The Suffragists
女性選舉權先鋒
By Erin Blakemore
文/艾琳·布萊克莫爾
Blakemore is a journalist and the author of The Heroine's Bookshelf
布萊克莫爾是一名記者,也是《女英雄的書架》的作者。
It was the culmination of generations of activism, and Carrie Chapman Catt, who had devoted three decades to the suffrage struggle,
1920年,(美國憲法)第十九條修正案正式通過,一代又一代女性選舉權斗爭就此達到高潮,
was among the crowds that celebrated the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
慶祝修正案通過的人群中,就有在那之前已經為女性選舉權斗爭努力了30個年頭的凱莉·查普曼·卡特的身影。
"Women have suffered agony of soul which you never can comprehend,
“(你們之前的)女性在心靈上承受了你們永遠也無法領會的痛苦,
that you and your daughters might inherit political freedom," Catt told a victorious throng.
(才換來了)你和你的女兒承襲政治自由的可能,”卡特對歡呼的人群說道。
"Prize it!"
“請好好珍惜!”
Among those agonies was an ongoing debate about how women should go about securing those rights—
有關女性應該如何捍衛這些權利的辯論沒完沒了,爭論不休,
and the ongoing disenfranchisement of women of color.
剝奪有色人種女性選舉權的做法仍未停止,這些都是她們承受的痛楚。
Catt opted for pragmatism and politics, lobbying on a state level and in the halls of Congress.
卡特選擇了實用主義和政治,到州里,到國會大廳四處游說。
Along the way, she tussled with Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, militant suffragists who preferred a more dramatic approach.
這樣一來,她便與同為女性選舉權先鋒的愛麗絲·保羅,露西·伯恩斯二人起了沖突。伯恩斯二人風格偏激進,偏向用更為戲劇化的辦法解決問題。
Paul and Burns organized public parades
比如組織公共游行,
and staged a groundbreaking, yearslong White House picket with banners that implored President Woodrow Wilson to act.
拉著懇求伍德羅·威爾遜總統采取行動的橫幅,在白宮外舉行顛覆性的抗議活動,而且一抗議就是數年。
The "Silent Sentinels" endured arrests and imprisonment in a squalid workhouse where they were brutalized and force-fed.
結果,“沉默的哨兵”們被逮捕并監禁到了一個骯臟的勞改所里,在那里受到了殘忍的對待,甚至被強行喂食。
Which approach was more effective?
兩種方法,哪一種更有效?
"Every movement for social change needs both," says suffrage historian Johanna Neuman.
“每一場社會變革運動都需要兩種辦法雙管齊下,”研究女性選舉權斗爭歷史的約翰娜·諾伊曼說。
For women of color, though, the 1920 victory did not guarantee voting rights.
然而,對有色人種女性而言,1920年的勝利并沒能保證她們的投票權。
Despite their fervent participation in the suffrage struggle,
盡管她們積極參與了那場斗爭,
their voting rights were secured only with the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
她們的投票權依然要等到1965年選舉權法案通過才能得到保障。
Native Americans like Zitkala-Sa, a member of the Yankton Dakota Sioux, were not considered U.S. citizens and were not qualified to vote.
揚克頓達科他蘇族成員齊特卡拉一莎那樣的原住民不被認可為美國公民,也沒有投票的資格。
"Americanize the first American!" she urged in 1921.
“承認最早的美國人的美國人身份!”她曾在1921年敦促道。
Even after the Indian Citizenship Act she had lobbied for became law in 1924, it did not guarantee the vote.
即便她為之努力游說的《印第安公民法案》在1924年終于寫入了法律,這一法案也沒能保衛她們的選舉權。
Zitkala-Sa agitated for full voting rights for the rest of her life.
之后,齊特卡拉一莎一直在為爭取100%的選舉權奔走呼告。
Only in 1962, decades after her death, did Native Americans gain the right to vote from every state legislature.
直到1962年,也就是她去世幾十年后,原住民才從所有州的立法機構手中獲得了投票權。
The 19th Amendment was also bittersweet to black suffragist Ida B. Wells- Barnett.
對黑人女性選舉權先鋒艾達·B.威爾斯-巴內特而言,第十九條修正案也是喜憂參半的成果。
"With no sacredness of the ballot there can be no sacredness of human life itself," she wrote in 1910,
“選票不再神圣,人的生命本身也就不可能神圣了,”
tying women's right to vote to Jim Crow disenfranchisement of black men.
1910年她將女性投票權與黑人男性被剝奪選舉權這樣的種族歧視做法聯系在一起寫道。
Despite her contributions to the movement, Wells-Barnett was snubbed by white activists.
盡管威爾斯-巴內特為這場運動做出了杰出的貢獻,她本人卻受到了白人活動家的冷落。
At a 1913 suffrage parade, she was told to march in the rear.
在1913年的一次選舉權游行中,她被告知她應該在隊伍后方游行。
She rebelled, claiming a spot alongside white participants instead.
她并沒有順從,執意要與白人參與者并排前進。
"This part of the suffrage story is a tragic one," says Wells-Barnett biographer Paula Giddings.
“選舉權斗爭的這部分故事也是悲劇的,”為威爾斯-巴尼特作傳的保拉·吉丁斯說。
"It's time to re-examine the movement and its flaws so we won't repeat them again."
“此時此刻,我們若不重新審視這場運動以及這場運動的缺陷,日后,我們就還會重蹈覆轍。”
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