine and splendidly illuminated document.

Drawings Have Magic Purpose.

Some of the drawings of “The Book of the Dead” and their purpose are described as follows by E. Wallis Budge¹⁰ in his Egyptian history:

“The Theban and Saite Recensions of ‘The Book of the Dead’ are full of spells, accompanied by magical drawings. Thus the Chapter of the Ladder and the drawing of it would secure for the deceased the use of the famous ladder whereby Osiris had climbed up from earth into heaven. The Chapter of the Ferryboat and a picture of it would provide a boat for the deceased when he wished to sail across the Nile of the Other World. Each part of the spell possessed a magical name, which is given in the text of the spell, and when all the names of the parts were properly pronounced by the deceased the boat would sail to any place to which he wanted it to go. The Judgment scene, which represented to the initiated the deepest and most fundamental truths in the religion of Osiris, was, to the ordinary Egyptian, a magical picture drawn on funerary papyri with the view of making the gods declare those for whom it was drawn to be truth seekers. If drawings of Osiris, Ra, Isis and Nephthys, the four gods of the wind, were painted on a coffin, they would enable its occupant to enter each of the four quarters of heaven.”

An Egyptian version of the story of the “flood,” according to Dr. Elliot Smith, was in one case at least told of the wall of a tomb, to assist the soul of the inmate of the tomb.

Suggesting that the walls or contents of the tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen might throw further light on the origin of the Biblical narrative, Professor Smith declared:

“Inscribed on the walls of the tomb of Seti I, in the Theban necropolis-less than seventy years after the burial of Tut-ankh-Amen – is the remarkable story of the Destruction of Mankind. In spite of the fact that it was inscribed in this tomb as recently – in comparison with the Sumerian story – as 1800 B.C., the strange confusion of archaic reference which has made it so unintelligible to most modern scholars reveals the fact that its origin must be referred back to the fourth millennium. Although the destruction is not brought about by the flood, it is clear that the Egyptian and Mesopotamian stories have a common origin and a common motive. For the essential incident in the latter is not the flood, but the destruction of mankind which it brought to pass.

“If it be asked why this venerable story should be inscribed in the tomb of an Egyptian Pharaoh, the answer is that its aim was to secure for the dead king those boons the attainment of which was the central motive of the tale.”

What was done in the Babylonian legend by the flood was accomplished in the Egyptian variation, according to Dr. Smith, by the slaughter of all Egyptians by an ancient king. The legend indicated that the kings of old were executed when they began to show signs of age, because the belief prevailed that the prosperity of early Egypt waxed or waned with the physical condition of the king. The monarch of the legend began to show symptoms of age. His subjects began to murmur that it was time for the king to die. But the king hit on the plan of killing his subjects and renewing his youth by drinking their blood. He finally killed them all.

“But when the king had slaughtered them,” Dr. Smith [continued], “and had attained a renewal of his youth, he was overcome by the boredom of too prolonged an existence upon earth. So he mounted upon the back of a celestial cow and so reached heaven and attained immortality.”

Citations

The original source for the transcription came from The New York Times on February 17, 1924 through the TimesMachine.

“Arthur Wiegall.” Artefacts of Excavation. 2015. https://egyptartefacts.griffith.ox.ac.uk/people/arthur-weigall.

Benderitter, Thierry. “Akhenaten and the Religion of Aten.” Tombs of Ancient Egypt. https://www.osirisnet.net/docu/akhenaton/e_akhenaton_01.htm.

“Book of the Dead.” University College London. 2002. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/literature/religious/bdfront.html.

Knohl, Israel. “Pinpointing the Exodus from Egypt.” Harvard Divinity Bulletin. 2018. https://bulletin.hds.harvard.edu/pinpointing-the-exodus-from-egypt/.

Mellor, Lise. “Smith, Sir Grafton Elliot.” Faculty of Medicine Online Museum and Archive RSS. 2008. https://www.sydney.edu.au/medicine/museum/mwmuseum/index.php/Smith,_Sir_Grafton_Elliot.

“Sir Ernest A T Wallis Budge.” Collections Online | British Museum. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG62010.

“The Archaeological Record: Flinders Petrie in Egypt.” 2002. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/archaeology/petriedigsindex.html.

Sarah Grider

Sarah Grider is a student of the 2021 Spring Discovering Digital History class at the Ramapo College of New Jersey. She is currently studying History and Museum & Exhibition Studies. She is an editorial assistant for the Jane Addams Papers Project.