Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / Women's Role in the Origins of Memorial Day

Transcript

Women's Role in the Origins of Memorial Day · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stephane
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: never told your production of I Heart Radio. Here's my
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: question for you, Samantha. Did you have a school spirit
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: at your university? Okay, um, of course, University of Georgia.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: If you know anything about the University of Georgia then
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: you know they are die hard sports allegiance type of school.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: So yes, I did have quote school spirit. I guess
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: in that even today, I'm proud of my alma mater,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: that I got my degree there, whatever whatnot. I was
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: excited to get accepted and start school there because it
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: felt big, especially coming from a small town. But I
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: think I was more annoyed while I was on campus
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: because it disrupted so much like school life that I
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: was like, I don't I don't want any part of this.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: What are you doing? And I know it's In fact,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: friends and I one person who had many friends who
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: got married during our time at school, would purposely stay
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: as far away from anything black and red as possible
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: because we didn't want to be quote those people. There's
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: nothing wrong with being proud, please, but at that point
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: in time, we were just so over it. It wasn't
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: that big of a deal to me. Right well, listeners,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: you might not know what Samantha and I are art rivals. Yes,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: we are sworn enemies. True story because I went to
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: the Institute of the Georgia Institute of Technology or Georgia
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Tech NERD. It's funny you say that because my dad
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: was like a college professor you see in those like
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: really sentimental movies with like cries with this kid is
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: when they move on. He was like, so, my mom
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: just found like a box of letters he kept from
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: his students. He was just so desperate for me and
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: my brothers, one of us to become a professor. It
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: met the world to him. None of his kids had
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: school spirit, and he would get it tickled him. But
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: he would get annoyed because I only went to one
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: game my entire time at Georgia Tech. And I would
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: purposefully go to the library during games because everyone was
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: at the games and library, which was usually packed, it
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: was nice and quiet, right, And now we would go
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: to the food halls because there was no one there,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and then it would be completely empty and everybody was
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: at the games. It was delightful. Or the coffee shops. Yeah, yeah,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: I mean I did, I really enjoyed the game I
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: went to, and then after I graduated, I went to
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: two more games and they were always really fun and
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: I liked the like walking around beforehand and like the
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: atmospherere and getting free stuff. I always liked that. But
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: it was just it's funny to me that there was
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: this big rivalry between A and Tech, and I had
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: so many students from U g A telling me like,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: we could care less about you. It's actually Florida. It's true,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: it's true. But part of that was because it was
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: more likely that Florida would put up a fun when
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: it came to football, so sorry, sorry, But also it
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: was more of a delight because they went away, Like
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: all of the Florida Georgia games were in Florida, it
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: was usually around fall break, so I mean the big
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: hiatus and I was like, oh good, the town was empty.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: I love this. But yeah, the rivalry stand because of
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: that specifically, I mean, people really enjoyed because Thanksgiving that
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: was always a Georgia rivalry game. Yeah it was. I won.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: I didn't win a Source Tech one one time I
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: watched on TV, and it was very one time they
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: did win the four times they won since then I
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: think I have not watched enough to care. Again, Um,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: when I was going to school, I don't. I think
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: I own a total of three U G A shirts
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: one sweatshirt because I was like, oh, I guess I
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: should buy some braining. I'm pretty sure my parents bought
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: me a U G A shirt at one point in time.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: I hated going to games. Hated it because of the crowd.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: But a lot of times we had adult men who
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: felt like they were college students and so would just
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: yell at my face. I had many incidents where I
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: would have grown men, and when I say grown men,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: fifty year old men come yell at me about whatever
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: sports was happening. I had a couple of grabbed me
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: corner me. So not great experiences. And U G A
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: is one of the most BROWI like toxic masculinity definition
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: when it comes to college football, and I hope it's
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: changed since then. I don't know, And I never enjoyed
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: any of that aspects. So right, well, I and then
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: we'll move on from this conversation and I'll tell you
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: why I brought it up. But the one game I
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: went to when I was in college, I was in
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: the visitors section. I can't remember why, but so I
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: was sitting with Clemson and it's a viral YouTube clip
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: and you can see me behind the guy. But this
