The Susan B Anthony Birth Place Museum - Anti-choice groups co-opting legacy - Activism Journal 1

[debbierlus]

You can read my original post about this issue here: http://journals.democraticunderground.com/debbierlus/433

If you have not yet read this post, I would strongly recommend going to the link before continuing with this thread.

I am going to be utilizing my journal for two fold purposes during this process of activism. First, it will be my notebook that everyone in our local group can read anytime to keep up to speed with important developments, collaborate on new ideas, and check in with updates on their own activities. Second, I want to document the process for myself, and others.

January 12, 2009

Spoke with the director of the Susan B Anthony House in Rochester NY, Deborah Hughes,. She is aware of the birthplace 'museum' opening in Adam and knows the founder, Carol Crossed. A historical expert on Susan B Anthony, she explained that there is no way to ascertain the views of Susan B Anthony on abortion, and she states that her organization maintains the position that it is impossible to determine how Anthony would view abortion in the early 21st century one way or the other. There is no documentation referring to her position, only one magazine article that was published in her magazine that referenced abortion as child murder. The anti-choice groups inaccurately maintain that Susan B wrote this piece, but it does not bear her signature, only signed A (this is unusual as Susan B was known to sign her writings in full). She also stressed that birth control, pregnancy testing, and early abortion services did not exist in the Victorian era. A woman was not considered to be pregnant in that time until quickening occurred and that could be as late as the fifth month. Abortion, as referenced in that era, always referred to a late term abortion. She also noted that it was quite common for women to obtain treatment for cessation of menses, in their child bearing years (removal of mucus plug from cervix for example) and that those procedures would result in spontaneous abortion. In summary, there is no legitimate documentation that supports Susan B Anthony was anti-choice in her time, and it is impossible to determine what her views would be in the modern era, given the enormous changes that have occured in the past 100 years.

Supporting links:

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/16/anthony-abortion/
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/opinion/13schiff.html?_r=1

Excellent resource for historical reference and referrals to experts in the community on Susan B Anthony.

Through this conversation it was revealed that the Susan B Anthony Birthplace Museum in Adams is a registered non-profit subsidary of Feminist Choosing Life of New York. Here is the link and here is the text from their fall/winter 2007 newsletter:

Feminists Choosing Life of New York is thrilled to
announce the creation of the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace
Museum at the site of Susan B. Anthony’s birth in Adams,
MA. Following the generous donation of the historic
property by Carol Crossed to FCLNY, the FCLNY Board of
Directors immediately began to make plans for the house’s
preservation and development as a museum. The Susan B.
Anthony Birthplace Museum is now a registered non-profit
subsidiary of FCLNY. Although the SBABM has a separate
board of directors and is located in Massachusetts, FCLNY
retains control of the selection of SBABM Board members
and of the development and direction of the museum itself.
The current selected Board of Directors numbers seven,
with Carol Crossed as President.

http://www.feministschoosinglife.org/files/FCLNY_Fall_2007.pdf

Feminists for Life of America will manage and care for the home and Sally Winn, VP FFLA will head a committee to explore ideas of how to best utilize the property for the advancement of the pro-women/pro-life philosophy. The committee is to include pro-life leaders, women historians, other academia and possibly artists and other experts on Anthony’s era

(Huge thanks to Deborah for forwarding this link and all the articles)!

Here is the mission statement from the Susan B Anthony birth place museum that announce their intent to utilize the museum as a venue to impose their own beliefs in defiance of known facts....

MISSION STATEMENT: The Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation, dedicated to preserving the birthplace and raising public awareness of the wide-ranging legacy of the great social reformer, Susan B. Anthony, who was a pioneering feminist and suffragist as well as a noteworthy figure in the abolitionist, pro-life and temperance movements of the 19th century. As part of its mission, the Museum will highlight the familial and regional influences which shaped Ms. Anthony’s early life, by displaying the textiles and furnishings of that period, as well as the literature and other memorabilia associated with her later career.

Their website also links DIRECTLY to Feminists Choosing Life - here is the Birth Place museum's website:

http://www.susanbanthonybirthplace.com/

This link, the groups mission statement, and the resume of their new director: Sally Winn (please refer to the home page of Birth Page museum website to read her long history and involvement with anti-choice groups Feminists for Life and Susan B Anthonys List). She has been active in leading a boycott of American Express for providing support to Planned Parenthood...

http://www.tennesseerighttolife.org/news_center/archives/04282001-01.htm

She also has been a featured speaker at major anti-abortion events including West Coast Rally for Life in San Francisco.

Various sources around the web claim the group is anti-birth control. They refused an interview with Salon magazine to clarify their stance of birth control for this article. http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2006/03/20/anti_contraception/

More on Feminists for Life:

http://www.alternet.org/rights/43241/the_stealth_'feminists'_who_oppose_abortion/

Avenues to pursue:

Can they legally title themselves a museum given the political motives and activism around anti-choice? They may not meet the MA definition to title themselves a museum.

What is their non-profit status? Can it be legally revoked in light of their blatant anti-choice agenda?

Need to look into the history of the grants and call my friend, Lynn, a lawyer who may be able to help with direction on the legality of their status.

Tomorrow: Meeting with local reporter to announce Thursday night meeting at Stone Soup to plan for a day of awareness and action on February 14th, the day of the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Thursday: Meeting 7:00 p.m. Park St Adams MA - Presentation of topic, sign up, delegation, and question and answer session.

It begins.