Heftel Lecture

Virgin Islands Humanities Council

Daniel L. Heftel Lecture and Humanist Award Presentation

Marriott Frenchman's Reef and Morning Star Beach Resort

Keynote Lecture by Dr. Julianne Malveaux

Saturday, September 22, 2006  

Good Afternoon, I have a hip definition for economists – we study who gets what, when where and why – that’s what we do. Mrs. Muller, thank you for everything you’ve done as an educator, as a civic activist. thank you for just being here. What you have here are national monuments. I have read Mrs. Moolenaar’s phenomenal book and at the end when she talks about the neighborhood, Upstreet, and how nostalgic it made her, it made me nostalgic as well. But it also speaks to the universality of social problems because the issues that she is talking about on Upstreet are the same issues we are talking about in Washington D.C. with gentrification and in Harlem…once they put a Starbucks in Harlem, “there goes the hood.”

There are so many political aspirants, so many women running for public office, and that is so important right now. I just saw my sister come in, Congresswoman Donna Christian Christensen. You are so blessed and highly favored that she leads you and represents you so well in Congress. When we talk about health disparities, we know she is on the case. It is a value that you have a principal physician that is really talking about issues of access that affect our communities because so many blacks do not have access. The most recent data just came out: another 1.2 million people do not have access to health care. When we talk about health care, we look at the visible stuff: whether or not someone has been to the doctor, whether they have HIV. We don’t look at dental, mental and these invisible kinds of health care issues. We have children that have never been to the dentist at all in their life, and they are 10. That’s absurd. Then out of New Orleans, we know that there are some mental health issues that have not been dealt with. Donna, we value you so much, and I know that you have been on top of this issue of visible and invisible health needs that are unmet because the greatest nation in the world does not have enough money for children since we spend billions of dollars a day, looking for weapons of mass “distraction.”

