Poem: "A Velvet Revolution"
Aug. 15th, 2021 05:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithBased on an audience poll, this is the free epic for the August 3, 2021 Poetry Fishbowl meeting its $200 goal. It came out of the June 2, 2020 Poetry Fishbowl based on a prompt from siliconshaman. It also fills the "Knitting / Sewing / Crochet / etc." square in my 6-1-20 card for the Cottoncandy Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the Arts and Crafts America series.
"A Velvet Revolution"
[1897-1929]
The first Women's Institute began
in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada,
founded by Erla and Janet Lee.
It provided a place for women to learn
new skills, launch their own careers,
and earn enough money to revitalize
small towns and rural communities
through their organizational efforts.
They made precious things --
silk velvet and thread of gold,
jewels carved into tiny flowers,
garments fit for beautiful queens --
to magnify the worth of their labor.
They lobbied, too, for the right to vote
and for other rights, and when men
claimed they were unworthy, Erla
shoved them at a loom and
suggested they try their hand.
They always took the bait.
It was always a disaster.
After the Great War,
the campaign got easier.
The women who had woven
canvas for airplane wings
were more respected than
those who wove velvet,
even though velvet was
infinitely more difficult.
In Canada, they won
the vote in 1917.
Not to be left behind,
the United States and
Britain hurried to follow suit
before the year ran out.
After the Red Summer
of 1919, the women
turned their attention
to the issue of racism.
The Harlem Renaissance
brought forth the colors
and motifs of Africa --
red, yellow, green, black.
Women drew inspiration from
the bold geometric designs
of kente cloth and made
brilliant bolts of silk velvet.
They sewed it into garments
modeled on the religious cope,
the hems heavy with embroidery,
the front fastened with a clasp
of gold and precious gems.
They didn't sell these.
Instead they awarded them
to the most notable artists
of the Harlem Renaissance
and other leaders among
the colored people.
It was harder for anyone
to ignore them when they wore
tapestries that burned with all
the colors of African sunsets.
In 1929, laws were passed
protecting colored people from
violence and discrimination.
The changes came, slowly
but surely, not loud with
the firing of guns but quiet
with the opening of doors.
It was a Velvet Revolution.
* * *
Notes:
The Women's Institute is a kind of community-based organisation for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. It started in Canada, inspired by the British tradition of Women's Guilds.
Velvet has a deep history.
Women who owned property gained the right to vote in the Isle of Man in 1881, and in 1893, women in the then British colony of New Zealand were granted the right to vote. In Australia, women progressively gained the right to vote between 1894 and 1911 (federally in 1902).[3] Most major Western powers extended voting rights to women in the interwar period, including Canada (1917), Britain and Germany (1918), Austria and the Netherlands (1919) and the United States (1920). Notable exceptions in Europe were France, where women could not vote until 1944, Greece (1952), and Switzerland (1971).
World War I (aka the Great War) lasted from 1914 to 1918. Vast casualties let to tumultuous sociopolitical changes. During the war, aerial dogfights featured planes made with fabric-covered frames.
Major social movements of the 1920s included feminism/flappers, the Harlem Renaissance, the Jazz Age, and Art Deco.
The Red Summer occurred in 1919 as a result of white mobs attacking black people and businesses.
Read about kente cloth and African colors.
The cope is a liturgical vestment in religious colors.
siliconshaman. It also fills the "Knitting / Sewing / Crochet / etc." square in my 6-1-20 card for the Cottoncandy Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the Arts and Crafts America series."A Velvet Revolution"
[1897-1929]
The first Women's Institute began
in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada,
founded by Erla and Janet Lee.
It provided a place for women to learn
new skills, launch their own careers,
and earn enough money to revitalize
small towns and rural communities
through their organizational efforts.
They made precious things --
silk velvet and thread of gold,
jewels carved into tiny flowers,
garments fit for beautiful queens --
to magnify the worth of their labor.
They lobbied, too, for the right to vote
and for other rights, and when men
claimed they were unworthy, Erla
shoved them at a loom and
suggested they try their hand.
They always took the bait.
It was always a disaster.
After the Great War,
the campaign got easier.
The women who had woven
canvas for airplane wings
were more respected than
those who wove velvet,
even though velvet was
infinitely more difficult.
In Canada, they won
the vote in 1917.
Not to be left behind,
the United States and
Britain hurried to follow suit
before the year ran out.
After the Red Summer
of 1919, the women
turned their attention
to the issue of racism.
The Harlem Renaissance
brought forth the colors
and motifs of Africa --
red, yellow, green, black.
Women drew inspiration from
the bold geometric designs
of kente cloth and made
brilliant bolts of silk velvet.
They sewed it into garments
modeled on the religious cope,
the hems heavy with embroidery,
the front fastened with a clasp
of gold and precious gems.
They didn't sell these.
Instead they awarded them
to the most notable artists
of the Harlem Renaissance
and other leaders among
the colored people.
It was harder for anyone
to ignore them when they wore
tapestries that burned with all
the colors of African sunsets.
In 1929, laws were passed
protecting colored people from
violence and discrimination.
The changes came, slowly
but surely, not loud with
the firing of guns but quiet
with the opening of doors.
It was a Velvet Revolution.
* * *
Notes:
The Women's Institute is a kind of community-based organisation for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. It started in Canada, inspired by the British tradition of Women's Guilds.
Velvet has a deep history.
Women who owned property gained the right to vote in the Isle of Man in 1881, and in 1893, women in the then British colony of New Zealand were granted the right to vote. In Australia, women progressively gained the right to vote between 1894 and 1911 (federally in 1902).[3] Most major Western powers extended voting rights to women in the interwar period, including Canada (1917), Britain and Germany (1918), Austria and the Netherlands (1919) and the United States (1920). Notable exceptions in Europe were France, where women could not vote until 1944, Greece (1952), and Switzerland (1971).
World War I (aka the Great War) lasted from 1914 to 1918. Vast casualties let to tumultuous sociopolitical changes. During the war, aerial dogfights featured planes made with fabric-covered frames.
Major social movements of the 1920s included feminism/flappers, the Harlem Renaissance, the Jazz Age, and Art Deco.
The Red Summer occurred in 1919 as a result of white mobs attacking black people and businesses.
Read about kente cloth and African colors.
The cope is a liturgical vestment in religious colors.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-08-19 02:11 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2021-08-19 02:54 am (UTC)