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: guy from Clemson, bless his heart, was so into the game.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: And when Clemson lost, he was lied out on the
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: bleachers and he was just sobbing and like his arms
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: were there, he said, and I was looking down at him, like,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: people take this really serious. Yeah, to have that much love,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: I mean I definitely have friends. They would literally affect
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: their entire day, and so you know so and so,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: oh no, so and so it's going to be in
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: the worst mood. We have to get away from them
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: because you g A lost like stuff like that was
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: to love a sport that much, as interesting it is,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: and I have a lot of thoughts about that as
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: someone who is in fandom space. It's often mocked for
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: similar levels of fandomness. But that is a different conversation
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: for another time. I want to ask you because we're
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: going to be talking about U G A in this episode,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: which is something I did not expect to come up,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: because we're we're about to head into Memorial Day weekend
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: here in the United States, So this episode is gonna
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: be a bit shorter, but we wanted to look into
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: some of the women behind Memorial Day and as more
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: and more people are getting vaccinated and Memorial Day weekend
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: is often a time in the United States is like
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: kicking off the summer season of barbecues and being outside.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: And Samantha and I are actually attending one of said events. Yeah, yes,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: and we did. We have been experiencing some re entry anxiety,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: which I know has been in the news a lot,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: and we've talked about a lot, even if we didn't
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: use that term because I hadn't heard it before. But right, yeah,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: I think since I've been vaccinated, I've been out three
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: times and it felt like the last time felt better,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: but the first time was like, yes, who was overwhelming?
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: It was? It was very, very overwhelming and exhausting. And yes,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Samantha and I are going to some events together this
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: weekend and I'm both excited, but yeah, very like almost
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: pre tired. Right. I had that experience this weekend so
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: for unknown reasons, and it just came about I finally
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: have gone out, but it included having time out in
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: a outdoor market which is typically crowded, as well as
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: any time with my family, which is also really just
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: a big stressor for me in general. So both of
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: them came together in one weekend and I had back
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: to back to back things that happened, and I don't
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: love being social. I am overly anxious about what is happening.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: I am very anxious about the reaction around the mask mandates,
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: and of course there's not one anymore. CDC is kind
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: of lifted that, and I for when I'm like, oh no,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna keep wearing it thanks as long
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: as I'm around a group of people. And when I
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: was at the market, there were a lot of people
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: still wearing it, but there are a lot of people
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: who weren't, and I was kind of shocked how easily
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: people are like, hey, we're good, right, we're good. But
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: that makes me anxious again. The family incident made me anxious,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: and I was tired, and I think as we're recording today,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: I said the beginning, I'm like, I'm not sure if
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: I'm actually over going out this weekend, and yeah, we've
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: got more coming. When you started laughing, because I was like,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: oh my god, it's never ending, because it just seems
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: like so much right now, but at the same time
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: it seems unavoidable in keeping our friendships and keeping kind
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: of like maintained because it's a lot of birthday stuff.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: So my partner's birthday is this weekend, two of our
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: co worker's birthday is this weekend, and then Memorial Day
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: is happening, which I will be at home ignoring everybody.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: But there's this whole level of anxiety that again, like
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: I'm trying my best to not get so affective because
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: it really does just make me want to shut down.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: And as in fact, because we just did them Monday
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: many recently about our confidence issues and just anxiety and
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: coming out, and we did have a listener she said
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: in today's Monday Mini. You touched on in security about
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: going out and this doesn't apply to all of us,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: but I and some other trans people are definitely filling
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: out of practice at mentally preparing to be visible again.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: And that's separate from just our parents and oh my god, yeah,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine, especially with all of the bs that
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: is happening, with the anti trans law, antilogy BTQ stuff,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: as well as all the racist things that are happening,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: all the sexist thing that are happening. Fat phobia that
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: is happening. There's just overall level and part of that
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: is for me, part of the fat phobia and my
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: own insecurities on my body, the lack of things that
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: I've done during quarantine. You know, it's just such a
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: big thing. And amoral day is supposed to be about
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: celebrating kind of yeah, dot dot just getting as an
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: excuse to getting out, and man, that does not sound fun. Yeah,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: it's certainly a bit nerve racking. I'm finding I'm having