I am actually here to talk about women’s suffrage and women in politics, but it is all connected because when you look at this woman’s leadership and so many others, you understand some of the work that we must do and that women all too often are the ones to step up. Understand that the fight for women’s suffrage in the U.S. was not an easy fight, but then, when you put it through the lens of race and gender, it was not always even “our” fight. Those early suffragettes, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul, they were for the women’s vote, and they were abolitionist, but when it became clear that the 13th, 14th & 15th amendments would not include them, the racial language that came out of their mouths were utterly frightening. So what was the most overriding interest, fairness or gender, is a question that has plagued the women’s movement from the beginning. “Ain’t I a woman?” said Sojourner Truth who had to fight her way up to that platform. They did not invite her, help her to her carriage, “hook a sista up.” They were surprised – stunned – when she walked up to the podium. There are so many historical cases where black women just walked up to the podium…Maddy Walker for instance. After this woman, the first black millionaire, gave the Negro Business League $20,000, Booker T. Washington denied her the platform. How dare Booker T., through his gender lens, decide that she did not belong there. How dare those abolitionist women, those suffragette women, kick Sojourner to the curb. But she told them; she said,
…And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all of them sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?
That’s our legacy, women of color, of suffrage. We have had to push our way into this issue of suffrage in ways that have been poignant and profound. I am a proud member and happy to have met the acquaintance of another ‘Soro’ of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. here. I say that not to alienate Alpha Kappa Alpha or other sororities, but only to make a case for the college students who insisted on being in the suffrage march on March 6, 1913. Now, the white women were happy, theoretically, to have black women’s support, but they did not want anyone to see the black women out. Aida B. Wells, a crusading and pioneering journalist, was a member of the Illinois Suffrage Association. She worked with these women and they told her to march at the back, and she would not. The young women of Delta Sigma Theta showed phenomenal courage because they were so young – 21 & 22. So they too elbowed their way in. Again they were told, “You’re welcomed, but at the back. The sisters were not going to be at the back; the Deltas were front and center. We were there. Many have seen the suffrage march on film; it was a horrible time for all women, not just black women. The men in Washington D.C. were outraged, how dare these women march for suffrage. In the 1890’s women were imprisoned in crazy houses because the notion that you thought you could vote meant that you must be insane. A suffragette said to Woodrow Wilson in 1918:
“Kaiser Wilson, have you forgotten your sympathy with the poor Germans because they were not self-governed…20 million American women are not self- governed. Take that beam out of your own eye.”
When you talk about self-governance issues and then come here to the Virgin Islands, there are self-governance issues that are still not resolved. Mr. Bush says we went to Iraq so that the people could vote. Well, Bush just needed to take a little 20-minute trip down here. We have these uneven standards. When it serves our purpose, we want people to be governed, but when it doesn’t serve our purpose, there are other ways of defining what other people do. At the same time that we are going into world wars over people’s right to vote, people in the Virgin Islands, do not have the right to vote.
The amendment for voting rights did not pass in the Senate until 1920, and years later we still don’t have equality in political participation. There are eight women who have been governors of their states. The U.S. Congress is 14% female. We have heard all of the platitudes, “Women hold up half the sky,” so where are we in the halls of government? In a New Hampshire focus group, a number of women say they do not like politics, they don’t vote or they vote how their husbands tell them to vote. That told me two things about the New Hampshire focus group: they weren’t sisters and they weren’t Democrats, but I was wrong. We did another focus group in Atlanta of young Christian women that were mixed—Black Latino and Caucasian. A young black woman said to me, “I ask my husband how to vote, and I do whatever he says.” I guess it depends on where you come from in the mix, but the fact is too many women think that politics is too much and can’t be bothered. But politics determines everything—from the quality of water that you drink to where you are likely to be buried. We found lots of women have a political ambivalence, which is one other reason why we don’t have enough women in politics. And for those women who have stepped up we now have to get other women to step up. So, some of this is us and some of this is a patriarchy that discourages women from politics and that judges them unequally. Also, women judge women candidates more harshly than men. We have to get in touch with that if we what to see more women in politics. Women are too unselfish at some level. Women need to think about ourselves as Anna Julia Cooper says, “ When and where I enter, the interests of my race and gender come with me.” Women are there for their community, but we must take not only the moral authority but also enough selfishness to say I deserve to sit in that seat too.
What would Sojourner Truth think of us? It’s not just running for public office or voting but the stuff in between—it’s the fabric of civic life that allows self-governance; the fact that we are a part of civic and political organizations; that we make sure woman’s voices are there and women’s voices are important. Is the playing field level? Absolutely not. What we know is when women come together, certainly in terms of health and social issues we make a difference. When women are there, they are able to raise questions that men may not.
There is no better time to talk about women in self-governance than the week after the United Nations have met. Where were the women? There was one bright shining star: Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Ellen reminds me of the tightrope that women have to walk. In Liberia she is referred to as “Mama Ellen” and the “Iron Lady.” How do you reconcile those two descriptives? Ellen tapped the interest of the young men and women with the image of “mama” who is going to come and heal a country that has been at war for 25 years. Often women who run for office are faced with the notion of contradiction. Take Hillary Rodham Clinton for example. She is electable in certain states but not in others where they are still struggling with gender roles. The way that we look at Hilary is perhaps emblematic of the way we look at women in politics—with ambivalence. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth and the Delta women saw it; Hilary may see it too, but I don’t think she should stand out because she is female. The only way history is made is when people step up. This is a time more than any other time when women must be involved in the political process, our nation is at a cross road and so is our world.
A concept that I have been working on in terms of my economics is called the end of eminence – the period where America is losing its power and authority because of the way that it has treated other countries. Hugo Chavez talked about U.S. imperialism and the way that we treat others. Other countries have had enough of that and there are a number of things that we are going to have to look at.
Number one. The Chinese represent 25% of the world population. 1 in 20-25 Chinese drive a car today, what if they double their automobile-driving population. What does that do to the oil prices, what does that do to the oil-dependent United States? What kind of conversations have we been having with China, have they been collegial? If we look at that issue in and of itself we begin to see that we have a problem.
Number two. Many oil-producing countries prefer the euro to the dollar. Right now they are leaning on the dollar but moving toward the euro. If the euro trumps the dollar with the debt that we are carrying, we are in horrible shape.
Number three. The fact that the growth of the United States is of people of color is of special interest to us. That’s not news to most people who have been following issues around diversity. But, here’s the news; we have been divesting in education, not investing but divesting. We have been taking money out of K-12 but also higher education. If your future work force is going to be these black and brown people and you are taking money away from their education what is going to happen in 20 years? It’s not only who’s going to take care of us, but also who’s going to do the production for the consumption that we may want and desire. Will we become a peripheral country? We can follow other so-called super powers and their paths in the past and see what may happen to us.
What does this have to do with gender? In communities of color, women are more likely to be educated today than men, but men still earn more. But if you look at especially African American graduation rates, they are 62% female and 38% male. So we are depending on women’s voices to be those voices like those of Anna Julia Cooper, who bring the interest of our gender and our race with us. We must be involved, engaged, and connected not just for our own self-actualization but also for the actualization for our communities in the future. While that is not right, it means that there is something that needs to be fixed—who will fix it, whom will we find in K-12 and in higher education—African American women. Therefore, the challenge is if we want self-governance then we have to be full partners in the political process. Sojourner also said, “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!” And in another quote she says, “If we want all this power and all these rights, we should just take them and stop talking about it.” If we want the power to govern ourselves women and men it’s time for us to take the power. Thank you.
Malveaux excerpt  
The National Endowment of the Humanities [NEH] supports a national initiative called “We The People.” Its goal is to encourage and strengthen the teaching, study and understanding of American history and culture through the support of projects that explore significant events and themes and advance knowledge of the principles that define America. In September 2004, NEH awarded the Virgin Islands Humanities Council a grant of $29,250 to support a state project, entitled “U.S. Virgin Islanders: A People’s Quest for Self- Governance.”
 
