Virginia Hume knows what real feminism looks like.
And it’s not a bunch of hairy-legged women screaming about their vaginas …
No, it’s about the women who originally fought for a woman’s right to vote, like her great aunt, Marietta Minnigerode Andrews.
This thread is truly a bright light when so much of what we see and read about feminism is so dark.
Take a look.
I didn't have time to do a video for @MyFirstWomanVoter, but as I have wonderful woman to honor, I will do it here.
My great great aunt, Marietta Minnigerode Andrews (or "May," as she was known), was born in 1869 to a land-poor southern family.
1/7
— virginiahume (@virginiahume) August 25, 2020
2/7
Marietta's father died from suicide when she was nineteen years old . She had seven younger siblings, an 8th on the way.
She needed to earn money, and fast. She talked her way into the Corcoran Art school, and eventually became an instructor.
— virginiahume (@virginiahume) August 25, 2020
The oldest of nine … wow.
No time to protest or throw a fit about her lot in life, she had work to do.
Maybe that’s the problem with today’s ‘feminists,’ they don’t have enough work to do.
3/7
She taught private classes and took commissions. She ghostwrote a newspaper column. With her help, the family was able to keep the wolf from the door.
Needless to say, she was keenly aware of the inequities women faced in the work world.
— virginiahume (@virginiahume) August 25, 2020
Recommended
We imagine she would have been.
Yup.
4/7 Her support of women's suffrage included drawing this cover for April 14, 1914 issue of The Suffragist. pic.twitter.com/w9ASNdLtUE
— virginiahume (@virginiahume) August 25, 2020
This is SO DAMN COOL.
5/7
Her efforts did NOT sit well with everyone in the family. Her cousin, Mary Lee, confronted her at a luncheon. "I understand you're an active suffragette. What would your father think of that?"
Without blinking an eye, Marietta retorted…
— virginiahume (@virginiahume) August 25, 2020
6/7
"My father must know I did a man's work, providing for his large family after he was gone. Perhaps he would approve of my having a man's opportunity and recognition."
(GO AUNT MAY!!)
— virginiahume (@virginiahume) August 25, 2020
This editor loves this.
So much.
7/7
The late Katherine Graham said of my Aunt May that she "was more of a feminist for her era than I was for my own."
And that's my #FirstWomanVoter
— virginiahume (@virginiahume) August 25, 2020
Huzzah.
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