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: trouble with um. I guess people's expectations that I should,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: I should want to go out more and I'm not,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: and people seem to think that's weird. Are some people
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: in my life seemed to think that's weirder. That doesn't
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: match with how they think I am. And that's been
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: kind of a strange experience for me. But yeah, we
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: we also had another listener right in about having gender
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: and sexuality crisis or questions during the pandemic, and that
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: is something we wanted to come back and to do
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: a whole episode on. Hopefully we can find some information
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: right about that. And it also feels so weird to
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: be almost complaining that like we have friends. Yeah, we're
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: not complaining about we are complaining. Yeah, no, no, no, no, um.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: And there are so many things I do want to
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: come back and talk about in another episode about Like
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: I've just been reading about the whole death to Bras thing. Yeah.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: I have become a big fan of taint tops and
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: pull over sweaters because that means it's not so noticeable.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: But I'm not wearing a bra. Yeah, but because they
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: are starting to hang, but at the same time, I
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: don't care enough to try to lift them back up. Yeah. Well,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: I think the big thing for me is I accidentally,
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: because I haven't been wearing a bra in my apartment,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: I accidentally went outside without a bra. And I don't
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: think that ever, ever, ever, ever would have happened. Like
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: before this, we've been like a fear like but then
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: I was just like halfway to the grocery store or whatever.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: I'm like, oh yeah, wherever? All okay, yes, yes, yes, yes,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: but okay, let us get into our our topic at hand.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Here in the US, we celebrate Moral Day on the
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: last Monday in May as a way to honor service
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: women and men who have given their lives for this country.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Typically marked with a moment of silence and remembrance at
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: three pm local time. And women played a huge role
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: in the origins of Memorial Day, and perhaps obviously there's
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: been a long history of marking those who have died
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: in war. So this is pretty contained episode, but we
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: could go way way back for sure, and we are
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: going to go back to the Civil War. The country
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: was torn apart and some women looking for a way
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: to at least start the healing after years of brutal
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: and devastating conflict. One of the women leading to charge
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: on this was Ellen call Long, who helped establish the
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: first Memorial Day Associations, or the Women's Relief Society as
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: that was more likely called back then, in order to
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: honor those that had died in the war, they collected
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: flowers for what was called Decoration Day, and on this
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: day they also provided care for those disabled during the
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Civil War, widows and children. Some stories go that this
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: whole thing was inspired after the women saw bear Union
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: soldiers graves in enemy territory in the South and took
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: it upon themselves to decorate them as well. Right once
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: the war ended in eighteen sixty five, call Long, along
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: with other women came together to form a Memorial Society
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: with the hope of mending some of the pay that
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: toured the US apart, and eventually this led to Memorial Day.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: The federal government named Waterloo, New York, as a birthplace
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: of Memorial Day in nineteen sixty six, although several places
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: in the South also lay claim, and a few others
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: in the North. Twenty five cities altogether, and it became
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: a national holiday in nineteen seventy one, in part to
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: make a three day weekend for federal employees. The National
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Moment of Remembrance was enacted in two thousand, which is
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: a lot later than I thought. So some records suggest
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: that one of the earliest Memorial Day celebrations was held
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: in Charleston, South Carolina by Freed formerly Inslaved people upwards
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: about ten thousand people in attendance. Yes, And and about
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: the kind of recency of the Moment of Remembrance, I
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: think that was because for a lot of US, Memorial
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Day weekend has been lost, like the original meaning has
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: been lost, and it is like summertime in barbecue. So
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: this was a way of like trying to remind people
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: what it is about. Ellen call along is a complicated figure.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: She lived in Florida from five to nineteen o five.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: She was a plantation owner that profited off slave labor
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: and a unionist that may or may not have separated
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: from her husband due to conflicting views on secession, though
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: she did still provide support for the Confederacy by hosting
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: soldiers and providing aid to the wounded. So her husband
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: like moved to Texas and they never got divorced, but
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: they never lived together again, so okay. Also, she was
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: into silkworm cultivation and forestry, and in the eighteen eighties
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: she became the first woman officer of the Southern Forestry Congress.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: She compiled and presented a paper about the benefits of
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: burning when it comes to forestry, fifty years before it
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: was adopted in the region as a standard. She represented
