Présentation Margaret Sanger

Margaret Sanger

From a feminist hero to a demonized figure

Céline Rolland Laura Sauvée

Bain News Service, Publisher. Margaret Sanger. date created or published later by Bain. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2014700793/>.

How is Margaret Sanger the epitome of the problem with the roots of feminism in the 20th century?

Outline

I. Margaret Sanger: the mother of the birth control movement in the USa. Who was she?b. A life filled with actions for the woman's right movementc. A figure not so popular with contemporary men II. The woman behind an evil plan? : Was her project as honorable as it first seemed to be? a. Feminism roots: a shift after the 15th amendment b. Questionable affiliations: a blot on the landscape c. Margaret Sanger and Eugenist theories III. Evolution of the cause throughout the 20th century: a contested figure that divides America a. Planned Parenthood and its history b. The movement’s evolutions and how Sanger’s past was perceived as time went on c. Margaret Sanger’s dark side: a tool to tackle the left’s image

Margaret Sanger: the mother of the birth control movement in the US

a. Who was she?

• Born in 1879, died in 1966
• Attended a nursing program

• Briefly taught, became an obstetrical nurse
• mostly worked among working-classes :

"Has knowledge of birth control, so carefully guarded and so secretly practiced by the women of the wealthy class – and so tenaciously withheld from the working women – brought them misery?", Margaret Sanger, 1918

• moved to New York City in 1910
• Became involved with the Socialist and Progressive movements

Underwood & Underwood. Margaret Sanger, half-length portrait, seated behind desk, surrounded by twelve other women / Underwood & Underwood Studios, N.Y. [Between 1920 and 1940] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/93504866/>.

I. Margaret Sanger: the mother of the birth control movement in the US

b. A life filled with actions for the woman’s right struggle

• her major works:

- " The Woman Rebel" (1914)- "What every girl should know" (1916)

• 1916 : opening of the first birth control clinic in Brownsville, Brooklyn
• 1921 : creation of the American Birth Control League
• 1923 : opening of the Birth Control Clinical Reseach Bureau
• 1929 : she formed the National Committee of Federal Legislation for Birth Control
• 1952-1959: she was the president of the International Planned Parenthood Federation

Bain News Service, Publisher. Mrs. Margaret Sanger. [Oct.?] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2014703168/>.

Sanger, Margaret. « What Every Girl Should Know ». Britannica, 1914, cdn.britannica.com/71/162971-050-14E7AC4F/What-Every-Girl-Should-Know-covers-Front.jpg.

<The Woman Rebel Vol. 1. No. 1 (March, 1914). New York, NY. Sourced from the Archives of Social History (from the State University of New York) 1976 republication of The Woman Rebel. Digitized by Google and uploaded to HathiTrust. Document has 100% OCRhttps://libcom.org/files/images/library/The%20Woman%20Rebel%20v1.n01_0.jpg>

I. Margaret Sanger: the mother of the birth control movement in the US

c. A figure not so popular with contemporary men

• the Comstock Law (1873-1971)
• fled to England in 1915
• she was arrested in 1916 because the Comstock Law, with other staff members because of their activity in the Planned Parenthood
• she was gagged as a sign of protest
• her name was not credited at the World Population Conference in Geneva, 1927

« Margaret Sanger arrested ». Medium, Oct, 1916, medium.com/adventure-stories-for-radical-girls/margaret-sanger-vs-the-historic-revisionists-c8c59b1573ed. Consulté le 2 mars 2022.

found on April 16, 1929 at Boston's Ford Hall Forum <https://c.files.bbci.co.uk/1273B/production/_114897557_gettyimages-517354420.jpg>

"I care nothing for Free Speech in and by itself. All of us place too much value on the power of the printed word and the power of the spoken word. We read too much. We listen too much. We live too little. We act too little. . . . I speak to you by my actions past and present. I have been gagged, I have been suppressed, I have been arrested, I have been hauled off to jail. Yet every time, more people have listened to me, more have protested, more have lifted their own voices, more have responded with courage and bravery. . . . As a propagandist, I see immense advantages in being gagged. It silences me, but it makes millions of others talk about me, and the cause in which I live." Margaret Sanger (Ford Hall Forum Speech, Apr. 16, 1929)

II. The woman behind an evil plan? : Was her project as honorable as it first seemed to be?

a. Feminism roots: a shift after the 15th amendment

• Strong link between sexes' and races' struggle in the 19th century
• 1869: 15th amendment
• Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth C. Stanson outraged
• New links with white supremacists movement as a strategy

• 1870s: laws against abortion and "obsenity"
• "sex o'clock" for women: discovery of new way to live their

sexuality. In popular culture, apparition of sexualized women,even though seen as dangerous

• Start of social work
• "new woman": educated, working
• Public sphere v. private sphere schiasm progessively disappearing
• "sex radicals"
• Associated with Emma Goldman, another radical activist that

fought for women's right (even though did not support the suffrage mov, like Sanger did), especially for more sexual liberty

« Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony ». America’s Library, www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/stanton/aa_stanton_friends_1_e.html. Consulté le 3 mars 2022.

