March 19, 2024 Warrior Women in the USA

Apologies for the difficulties at the start of this show on Women Warriors as we struggled to hit all the right buttons on the board.  Thanks to friend of the show, Vicki Weeks, we finally found ourselves on air and talking about women who led, who dissented, who challenged and for many, paid the price of dissent--loss of family, community, independence as they were imprisoned under extremely harsh conditions, and with their lives.  We began with our first foremothers, the indigenous, who as clan mothers selected the chiefs and spiritual leaders.  During the colonial period, women who challenged religious doctrine and their second-class status were violated, whipped, dragged behind wagons, imprisoned and hanged.  Kudos to co-host Margie Standard for bringing southern women into the discussion, including the Bells, Steel Magnolias and River Rats, who defied laws to educate enslaved children, harbored and assist those seeking freedom from slavery, and nurtured and fed families despite the harsh conditions pre- and post-Civil War.  

Women played an essential role during the Industrial Revolution and WWI, standing with workers on the picket lines and fighting for a more just and egalitarian society and against patriarchy, capitalism and war.  When faced with prison, women demanded political prisoner status but were met with the brutality of prison and deportation.  Suffrage gave women political power, which they used to oppose the Espionage, Sedition Acts, and Smith Acts, the latter forbidding their activities to assist men obtain conscientious objector status prior to WWII.  

Tune in next week for part 2 of this conversation of warrior women at II am at I07.5 FM in Savannah and wruu.org everywhere else.