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Florida at numerous exhibitions and events. She helped with historic
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: preservations like Mount Vernon. She turned down the postmaster position
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: in two and instead vocally supported black candidate William G. Stewart,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: which made a lot of local white people really mad,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: to the point that when her book Florida Breezes was
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: published the next year, these angry white people allegedly burned
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: and destroyed most of the copies to show their outrage.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: They didn't like her views on reconciliation either, or her
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: opposition to slavery and secession, and her opinion that President
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Lincoln was one of America's greatest presidents. This is not
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: to say she did not have problematic stances on rais,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: because she most certainly did. She wrote of her concerns
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: that black people wouldn't be able to care for themselves
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: or their children after the Civil War um, and she
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: was concerned about the plantation economy without slavery too. Cal
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: wrote in her book about the Ladies Memorial Association, quote,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: our purpose is purely religious, a labor of love, the
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: sacred care of the dead, to reclaim from oblivion and defamation,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: the memory and graves of those who quote right or wrong,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: stood by their country's cause. And no invidious spirit do
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: we come. The political storm that shook our country to
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: its foundation is past. War with its carnage is over,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: and we are done with the cause. And though we
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: scarce discover the silver lining of the dark clouds which
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: have so long hung like a paul above us, we
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: believe that it will show itself and are willing to
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: do all that women can do to stem the tide
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: of bitterness and a stage they're angry feelings that naturally
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: at present exists between two sections of the country. Yeah,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: and this note, of course, a lot of these groups
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: in the South were instrumental and still angry. I'll come
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: back to that. But in getting a Confederate Memorial Day
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: recognized as a holiday, and by the way, some states,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: including our state, still observed it, although they call it
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: just state holiday. But it's the same day in April,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: and I didn't know it existed until I worked at
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: the Department failed in any children's services, and they're like, yes,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Confederate Memorial Day, in which myself and a lot of
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: people of color just sat there and looked at each other,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: going what right, what is this? And yeah, it's still
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: exists here, just as known as state holiday. Yep. In
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: the early days, Memorial Day or Decoration Day was observed
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: by decorating soldiers graves with flowers and flags and saying
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: prayers over their grave sites and businesses closed and observance
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: call along and the other women started these early decoration days.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: But you just did a kind of superficial layer of googling.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: MARYA John A. Logan, the leader of a group of
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Civil War veterans, usually gets the credit for announcing that
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: May thirty should be a day for remembrance and adorning
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: soldiers graves of flowers in eighteen sixty eight, though he
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: himself often credited his wife, Mary Logan. The day was
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: chosen either because it commemorated at no particular battle and
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: or because it was when flowers were in full bloom.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: The first official observance following this announcement of Logans took
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: place at Arlington National Cemetery. About five thousand people attended,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: and small American flags were placed on the graves. The
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: day was observed across the country, and the Army and
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Navy had protocols in place for out to mark the
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: day by the end of the nineteenth century. But call
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: on it was not the only woman involved in making
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: Memorial Day what it is today. And we'll get into that,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: but first we're gonna pause for a crook break for
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: a word from her sponsor. Ammer back, thank you sponsored? Right. So,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: after World War One came to a close, Memorial Day
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: was expanded to include soldiers who had died in All
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: American Wars. This is also when the tradition of wearing
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: a poppy originated, largely things in part to a woman
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: named Boina Michael. She was inspired by the poem in
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: flanders Field, which featured red poppies in the imagery. She
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: wrote her own poem, called that We Shall Keep the Fate,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: and wore a red poppy to commemorate Memorial Day in
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: nineteen eighteen, urging others to do the same. She was
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: later featured on the three He Sent Stamp in the
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: US in nineteen forty eight as the founder of Memorial Poppy,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: and she published an autobiography called The Miracle Flower, The
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Story of the Flanders Filled Memorial Poppy in nineteen forty one.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Michael was an American professor. She worked at the University
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: of Georgia see then read that read makes a lot
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: more sense now. And she lived from eighteen sixty nine
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: ninety four. Her father had fought for the Confederacy and
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: her family owned a complantation. The outbreak of World War
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: One forced her to flee from Germany, where she was
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: spending her vacation. The journey took a tense sixteen days,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: with concerns of enemy ships in the water, mines and submarines.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: When Michael got back, she poured a lot of time