   
 
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THE ROLE OF VI WOMEN IN

SELF-DETERMINATION AND GOVERNANCE

By

Ruth M. Moolenaar

Presented at the

11th Annual Heftel Lecture Series

of the

VI Humanities Council

Saturday, September 23, 2006

at the

Marriott Frenchman's Reef and Morning Star Beach Resort

St. Thomas, USVI

I would like to begin by commending the Virgin Islands Humanities Council for recognizing the role of women in the struggle for self-determination in the Virgin Islands and for inviting such a nationally and internationally noted speaker as Dr. Malveaux to be present as we do so. I also extend my congratulations to my sister-in-law, Mrs. Ulla F. Muller.

There is no image more appropriate to symbolize today’s discussion on the role of V.I. women in self-determination and governance than the Sankofa bird. The sankofa is a native of West Africa and occupies a special place in the psyche of many Africans. It is always depicted in painting and sculpture stand with its head turned towards its back and an egg in its mouth. Symbolically, this seemingly peculiar pose reminds us “to be mindful of our past (head turned back), to grasp the future (feet steady on ground) and be ready for the future (egg in the mouth)”

Like the sankofa I invite you to join me on a brief journey from 1847 -2006 where on three stops we will re-visit and remember the efforts of V.I. women of the past, recapture and preserve those of the present and state our hopes for their role in the future.

We begin by looking back at a time of enslavement when like their mainland counterparts, the struggle of local women was one filled with torture, cruelty, punishments and other forms of degradation. The arena is St. Croix Danish West Indies in the mid-1800’s and we find local women fighting fearlessly shoulder to shoulder with their fellow men in the Slave Rebellion of 1848. Women resented being treated as chattel and they decided that freedom was their only key to controlling their destiny.

While no one female was given recognition in the 1848 rebellion, we know that as a group they were a forceful part of the struggle. Their efforts are best described by Harold W. Wilcox in his, The Umbilical Cord, History of the U.S. Virgin Islands, as he emphasized “the role of women in the 1848 rebellion was almost identical with that of men.” As further emphasis he cited Governor-General Frederik von Scholten’s recognition of the role of women in this struggle for freedom who wrote, “Among the black population, women play a role of great importance. Throughout the disturbance they were more aggressive, vengeful, and altogether more violent in their passion than the men.”

