Year: 1977
Type: article
Abstract: Oh. Testorides.do you know that ofthe many things hidden fiom the knowledge of man.there is nothing so incomprehensible as the human heart?-Homer ANNIE SAVERY QUOTED THE ABOVE PASSAGE IN A LETTER TOher friend, Amelia Bloomer, in which she commented on the sudden popularity of the woman suffrage cause.The Iowa General Assembly had just approved a woman suffrage amendment on March 30, 1870.She recalled "the ¿lííer and denunciatory words" which her sister-in-law, Mrs. Chester Savery, had spoken to her only two years earlier after she had lectured on woman suffrage in Des Moines.And she reflected, "I never mingle in society and see the mental sommersaults which many make without thinking of poor wise Homer.'"Savery, a pioneer Des Moines resident and social leader, was a woman of towering intellect, warmth, and enthusiasm.In January 1868, at a time when woman suffrage was primarily the object of popular scorn and ridicule, she displayed the courage of her convictions by speaking out publicly for the enfranchisement of women.In June 1870 she was elected corresponding secretary of the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association when it was organized at Mt. Pleasant, and soon thereafter she became the most prominent suffrage advocate in the state.Unfortunately Savery's story has been lost not only because she was a woman, and women's history has rarely been preserved, but also because she was rejected by many of her associates in the women's rights movement.This alienation was precipitated by Savery's refusal to denounce free-love advocate 'Annie Savery to Amelia Bloomer, April 12, 1870.Bloomer Collection deposited at Council Bluffs Public Library (hereafter cited as CBPL).
Source: The Annals of Iowa
Author: Louise Noun
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W5125264