My latest podcast is up on the New Books Network website! In it, I interview June Purvis about her new biography of the British suffragist Christabel Pankhurst (which I reviewed here). Enjoy!

The Pankhurst family is indelibly associated with the British suffragist movement, thanks in no small part to their tireless activism on behalf of women's rights. Yet while the matriarch Emmeline is commemorated with a statue at Westminster and her second daughter Sylvia has been the focus of numerous printed works (including her own 1931 book The Suffragette Movement) Emmeline's eldest daughter Christabel has not received the same degree of recognition for her efforts. Part of the reason for this, as June Purvis explains in her superb biography of the orator and activist, is because of the sibling rivalry that existed between the two sisters and the role that Sylvia's history-cum-memoir played in shaping our perception of their roles in the suffrage movement -- a role that has overshadowed the vital role Christabel played in winning British women the right to vote.

In many ways Christabel's activism was a product of her upbringing. A barrister and activist, Richard raised his children to advocate for social and political reform. Even before completing university Christabel was doing just that, as she joined with her mother in forming the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903. Breaking away from the mannered and respectable agitation of older women's rights organizations, the WSPU disrupted speeches, vandalized property, and engaged in hunger strikes and other activities in prison to promote their cause.  Christabel was a leading figure of this effort, thanks to her abilities as an orator and her commitment to her cause.

Exiled to France in 1912, Christabel returned to Britain with the start of the First World War. Unlike her pacifist sisters she joined with her mother in championing the war effort, renaming the WSPU's newspaper Britannia and calling for a more vigorous prosecution of the conflict. Though her conviction that such efforts would be rewarded with the vote were partially vindicated in 1918, she shared the despair many of her contemporaries felt at the loss of so many lives, A chance encounter in a bookstore led Christabel to embrace the Second Adventist movement, and in the early 1920s she moved to Los Angeles, where she spent her later years as a preacher and author of religious books.

Exhaustively researched and well-written, Purvis's book is a model of what a biography should be. Her efforts serve to rehabilitate Christabel's image from the diminishment of it that her sister and other scholars have so often unjustly inflicted. It is a book that everyone interested in the suffrage movement should read, both for its celebration of Christabel's achievements and the insight it provides into how she and other activists fought for and won the right for millions of women to be heard.

This was a very informative read, though Purvis spends a lot of space in its pages warring with both Sylvia Pankhurst and Martin Pugh's accounts of Christabel's life and the suffrage movement. Review to follow.

Emmeline Pankhurst, principale rappresentante del movimento delle suffragette, si batté contro l’ostilità del governo che non voleva riconoscere il diritto di voto alle donne.

La protesta, iniziata in modo pacifico interrompendo i discorsi dei rappresentati politici con una domanda ripetuta all’infinito: «Il governo liberale darà il voto alle donne?», non ottenendo che qualche vaga promessa destinata a perdersi nel nulla sfociò in atti di rappresaglia.

Emmeline e le donne del movimento subirono maltrattamenti, arresti, processi e condanne severe.

“ Hanno deciso che per gli uomini è vigliacco e disonorevole restare silenziosamente inerti dinanzi a regole tiranniche che impongono su di loro vincoli di schiavitù, ma che per le donne la stessa cosa non sarebbe vigliacca e disonorevole, solo dignitosa. Bene, le suffragette ripudiano nel modo più assoluto questa doppia scala di valori morali. Se è giusto per gli uomini lottare per la propria libertà – e Dio sa come sarebbe oggi la razza umana se non lo avessero fatto, dall’inizio dei tempi –, allora è giusto anche per le donne lottare per la propria libertà e per la libertà dei figli che portano in grembo.

Gli atti di protesta s’interruppero con l’inizio della Prima guerra mondiale, e il governo rilasciò le militanti incarcerate.

Ma… “… la lotta per la piena emancipazione delle donne non è stata abbandonata; essa è stata, per il momento, semplicemente sospesa. Quando il fragore delle armi cesserà, quando la normale, pacifica e razionale società riprenderà le sue funzioni, la richiesta verrà fatta di nuovo. Se non sarà accordata rapidamente, allora, ancora una volta, le donne prenderanno le armi che oggi hanno generosamente deposto. Non ci potrà mai essere una pace reale sulla terra finché alla donna, la metà materna della famiglia umana, non sarà data libertà nei consessi del mondo.”

In quest’opera autobiografica, Emmeline Pankhurst racconta la sua vita di donna, moglie, madre, fondatrice della “Women’s Social and Political Union”, attivista e simbolo della lotta per i diritti delle donne.

Un libro per le donne che combattono coraggiosamente ogni giorno contro le disparità.

Un libro per gli uomini, perché comprendano, se non l’avessero già capito, chi sono le donne e di cosa sono capaci. To’!

as I got further into Suffrajitsu, I fell further in love. Not only does it have some BA women doing BA things, but I love the dialogue. Now, I will take this time to remind potential readers that this is an alternate history and events did not go down like this. However, this graphic novel is less about the suffragette movement than it is about the actions of these specific suffragists. It's the kind of graphic novel that you have to know a little about the subject matter to really enjoy but the little that is required is totally covered by the Suffragette movie that came out last year, which can be streamed on Amazon Video here. I might be a fan of this movie. It just does a great job of not romanticizing one side or the other. It shows the hardships the women went through without over glorifying it and lets the viewer make their own decisions about their actions. There are also plenty of books that cover this part of history.

Getting back to Suffrajitsu, I enjoyed it, particularly after realizing what it was. This is not a graphic novel overview of the historical events. It's just a set of comics that use some of these women as characters. It's a fun read but not the kind that a reader should take their history from. Definitely fiction. Definitely interesting. Definitely fun. I loved the main characters. I've known quite a few women like this. They could be sitting in a bar talking about anything and I would love to read about it.