II. The woman behind an evil plan? : Was her project as honorable as it first seemed to be?

b. Questionable affiliations: a blot on the landscape

• Affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan women in 1926, in New Jersey

- 1927: Buck v. Bell decision: Supreme Court ruled that states could forcibly sterilise people deemed “unfit” without their consent and sometimes their knowledge. - accused of black genocide

• Affiliation with black leaders and communities

- Martin Luther King, W.E.B DuBois, ... - " Negro Project" in 1939

« Margaret Sanger (Ft. Clarence J. Gamble et Jean Baker) – Letter from Margaret Sanger to Dr. C.J. Gamble ». Genius, genius.com/Margaret-sanger-letter-from-margaret-sanger-to-dr-cj-gamble-annotated. Consulté le 1 mars 2022.

II. The woman behind an evil plan? : Was her project as honorable as it first seemed to be?

c. Margaret Sanger and Eugenist theories

• radical speeches
• shocking statements (Mike Wallace interview in 1957)
• belief that a control of birth could improve society because of better genes, less illnesses and depravity

Knowledge of birth control is essentially moral. Its general, though prudent, practice must lead to a higher individuality and ultimately to a cleaner race. Margaret Sanger, "Morality and birth control", February 1918

All of our problems are the result of overbreeding among the working class. Margaret Sanger, "Morality and birth control", February 1918

"I think the greatest sin in the world is bringing children into the world that have disease from their parents, that have no chance to be a human being, practically. Delinquents, prisoners, all sorts of things just marked when they're born. That to me is the greatest sin - that people can - can commit."

Montecillo, Io Paulo. « “What You Are about to See Is Unrehearsed and Uncensored” ». Ransom Center Magazine, 20 avril 2012, sites.utexas.edu/ransomcentermagazine/2012/04/20/tmwi.

III. Evolution of the cause throughout the 20th century: a contested figure that divides America

a. Planned Parenthood and its history

• first centre opened in 1916
• 1923, Sanger integrated the American Birth Control League
• by 1941: 222 centres, 49 000 clients
• 1942: the League changed its name to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America
• 1952: creation of the International Planned Parenthood Federation
• 1970: opening of a Planned Parenthood health center in Syracuse, NY
• 1996: creation of the Planned Parenthood website
• 2015: request to remove the bust of Margaret Sanger
• 2016: 100th anniversary of the first opening in Brownsville

The Sanger Clinic, 46 Amboy Street, Brooklyn. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2010645731/>.

III. Evolution of the cause throughout the 20th century: a contested figure that divides America

b. The movement’s evolutions and how Sanger’s past was perceived as time went on

• New rights gained
• Right to abort in 1973 with Roe v. Wade
• Resistance against those rights
• Work of arts, streets named after her, ceremony in her honor,...
• Organisations that distance themselves from her name in the mid 20th century and in the 21th century

• 2016: Black Lives Matter and Me Too movement

Judy Chicago (American, born 1939). The Dinner Party, 1974–79. Ceramic, porcelain, textile, 576 × 576 in. (1463 × 1463 cm). Brooklyn Museum; Gift of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation, 2002.10. © Judy Chicago. (Photo: Donald Woodman)

III. Evolution of the cause throughout the 20th century: a contested figure that divides America

c. Margaret Sanger’s dark side: a tool to tackle the left’s image

"I admire Margaret Sanger..."

• 2016: Campaign
• Conservatives v. Liberals
• sign of hypocrisy?
• borderline statements that can not be defended

Conclusion

Fake photos, montages, fake news to spread misinformation about her for political reasons. Although she said some controvertial things, they need to be put back into context (eugenist mov popular in 20s, black people were major part of poor people, helped saving lives of uneducated women that could not have had the info about sexuality and health without her works. Was hard to find viable sources online cause of fake news. PS: Sanger was for contraception but against abortion.

Bibliography/websites:

• https://www.laprensani.com/2020/11/23/espectaculo/2751224-quien-fue-margaret-sanger-la-admirada-heroina-estadounidense-cuyo-nombre-ya-no-se-quiere-mencionar
• https://time.com/4081760/margaret-sanger-history-eugenics/
• https://genius.com/Margaret-sanger-letter-from-margaret-sanger-to-dr-cj-gamble-annotated
• https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/dinner_party/
• https://sanger.hosting.nyu.edu/

• Speech "Morality and Birth Control", Margaret Sanger, February 1918

• https://loc.gov/
• https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/margaret-sanger
• https://legallegacy.wordpress.com/2015/10/26/october-26-1916-feminist-margaret-sanger-arrested-for-distributing-birth-control-information/
• https://sanger.hosting.nyu.edu/aboutms/msbio/
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Margaret-Sanger
• https://www.biography.com/activist/margaret-sanger
• https://library.csun.edu/SCA/Peek-in-the-Stacks/sanger
• https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/directory/margaret-h-sanger/
• https://www.hli.org/resources/margaret-sanger-biography/
• https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1689/1689-h/1689-h.htm
• http://www.hubhistory.com/episodes/margaret-sanger-uncensored-episode-98/
• https://www.africanamerica.org/topic/the-negro-project-margaret-sangers-eugenic-plan-for-black-americans

• Evans, Sara. Born for Liberty. 2nd ed., Free Press, 1997.

Thanks for your attention

Any questions?