In 1848 the local enslaved people demanded their freedom. That is what distinguished this stave rebellion from other revolts of the region. Enslaved Africans of the Danish West Indies were bold and fearless enough to demand freedom and not wait for it to happen,

Therefore, on July 3, 1848, women listened with joy to the words of the Emancipation Proclamation announcing their freedom. The Proclamation said: “All Unfree in the Danish West Indies are from today emancipated.” The realization of becoming human rather than Chattel was nearer.

But the 1848 revolt was just the starting point in the full struggle for self determination. About thirty years later, in 1878, the status of women was as demeaning as before or worse. This provided the opportunity for another forceful push for equal rights, one in which women continued to be prime movers.

Again, the scene is on St. Croix.

While as uneducated as her earlier counterparts, the 1878 woman of the Danish West Indies felt the same passion for self-determination and greater autonomy as those of 1848. But 1878 “freedom” as uttered in the 1848 Proclamation was a meaningless term. Black women as well as men were victims of strict laws i.e. the Labor Act of 1878 which denied personal rights, justified lower wages, denied travel and demanded subjection to a contract which stipulated even the smallest details of everyday life.

Led by three fearless women, laborers secretly planned and executed a revolt in 1878. Wilocks gives their names as, Mary (Queen Mary), Thomas, Queen Agnes, Queen Mathilda also known as Bottom Belly, Rebecca Fredericks and joined by Axeline (Black Amazon). Solomon.

Of special interest as noted by Dr. Charles E. Taylor in his, From the Danish West Indies, the word queen did not refer to royalty but as practiced by African women, such titles were given to acknowledge their impressive leadership and br intelligence. The results of this revolt were impressive. The infamous Labor Act was revoked. New laws granted workers the choice of negotiating terms of employment and lastly, the rights of workers were protected. For these successes we praise the role of women.

Further more historian, Valdemar Hill wrote that the Danish state forgave the women and imprinted their images on a Danish twenty forty cent silver coin. Locally. The 3 queens are celebrated in song and lore. More spectacular is a life-sized bronze sculpture of these women erected on the grounds of Blackbeard’s Castle Hotel on St. Thomas. Each figure holds a full size torch, machete or a cutlass, symbols of the 1878 rebellion.

I encourage you to visit this impressive sculpture.

Our 3 Queens will always be remembered as classic models of freedom fighters who, despite the threats, despite danger, despite the odds against them continued the fight to accomplish a dream.

The struggle for self-determination continued but time does not permit the full account to be told. So we skip forward from 1878 to the twentieth century VI woman. In 1906, the women were more educated than those of 1878 and perhaps more articulate. They were, however, equally determined and bold, such that they challenged the 1906 law of the Danish state, which denied women the right to vote because they were female, did not own property or earn a stipulated salary.

In 1917 the Danish West Indies were bought by the U.S., but that did not transfer the rights of citizenship immediately. In fact, it was 10 years later in 1927 that citizenship was finally granted.

However, even though universal suffrage was awarded in the United States, women in the VI, although citizens, were not granted this privilege. To add insult to injury, local authorities determined to cut teachers’ salaries and to abolish the 12th grade of high school. This was the last straw for women and on Dec 14, 1935 a group of 23 teachers led by educator Edith Williams marched into the Election Board on St. Thomas and requested permission to register for voting rights. The request was denied and the teachers took the case to court. Prominent names of this movement included Bertha Boschulte, who was a classroom teacher and later a principal asst. commissioner of education, statistician and finally elected senator. However, it was educators, Edith Williams, Anna Vessup and Eulalie Stevens Petersen who led the teachers in 1935 down to Fort Christian on St. Thomas to protest for their voting privileges.

Following the Progressive Guide Party, the Unity was organized in 1953 “to work for greater unity among Virgin Islanders and to give the people a greater voice in charting their own destiny.” Women played a major role in the Unity Party and its founder, Earle B. Ottley in his, Trials and Triumphs book lists women among the first officers: Christina Saunders, vice president: Amy Guiler as Treasurer and Mary Bastian as recording secretary.