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: and effort into ways she could provide comforts for soldiers
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: waiting for deployment, including finding families to adopt them, basically
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: take care of them while they're waiting to be deployed,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: and relief for those that had returned. She also was
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: very instrumental and evacuating tourists from Europe, and shevolunteered at
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: the National y m c A as a war worker
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: and this is when she got the idea for using
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: poppies as a symbol for remembrance. She described the inspiration
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: for the idea in her book like this. On Saturday
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: morning before Armistice, during the twenty five Conference of the
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Overseas y m c A War Secretaries, November nine, a
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: young soldier, the son of A. G. Nevell, New York City,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Executive Secretary to the War Personnel Board of National War
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Workers Council, the governing board for ose Staff and y
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: m c A Secretaries for Overseas, placed a copy of
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: the November Ladies Home Journal on my desk at headquarters
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: about ten thirty o'clock when everyone was on duty elsewhere.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: I found time to read it and discovered the mark
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: page which carried Colonel John mccraye's poem we Shall Not Sleep,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: later named in Flanders Fields. It was vividly picturized, most
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: strikingly illustrated in color. I read the poem, which I
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: have read many times previously and studies is graphic picturization.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: The last verse transfixed me. To you, from failing hands,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: we throw the torch be yours to hold it high.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: If you break faith with us who die, we shall
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: not sleep. Though poppies grow in Flanders fields. That was
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: for me a full spiritual experience. It seemed as though
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: the silent voices again were vocal whispering in size of
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: anxiety onto anguish to you, from failing hands, we throw
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: the torch, be yours to hold it high. If you
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: So poppies grow in Flanders fields. Alone again, in a
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: high moment of white resolve, I pledged to keep the
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: faith and always wear a red poppy of Flanders Fields
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: as a sign of remembrance and the emblem of keeping
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: the faith with all who died in hectic times, as
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: were those times, great emotional impacts may be obliterated by
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: succeeding greater ones. So I felt impelled to make a
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: note of my pledge. I reached for a used yellow envelope,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: turned the blank side up, and hastily scrippled my pledge
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: to keep the faith with all who died. So she
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: told people she would wear red poppies in remembrance and
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: went out in New York City looking for them. She
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: parked twenty five and War one on her lapel, handing
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: out the others. She wrote that she wore hers until
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: her return home in February, and she was determined in
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: her efforts to make wearing poppies on Memorial Day a thing,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: including a national letter writing campaign and a public facing
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: leader of flanders Field Red Poppy Movement, to the point
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: that people called her the Poppy Lady, which there's a
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: whole other indication to that, but whatever, She sold poppies
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: and used the funds for injured or deceased soldiers. In
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: nineteen twenty, the American Legion named the poppy as their
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: official flower, and in nineteen four they started distributing poppies
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: as a national program. World War One veterans Organizations around
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: the world adopted the practice, including Canada, Australia, the UK,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: and New Zealand. Dating back to the nineteen twenties and
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: to this day, red poppies are worn on Remembrance Day
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: and Veterans Day. Selling poppies has raised billions of dollars.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: According to her great nephew, Michael helped raise three billion
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: dollars during her lifetime alone, accounting for inflation. The distribution
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: of three point five American Legion auxiliary poppies raised two
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: point one million dollars for American veterans in sixteen, and
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: the British Royal Legion distributes up to forty five million
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: poppies a year, raising around sixty four million dollars for
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: retired or injured soldiers. So when the war came to
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: an end, Michael taught a class for disabled service members
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: and attended weekly meetings of the local Chapter of Disabled
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: American Veterans. She planted poppies on UGA's campus, and in
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: Michael's hometown of Good Hope. There's a road named after her,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: a historical marker, and an annual poppy fest. She was
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: also inducted into the Georgia Women of achievement in nineteen nine. Yeah,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: and if anyone is curious, uh, surprisingly enough, over on
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: the other podcasting Saber, which is about food, we did
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: an episode on poppies and we talked about this poem,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: the original poem in flanders Field and why poppies were used.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: And poppies are really brightly colored and pretty and red
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: these mass grave sites. During wars, they would sprout up
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: on on the mass grave sites, so that is at
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: least part of the reason that they were chosen. We
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: do have a little bit more for you listeners, but
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: first we have one worker break for word from our
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: sponsors and we're back. Thank you sponsoring. We just wanted
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: to touch on a few things as we close up here,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: uh this Memorial Day weekend. As we're recording it, you
