Marching for Liberation and Pride

Photo Credit: allysonmiller1969 on Pixabay at https://pixabay.com/users/allysonmiller1969-224234/

Updated on June 7, 2023

In her 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neal Hurston famously wrote, “Some years ask questions, and some years answer.” This year seems to be asking more questions than ever, and communities are seeking answers. In 1969, people in the gay community were looking for answers, too. The Stonewall Uprising took place that year on June 28 in a seedy but beloved bar called The Stonewall Inn. Often described as a riot, this pivotal event sparked a revolution.

Just one year later, The Christopher Street Gay Liberation March, which is now recognized as the first Pride parade, took place in Greenwich Village. The march united the community (although the early gay liberation efforts were far from inclusive) and ignited the modern gay rights movement. Activist Martin Boyce put it this way: "What began as a question mark downtown ended in an exclamation point." Sunday is the 50-year anniversary of that first Pride event, and the LGBTQ+ community is continuing to work for progress in achieving equal rights.

To capture the enthusiasm and renegade spirit of the original Christopher Street Gay Liberation March, and to oppose the so-called rainbow capitalism and corporate pinkwashing that has come to dominate modern Pride parades, a more rebellious, politically minded activist group called the Reclaim Pride Coalition is hosts a Queer Liberation March on a Sunday in New York. The march, which is distinguishing itself as a protest with an agenda and a Statement of Purpose, will be streamed online. Many other virtual Pride events are taking place all over the Web. Don’t miss your chance to observe the occasion.

This is certainly a year that asks questions, but people are demanding answers, too. All people who live at the margins are fighting to be acknowledged. They want accountability and action, the same outcomes that gay rights pioneers like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera fought for at that first Pride march on June 28, 1970. In recognition of their efforts, and in celebration of the legal advances that LGBTQ+ individuals have achieved in the fight for equal rights, we are providing a curated list of further reading on the topics of gay liberation, the Stonewall Uprising, and the modern LGBTQ+ movement in the courts and in the culture.

Then and Now

An Amazing 1969 Account of the Stonewall Uprising – The Atlantic

What Does Pride Mean Now? – New York Times

Stonewall Then and Now – The Harvard Gazette

Stonewall National Monument – National Parks Service

Timelines

The Court Cases That Changed L.G.B.T.Q. Rights – New York Times

Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement – American Experience PBS

LGBTQ Rights Milestones Fast Facts – CNN

Intersections

Global Pride To Focus On Black Lives Matter At First Worldwide LGBT Event -- Forbes

LGBTQ communities are elevating black voices during Pride Month in solidarity – CNN

Video

Stonewall Forever: A Documentary about the Past, Present and Future of Pride

Who Threw the First Brick? Let’s Argue About It – New York Times

Stonewall Uprising – American Experience PBS

Gay and Proud – Library of Congress

Juneteenth

GENERAL ORDER NUMBER 3

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them, becomes that between employer and hired labor. The Freedmen are advised to remain at their present homes, and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts; and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.” – General Order, No. 3

On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger, marched through Galveston, Texas reading the historic announcement that declared All Slaves Free. President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, which declared, “That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward and forever free…” However, with few Union troops available to enforce the order, Lincoln’s proclamation had little impact in Texas. Not until General Granger’s Union troops read spread across the state and read the announcement were Texans fully aware of President Lincoln’s executive action that freed the enslaved.

June 20, 1865 in Harris County

The impact of Granger’s General Order Number 3 was not immediate outside of Galveston. Instead, June 19, 1865 marked the beginning of the news spreading across Texas along with the arduous advancement of Union troops westward. An interesting 2008 article written by Bill Kroger (the current president of the Houston Bar Association) details the story of Granger’s troops marching through Houston on June 20, 1865, taking over the Harris County Courthouse, and firing a cannon every day as a reminder of Union control after the surrender of the Confederacy. You can find the article published in The Houston Lawyer at the following link:

Reconstructing Reconstruction: Stories from the Harris County Court Archives on How the Rule of Law Was Restored After the Civil War – The Houston Lawyer, January/February 2008

Juneteenth Today

Today, as we commemorate the difficult journey of racial justice in the last 155 years, we offer historical resources and some of the best writing on the subject of emancipation and race, along with personal reflections of what Juneteenth means to those whose lives were and continue to be impacted by the legacy of slavery in this country.

