Blogging about suffrage history
& suffrage centennial events
"Arise! Brave Woman!" is a suffrage song I end my history with song presentations with. It is a further call to action, a reminder that the work is not done. Another reason is most folks have no problem singing along with the chorus, & sometimes add a bit of harmony! They sing along because it is set to the same familiar tune as "Battle Hymn of the Republic". "Arise! Brave Woman!" was included in the Socialist Campaign Songs book published in 1910 by The Co-Operative Printing Co. of Chicago. The lyrics are by Nannie Parker & are included after the video below. Nannie Parker is a difficult subject to research. Thanks to Google Books, Internet Archive, & all of the libraries, archives & institutions that support digitization efforts, I have been able to find mentions of her in a handful of books, and publications. On page 24 of the November 1907 (V8 n3) issue of the Union Labor Advocate they published her poem, "The Telegrapher's Determination" which appears to have been previously published by The Daily Socialist. Preceding the poem, the magazine states "Mrs. Nannie Parker, one of the striking telegraphers, has been giving expression to her feelings in verse." The afore mentioned strike referred to the Commercial Telegraphers Union of America (CTUA) Strike of 1907 in which workers demanded a wage increase, a shortened work day, better working conditions, & non-discrimination against union members. Women had the additional demand of equal pay for equal work, & eliminating sexual harassments they experienced on the job. Men & women were also angry about the added expense of providing one's own typewriter. Though the strike gained the attention of the Margaret Drier Robbins, president of the Women's Trade Union League, as well as suffragist Harriot Stanton Blatch, founder of the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women (later the Women's Political Union), it was unable to adequately disrupt Western Union's operations, and no real gains were made for workers. Margaret Dreier (Mrs. Raymond) Robins in 1919. Robins was president of Women's Trade Union League from 1907-1922. She was also one of the National Speakers with the Women's Hughes Campaign Train which traversed the country in 1916 to rally support for Glens Falls, NY native, & presidential candidate, Charles Evans Hughes. In the February 1911 edition of The Progressive Woman, a program on Women's Enfranchisement is outlined to be used for local Socialist chapter meetings. In the program, a recitation of Parker's poem "Comrades", as well as her song "Arise! Brave Woman" are featured. Arise! Brave Woman! (Tune: John Brown’s Body/ Battle Hymn of the Republic, Lyrics: Nannie Parker, 1910) Verse 1 Arise! Arise brave woman! There is work for you to do; Show the world that love is wisdom And love’s promises are true; Break the bonds that hold you captive For the world has need of you And we’ll go marching on. Chorus Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! As we go marching on. Verse 2 Do you need a sound to rouse you? Hear the little children cry; Do you need a sight to stir you? See the old who hopeless die. Shall they call to you in misery While you stand heedless by? No, we’ll go marching on. Chorus Verse 3 Man too long has fought unaided With the evil in the world; But together we shall conquer, All our strength against it hurled; And united march to victory, Our banners bright unfurled, As we go marching home. Chorus Verse 4 We will give the world fair daughters And those daughters shall be free; They shall stand beside their brothers On the ground of liberty, And the cause of right shall prosper On the land and on the sea As we go marching on. Chorus Verse 5 Then arise! Arise brave woman! There is work for you to do; Show the world that love is wisdom And love’s promises are true; Break the bonds that hold you captive For the world has need of you And we’ll go marching on. Chorus SOURCES
“Commercial Telegraphers Union of America.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, March 20, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Telegraphers_Union_of_America. Crew, Danny O. Suffragist Sheet Music: an Illustrated Catalogue of Published Music Associated with the Women's Rights and Suffrage Movement in America, 1795-1921, with Complete Lyrics. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2002. DuBois, Ellen Carol. Harriot Stanton Blatch and the Winning of Woman Suffrage. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999. “For Socialist Locals: Program for February. Woman's Enfranchisement.” The Progressive Woman 4, no. 45 (February 1911): 12–14. Jepsen, Thomas C. My Sisters Telegraphic: Women in the Telegraph Office, 1846-1950. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2000. Parker, Nannie. “The Telegraphers' Determination.” Labor Union Advocate 8, no. 3 (November 1907): 24.
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