May as well say it's the month for second class citizens. We have been demoted. While the politics in many states are turning back the clock, we are speaking out.
I could make this into a political rant to assuage my frustration, but instead I am planning to focus on an idea I had regarding a new book.
We have come full circle. We are now close to being poised with the pioneers who stood up for women's suffrage. Yes, we have the vote, but we still don't make as much as men doing the same jobs. We are losing our bodily rights that we fought so hard for. Women of color have even more problems to contend with. Did you know that we couldn't get a credit card in our own name until the 1970's?
Back to my next book. I have recently come upon several women who made history back in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The first woman to run for president in this country was Victoria Woodhull, who ran in 1872 for the Equal Rights Party. She supported women's suffrage and equal rights for women and labor reforms. But it all came to an end when she was arrested on obscenity charges because of a paper she published regarding an affair between Henry Ward Beecher, a minister, and Elizabeth Tilton--her account was more detailed than deemed proper at that time in history. Not to be held back she started several businesses, one as a spiritual healer using magnets. She was the first woman to operate a brokerage firm. She was part of the spiritualist movement of the time, along with several other women I've been reading about.
I have narrowed my search for a heroine down to three candidates: Victoria Hull, Annie Horniman, who was an avid Tarot card user and believed in astral travel. She was also heavily involved with the theater. The third is Anna Kingsford who was a doctor in a time when males predominated in that field. She was a pioneer for animals rights and also a writer. She, as the others, was a believer in the occult and felt she could talk to fairies, travel through time and channeled visions which included the creation of the universe.
History is rich with these wonderful women who refused to be stopped. My book would be a fictionalized version of one of their lives, my own imagination there to fill in the gaps. As I mentioned at the beginning--we have come full circle and have arrived in the past.
Which of these women would you like me to focus on? Leave a message if you have an opinion on the subject. nikkibroadwell@yahoo.com or nikki@nikkibroadwellauthor.com
Thanks for reading!!!