FURTHER READING

 Original Juneteenth Order Found in the National Archives -- Washington Post, June 18, 2020

Juneteenth: FREEDOM -- New York Times, June 19, 2020

How Did We Get Here? 163 Years of The Atlantic’s Writing on Race and Racism in America – The Atlantic, June 16, 2020

The Historical Legacy of Juneteenth — National Museum of African American History and Culture

What is Juneteenth? — The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (PBS)

With Juneteenth, America Can Shine a Light on Its Dark Past - Isabel Wilkerson - The Takeaway, WNYC, June 9, 2017

Looking Back - From a Field to the Bill of Rights

It all began in a field. It seems strange to say that modern democracy was born in a simple meadow somewhere between Windsor and Staines. Back on June 15, 1215, in a meadow at Runnymeade, King John of England and a group of rebellious barons that had been threatening civil war signed a peace treaty. Little did they know at the time the lasting effect that this treaty, known later as the Great Charter or Magna Carta, would have not only at the time but hundreds of years later across a wide span of ocean in a land just finding its way. The Magna Carta, with its espousal of principles of liberty, inspired America’s Founding Fathers to include those rights in the United States Constitution and specifically the Bill of Rights. One of the central tenets of the Magna Carta, the protection from loss of life, liberty, or property without due process of law , provided the central theme for the declaration of individual rights set out in the Bill Rights. Other important rights and liberties stemming from this historic document are the right to trial by jury, the right to a speedy trial, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, freedom from excessive fines or bail, and freedom from compulsory self-incrimination. The foundation for the notion of habeas corpus can also be found in the Magna Carta.

To learn more about Magna Carta and to see copies of one of the most important legal documents in history, check out these digital exhibits and resources:

Harris County Law Library’s Magna Carta: A Digital Exhibit

Library of Congress’s Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor

National Archives: Magna Carta

British Library: Magna Carta

Law Day 2020: “Your Vote, Your Voice, Our Democracy: The 19th Amendment at 100”

This year’s Law Day celebration commemorates the centennial of the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed that the right to vote could not be denied or abridged on the basis of sex. The success in gaining the right to vote was a culmination of a women’s rights movement that began nearly a century before, predating the United States Civil War. The road to equality was a rough one, interrupted and tempered by a period of turmoil in United States history. The period between the beginning of the women’s suffrage movement to its ultimate success with the adoption of the 19th Amendment on August 26, 1920, saw the country torn apart by civil war, bear the assassination of a president, endure the pains of the Reconstruction era, fight in a world war, and suffer through a global influenza epidemic.

Today in 2020, we are facing another global pandemic that has forced the world to alter the way its citizens live, work, and play. There are lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, social distancing rules, and mandatory mask-wearing requirements. Among all of this upheaval we are reminded that this is a presidential election year. This is not the first time that our country had to make difficult choices in balancing the public’s health and safety with the public’s right to vote. The 1918 influenza pandemic began in the spring of 1918, but there was a resurgence of cases once fall arrived. In October 1918 alone, 195,000 Americans died. What did all of this mean for the women who were clamoring for the right to vote and Americans who were looking to show their patriotism by casting a ballot in the November 1918 midterm elections? History showed that the word still got out. Quarantines, business shutdowns, and bans on public gatherings did not deter the suffragists in their crusade for equal voting rights and the opportunity to participate in the electoral process. Although the 1918 pandemic had the potential to derail their efforts, the women changed course, and instead of train tours and public speaking rallies, they turned to leafletting and newspaper advertising to draw attention to their cause. Relying upon wartime sentiment, they stressed patriotism and emphasized presidential support and urged eligible male voters to cast their votes in favor of the referendums pending in four states. Despite a much lower voter turnout due to the pandemic, suffrage referendums passed in three of the four states.

How then did the United States manage to hold an election during a time when an epidemic was ravaging the nation and killing thousands? It wasn’t easy. Most reports indicated that the flu peaked just before the November 5 election. Thus, to carry out these mid-term elections, certain precautions had to be taken on Election Day to ensure that the health and safety of the voters would not be compromised. Measures, such as social distancing and mandatory mask-wearing, were put in place. However, even with these planned precautions, some polls could not open because there were too many infected people suffering with the flu. The conditions on Election Day were also dependent upon one’s location in the country. By that time, many cities on the East Coast were easing their restrictions as the flu’s peak was passing. The pandemic’s toll shows up in the number of people voting. Approximately, 40% percent of the voting population turned out for the election. Although the lower voter turnout did not affect the legitimacy of the election itself, would it have been better to postpone the election until more voters could safely cast their ballot?

