Hayden Young

Martha Young was born on June 18, 1912 in Albany, New York. Her life was enveloped in war and segregation, but she still saw the good in people. During her life as a child, she was separated from people of color as many kids were, but she found that they were basically the same, and from an early stage in life she learned to appreciate everyone. As she grew, problems of economic and social categories grew as well. Noticing the mistreatment of colored people, she fought to fix it. In my life the wrong outweighs the right and our moral compasses have led us astray. She fixed her compass and used it wisely. Her efforts were achievable and she soon got what she asked for. Women voting, Black people being treated as equals, and most importantly the return of rights to the people.

Hedwig Dohm was the illegitimate child of Gustav Adolph Schlesinger and Henriette Wilhelmine Jülich, born in September 1831, in Berlin. Overcome by the laws of men, women were forced to endure not having the right to vote. Human life thrives from the support of family and Hedwig’s mother left, leaving her sad and alone without a mother for two years. Living with only a dad can be great but he can’t supply you with the love of a mother. Her life was drowned in pity and regret, but she stood strong. Most of Germany during the time period was immigrating to America. The state was poor and had a massive decline in power.

As Hedwig aged, the condition of the Confederate State was on a massive decline due mostly to war. Family living became much more difficult so she was forced to drop out of her school at the age of fifteen to clean homes. After nearly three years she became an assistant at a teaching seminary and married Ernst Dohm, a German actor, writer, and translator. They moved away from the grasps of their families and associated themselves with the brighter side of Berlin. In 1867 she published her first study, one on the development of Spanish history in literature.

Hedwig lived her entire life as an autodidact, teaching and inspiring herself. Learning what would not be taught to women during the time period. From the early 1870s onwards, she published feminist treatises demanding social, legal and economic freedom to women, as well as supporting women’s suffrage. Her life became recognized throughout Germany as a brilliant and she also wrote theatrical hit comedies in Berlin. But her success had opposition. Many moderate feminists concentrated their efforts on educational opportunities for women, and they believed her efforts were a distraction. So again she published numerous feminist movement treatises, and during her uplifting breakthrough on the reform of women she made the time to found the Reform Association.

This was an organization that gave females the opportunity to learn at universities. Her messages defined the values of women. They tore down the immodest, dishonorable male claims that denied the rights of women, and slammed the patriarchal social system to the core. She promoted the ideals of thousands with her groundbreaking memorandum. Her endeavor to provide women’s rights exemplifies the endurance and strength women have always had. Nearing the end of her life she gave a speech, not about how much she did in her life, but a message of dislike for the patriotic fever spreading due to World War I. Her early life was a disaster, but she persisted. Unbeknownst to her family, she became one of the most influential women’s rights activists of Germany becoming famous throughout the rest of the world.  

I haven’t done anything like this before, but the experience and opportunity given to me was amazing. Putting all this research into not only my suffragette, but the entire women’s rights movement has been enlightening. I'm glad for all the women who have put their life and soul into something so important. I may not be a woman but their story gives me pride, I understand the hardships they endured. This fight has not only been a symbol of freedom, but a message that when you believe in something enough, no mountain is too high, and no ocean too deep.

I have learned that when you have something you love stripped away from you, you realize how helpless you can feel, but when you have people you love it can fill the gap. Your freedoms may seem easy to keep, but when you have them taken away it’s hard to get them back. That’s what women fought for and taught us. Women like Helen Keller, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mother Teresa, Rosa Parks, Anne Frank, and Michelle Obama taught us that you are a person, no matter whether you’re a woman, gay, black, white, Mexican, Indian, and Asian. We need to understand each other. That’s what this project has helped me understand. The women’s rights movement was about so much more than giving women the right to vote. It was a representation of the right of every man and woman to possess life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Suffrage was a battle that taught not only America but the world that what we stand for is more than the laws of man. We also stand for the virtues of women, civil rights and peace on earth.