To this end today’s women have exceeded the dreams of their early sisters. Today, we finding all three branches of local government. Currently in the judicial branch, if my count is correct there are five sitting female judges.

The Honorable Eileen Petersen was the first female judge and served twenty years with distinction. Attorney General Drew is the second female Attorney General in the V.I. being presided by Honorable Rosalie Simmonds Balentine.

In the Executive branch women serve as chief staff, commissioners, Directors and other high administrative positions, including President of the University of the Virgin Islands, Dr. LaVerne Ragster and the Honorable Donna C. Christiansen, Delegate to Congress.

In the Legislative branch there have been several female senators. Of these two have served as President of the Senate, Honorable Ruby Rousse and Honorable Lorraine Berry.

Furthermore, we are fortunate to have organizations which serve to support and encourage women to take advantage of their voting rights and to further develop their power of self-determination. Of singular note is the League of Women Voters of the V.I., which has had a powerful presence in our community. Preceding this nationally based organization was a locally established one, the Women’s League, which had a similar mandate.

Finally, let us look to the future:

In her book Open Wide the Freedom Gates, Dorothy Height, president of the National Organization of Women, wrote that it is within our communities and neighborhoods that the world begins------ because that is where children grow who will create the future. In keeping with the image of the Sankofa bird, I end with a hope for the future based on the present and built on the past:

Let us strive as a community of women to create and mold future citizens who today are our children such that they will be empowered whether they are male or female to determine their own destinies ---- and educated to know how much their fore-bearers fought, so that they will be able to do just that - determine the future of their families and their communities.

Thank you!
   
 
Ulla Muller Presentation  

Thank you, __________________________.

Madam Chair, members of the Board and genera membership of the Virgin Islands Humanities Council, I am truly thrilled to receive this honor.

After I received the letter of notice from your executive director, my good friend, Mabel Maduro, I found myself reflecting on the many instances that we as teachers are recognized for our performance in our profession.

I remember being entrusted to teach English and History just six months after graduating from high school. That, to me, was an honor.

I remember being appointed Principal/Teacher at the James Monroe School near my home on the North Side. That was a greater honor.

I remember all the various honors I received during my formal training in the field of education at Hampton and N.Y.U. I was always thrilled and appreciative.

The biggest thrill of my life in education, however, was the naming of a local school in my honor, the Ulla F. Muller Elementary School.

I mention these reflections because, as in the case of so many other educators, those events were indicators of my performance in the eyes of my peers in the field of education. And while I remember them fondly and with pride, I see them in a different arena from this award.

Education is indeed one of the noblest professions but teaching does not end at the classroom door. It goes beyond involvement in the learning and well being of not only students, but also their parents and their community at large. I firmly believe that involvement in the community makes the world your classroom. And if we view the world as our stage for not only teaching but also for learning, then all our supporting staff and our teachers must rightfully share in our honors. I would like to thank each and every one who worked with me in all the activities, which brought my name into nomination for this award…persons who worked with me in education and in the many civic and social activities in which I have been involved…and those persons are many!

So I receive this award as recognition of having used my God-given skills and talents to explore and participate in the many and varied aspects of Virgin Island life. Education was my tool, and it worked for me in many ways and various activities…from the Carnival Committee to the Debutante’s Ball, from the Red Cross to the V.I. Lottery Board; from my Eta Phi Beta Sorority to Business & Professional Women… and so on. Wherever the tool of education can work we should we should apply it…even in its most general and rounded form. Interest in the humanities can spring from the most unlikely forums and education certainly is at the core of the humanities.

I am truly honored to receive this award and I thank you. Ruth Moolenar, my sister-in-law and Mabel Maduro and her staff.

In closing, let me say that I knew Dan Heftel and his lovely wife Clio. Dan was indeed an exemplary humanist as was displayed in his art, his readings, his community involvement, and most notably, this Lecture Series, which he initiated for. I am pleased that the Humanities Council continues to support his wish.

Again thank you from my heart and from my family for being elected as the recipient of this meaningful award.
   
 
 
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