Here, in 2020, states are grappling with how to handle the upcoming elections in light of the coronavirus. Of course, the general election is still months away. However, states need to consider how to manage a presidential election at a time when the nation could be facing a resurgence of the coronavirus. The National Conference of State Legislatures has compiled a list of legislative actions and executive actions that have ben issued in response to the pandemic threat. Some states have submitted bills to postpone the primary elections and to allow absentee and mail voting for more than just limited members of the population for the general election. No one can say for certain what the conditions will be like on Election Day in November, but it’s important for states to be prepared. The suffragists worked hard to win the right to vote for women. Now, it’s up to our governments to determine how its citizens can exercise that right to vote in a manner that ensures not only the safety of the voters and poll workers but also maintains the integrity of the election itself. In that way, it can truly be our vote, our voice, our democracy.

Further Reading

A Pandemic Nearly Derailed the Women’s Suffrage Movement

Voting During a Pandemic? Here’s What Happened in 1918

The Lessons of the Elections of 1918

How the US Pulled Off Midterm Elections Amid the 1918 Flu Pandemic

How the 1918 Flu Pandemic Helped Advance Women’ Rights

Friday Firsts: Arabella "Belle" Mansfield - first woman admitted to the bar in the U.S.

This post was written by Jessica King, an extraordinary intern at the Harris County Law Library.

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Arabella “Belle” Mansfield. Courtesy of Iowa Department of Human Rights.

In 1869, Arabella Mansfield became the first woman admitted to the Bar in the United States. Her achievement is an important first in the history of women in law, and she is often called the first woman lawyer in the United States.*

Early Life and Education

She was born in Iowa on August 23, 1946, and named Arabella Aurelia Babb, although for much of her life she was also known as “Belle.” When Arabella was six years old, her father died in an accident in the California Gold Rush, and she returned to Iowa with her mother and older brother, Washington Irving Babb.

Arabella later attended college at Iowa Wesleyan University. She graduated in 1866, the same year as her older brother Washington Irving Babb, whose studies had been interrupted by his enlistment during the Civil War. Arabella was the valedictorian and her brother was the salutatorian.

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Page showing Arabella and her brother’s senior class listed in the Iowa Wesleyan Academic Catalog of 1865-66. Courtesy of Iowa Wesleyan University

 Her brother went into a career in law and became a partner in the new firm Ambler & Babb. Arabella read law as an apprentice in her brother’s office, and kept up her study after marrying John Mansfield, another Iowa Wesleyan graduate.

Passing the Bar

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The law excluding Arabella Mansfield from admission to the bar was Iowa Code of 1851, Section 1610. Source: the Iowa Legislature Archives

Arabella Mansfield passed the bar on June 15, 1869. She had to argue her case to be admitted to the bar association, since the law on the books described “any white male citizen” as eligible to be a lawyer. Belle convinced a judge that there was nothing in that law forbidding a woman to be a lawyer. She won the right to be a woman lawyer. She also won the admiration of her bar examiners, quoted below:

 Your committee takes unusual pleasure in recommending the admission of Mrs. Mansfield, not only because she is the first lady who has applied for this authority in the state, but because in her examination she has given the very best rebuke possible to the imputation that ladies cannot qualify for the practice of law.

ABA Journal Gallery - 13 Pioneering Women in American Law

The next year, in March, 1870, the law was revised to remove the words “white male.”

Career and Legacy

Arabella Mansfield never practiced law, but enjoyed a successful career in academia, on the faculty of Iowa Wesleyan and DePauw University, as well as lecturing extensively. She was involved in many causes, including women’s suffrage. In her lifetime, she was recognized with honorary membership in the National League of Women Lawyers and honorary membership to the Delta Chi fraternity (for male law students) at DePauw. After her death in 1911, her legacy continues to inspire modern generations. The National Association of Women Lawyers named an award in her honor. She paved the way for many other women lawyers that followed.

Sources and Further Reading:

• Louis A. Haselmeyer, Belle A. Mansfield – August 23, 1846 – August 1, 1911, 55 WOMEN LAW. J. 46, 54 (1969). Available via HeinOnline.

• Biographical Sketch from the University of Iowa

• ABA Journal Gallery - 13 Pioneering Women in American Law

• A Timeline of Women Lawyers, from the New York Women’s Bar Association

*Note: Margaret Brent, who appeared before the court in the American colonies during the 1600s, has also been called America’s first woman lawyer. Read more about Margaret Brent’s life and achievements on In Custodia Legis from the Law Library of Congress.