Two women’s rights activists – from different continents and separate times – and a French sculptor all share a birthday. Plus, a quiet little poem.
The date is August 2nd, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from Charlton, MA.
Today is the birthday of Marianne Weber, German sociologist, writer, and women’s rights activist.
At the age of three Marianne was sent away to be raised by her aunt and grandparents upon the death of her mother. Her father and brothers were deemed psychologically unstable by family and would later be institutionalized.
After a proper upbringing and education, in 1891 Marianne was introduced to a few distant cousins, namely, Max Weber, a budding sociologist and philosopher as well as his mother, Helene. Marianne and Max married in 1893, at ages 23 and 29, respectively. Marianne enjoyed being daughter-in-law to Helene with whom she had already grown close.
While Max taught at University of Heidelberg, Marianne pursued philosophy in her spare time as a new wife. She read up on the subject and became active in a burgeoning feminist movement in Berlin. Around this time, she persuaded her husband to aid in her campaign to increase enrollment of women at Heidelberg.
In 1907 Marianne proudly opened her own intellectual salon. Simultaneously, she completed her first book and began to regularly publish sociological essays. Essay topics usually involved female and family life and marriage. Summed up, her thoughts were that the institution of marriage is “a complex and ongoing negotiation over power and intimacy, in which money, women’s work, and sexuality are key issues.”
She was a champion of women’s rights in Germany all her adult life, taking a break from an active role in politics only twice. The first was on account of her husband’s sudden death of pneumonia. She spent a few years compiling his unfinished papers into ten volumes and was rewarded with publication of the volumes and an honorary doctorate from the University of Heidelberg in 1924.
The second break came with the rise of the Nazi party. She was more or less forced out of her role in the Democratic Party, though she continued hosting her intellectual salon throughout WWII.
Today is the birthday of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (Bar-tol-dee), French sculptor.
Bartholdi is best known for designing the Statue of Liberty. He studied art in France in his youth, but it wasn’t until a trip to Egypt and Yemen on 1855 at age 21 that he became interested in colossal sculpture.
At the completion of the Suez Canal, Bartholdi proposed the idea for a lighthouse: a figure draped in robes holding a torch. It was to be called Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia and sounds an awful lot like a description of the Statue of Liberty. The massive project was not commissioned by the Egyptian government.
Just two years later, Bartholdi made a trip to America and proposed a similar idea in slightly different terms: a massive statue gifted from French to Americans for the 100th year anniversary of American Independence. Fundraising would be the responsibility of the French and American citizens, which was a much easier pill to swallow for the governments involved.
The Statue of Liberty stands at 151 feet which is 46 meters or about 14 stories high. During the fundraising and construction of the copper statue, Bartholdi enjoyed commissions from many American cities for smaller monuments.
And today is the birthday of Bertha Lutz, Brazilian feminist, activist, and zoologist.
She was born in São Paulo Brazil in 1894, the daughter of Adolf Lutz, a prominent physician and epidemiologist. She followed in her father’s footsteps, studying biology and natural sciences at university in France.
But upon returning to Brazil in 1918, it was soon evident that she had a passion for women’s rights.
She founded League for Intellectual Emancipation of Women shortly after her return. The first mission was achieving women’s suffrage in Brazil and she was a leader in the movement.
And she didn’t stop there. After women receive the right to vote in 1931, Lutz remained active in politics and women’s rights. She received a law degree in 1933 which she felt would help her successfully campaign for government measures that would expand women’s rights, such as gender equality in workplaces.
As a new Congresswoman in Brazil, one of her first initiatives was the “Statue of Women” which aimed to review all Brazilian laws in order to ensure none would undermine gender equality.
Fog
Carl Sandburg
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.