Tonight I found several mentions of my family in area newspapers from over 100 years ago. Simple chatty sentences in papers with a circulation of a few hundred readers. Small rural communities writing unnoteworthy topics such as my great-grandfather having sold some chickens, his attendance at an I.O.O.F. meeting, and his purchase of two stoves in preparation for his wedding. Another great uncle wrote to the editor of his trip to Raton, New Mexico from Keystone, Oklahoma Territory. It was also noted when this same uncle and his father came into town. From where and for what purpose? Further details were not given.
But one headline grabbed my attention: Southern Women And The Negro Question. Women's suffrage must have been a hot topic "back in the day." I can well imagine the concerns held by the opposite sex, as old white guys disliked relinquishing control. African American men had been given the vote only a few decades prior:
- The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1870, stipulates: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
The writer of this article below asks why, if former slaves could now vote, shouldn't the good white women of Oklahoma be afforded the same opportunity? I've read this piece several times and am both horrified at the presumptions made and confused by its reference to setting men on fire for what, I do not know. In what world is torture/death by flame acceptable? Was the author trying to inflame his readers or titillate? I hope someone called out this sick puppy passing for an editor. Did he even exercise his own right to vote?
Source: The Appalachia Out-Look newspaper, (Pawnee County, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 17, 1907, p. 1. via the most excellent and awesome http://www.okhistory.org/
As a reminder, women didn't get the 'ballot' until 1920. Just a couple of years after ten to fifteen thousand citizens near Waco, Texas convened to watch and cheer as a caged African American named Jesse Washington was repeatedly raised and lowered onto a fire for nearly two hours. Source: Billmoyers.com/
