Pam's Page for Kamala's Book

Dear Sista Artists---

I just completed my first page for Kamala's book.  So far 2020 has been filled with challenges and crises, but one positive story stood out---celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment (giving some women the right to vote).  My page was inspired by this and the many articles and documentaries I've seen about the role BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) women played in getting the amendment passed---despite being treated like step-sisters by their white counterparts.  I knew about some of these women, like Mary Church Terrell, Sojourner Truth, Nannie Helen Burroughs, and Anna J. Cooper previously, but I did not know about the Native American (Sitkála-Sá), Mexican-American (Jovita Idar), Chinese-American (Mabel Ping-Hua Lee) and many, many other BIPOC women who took an active part in the suffragette movement---even though many knew the vote would not apply to them. My page honors all these women (Say their names!!  VOTE!!). One really great documentary produced by the NY Times, "Finish the Fight"  tells the story of some of these women.  I began with collage using several articles I had about the "Year of the Woman" and then I created a paste paper base to build the images on--pen and ink drawings and mat medium transfer.  Kamala asked that we include a poem or quote so I included Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise"  with marker transfer.  I also used calligraphy to quote Mary Church Terrell, "LIfting as we climb." The back page is a marker transfer of a word cloud with many of these women's names with a stenciled heart (using a mouth atomizer).  

Yours in Art!

Pam Lawton






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