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: could be listening to it whenever, because yeah, modernly, there
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: are still so many issues with the military and in
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: this context, especially when it comes to women, sexual assault,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: and the l g B t Q plus community. One
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: of the biggest moments for women's serving in the U. S.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Army was the Women's Armed Services Act of nine. Still today,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: women make up only about six of US military forces.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: The numbers are much lower when it comes to leadership roles.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: The first woman to be named as a four star
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: general general and Dunwoodie of the U. S Army earned
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: the title in two thousand and eight. So very recently,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: openly gay members of the lgbt Q plus community were
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: allowed to serve, beginning in twenty eleven with the lifting
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: of a ban on transgender folks in one which we've
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: talked about. The ban explicitly prohibiting gay and lesbian people
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: was enacted in nineteen eighty two. Before that they would
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: be just charged or I believe criminally it was a
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: criminal offense, so it could be. And don't ask, don't
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: tell was enacted in nineteen ninety three. Spousal benefits were
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: granted to LGBTQ plus military members. Uh in right, and
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: there are plenty of first when it comes to marginalized
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: folks serving in the US military. We talked about day
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Williams in our Female First series with Ease, for example,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: um and history is full of fierce warriors, plenty of
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: whom we've talked about. At the same time, women and
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: members of the l g bt Q plus community have
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: long been serving the military, whether officially or not, or
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: in the capacity of nurses, scientists, operators keeping the country
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: and running in all kinds of ways, and many of
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: their contributions unrecognized or refused to be recognized yet. And
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: obviously it's been a big point of contention in the
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: last six years about what's been happening. And yes, with
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: a new administration, with the band being lifted for the
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: trans community be able to serve, and the fact that
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: it's still a conversation is really sad to me and
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: I can't I can't get over that. But yeah, and
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: then just the ugly history of how women and marginalized
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: communities are treated within those fields as well, and why,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: for some reason we still have to talk about the
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: I guess, the overall lack of care for after services
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: and how little is being done and how little money
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: is being invested for that, as well as who can
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: act says it. So lots of big things that we
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: could talk about here and we need to talk about soon,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: but not necessarily from a moyal day, I guess. Yeah, Yeah,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: I just felt like that was good to touch on
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: that because there are a lot of complicated issues around
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: pretty much everything we talked about, but certainly the military
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: and certainly in this case the US military, And that's
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: a good point about the aftercare and the lack thereof
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: veterans often don't I guess, don't receive and that is
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: these women we've talked about, all these women's groups, that's
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: what their focus was was, you know, the the veterans
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: and the children left behind or the widows left behind.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: So they were trying to fill that space and that's
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: a part of why we have Memorial Day today. And
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: then of course there's recently been the whole hubbub around
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: dead crews, and they woke emasculated military, as he called
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: it in the US after a US commercial followed a
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: woman soldier. He compared it to Russian commercial for their military.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: And I think that's very telling right there. Right I
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: was gonna say that seems a little bit on the nose.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: It does. It does. And I know we've talked about
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: this before, but I grew up in a military town.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Is one of the biggest military colleges in Southeast I
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: think we had like an r OTC program, and I
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: know I talked about it, but I people try to
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: recruit me into the military, and that was a selling point.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Was pretty much this brewery culture. But they were selling
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: it to me and like, you're gonna have all the
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: pics of hot dudes that you want And I was fifteen, right,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: huh okay, that is that is not a selling point. Yeah,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: I don't know about that. Well. Listeners, we hope that
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: whatever you're doing or not doing that you're doing well,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: and um, let us know. Let us know if you're
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: experiencing reintriue anxiety or if you have any other topics
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: around the military you would like us to discuss, because
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: we know there is so much to unpack there and
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: you can send any of those suggestions are way our emails,
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Stuff Medium, mom Stuff at iHeart media dot com. You
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast or
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: on Instagram at Stuff I've Never Told to You. Thanks
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: It's always start a super producer, Christina. Thank you, Christina,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening Stuff I've Never Told
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: You the protection of I Heart Radio. For more podcast
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: on I heart Radio, you can listen to the I
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: your favorite shows.