{"id":2396,"date":"2017-03-16T13:26:35","date_gmt":"2017-03-16T13:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/social.rollins.edu\/wpsites\/libraryarchives\/?p=2396"},"modified":"2019-04-08T18:12:51","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T18:12:51","slug":"sandspur-tactics-lucy-blackman-and-the-women-of-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/2017\/03\/16\/sandspur-tactics-lucy-blackman-and-the-women-of-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"“Sandspur Tactics”: Lucy Blackman and the Women of Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Lucy Worthington Blackman, circa 1902-1915<\/em><\/p>\n

As we observe Women’s History Month, the Archives is pleased to share this guest blog post by Dr. Leslie Poole, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies. Prof. Poole’s subject, Lucy Blackman, came to Winter Park in 1902, when her husband, William, was appointed president of Rollins. In addition to her work in the clubwomen movement, Mrs. Blackman was also an early member of the Florida Audubon Society, serving as its vice president for many years and publishing a book on its history in 1935.<\/p>\n

Thank you, Dr. Poole, for sharing your research with us!<\/p>\n

*******<\/p>\n

For the past decade I have been researching the role of environmental women in Florida, which led to my Ph.D. and to my book, Saving Florida: Women\u2019s Fight for the Environment in the Twentieth Century<\/em>. Early in my research I learned about the terrific work of Lucy Worthington Blackman (1860-1942), who has been a muse of sorts as I have uncovered the largely untold stories of these activist women.<\/p>\n

Blackman, it turns out, was heavily involved in early conservation efforts in the state\u2014as well as other Progressive Era fights of the early 1900s that included education and social reform. And, like me, she was frustrated that Florida historians had largely left women out of state narratives.<\/p>\n

She set out to right that wrong with her two-volume history The Women of Florida<\/em>, published in 1940. \u201cIt is high time that this were done,\u201d Blackman wrote, noting many local and state histories \u201cdeal in the main with men only; their authors seem to have been oblivious to the fact that in all these years there have been women in Florida\u2026\u201d The history, which she touted as the first of its kind in the South, offered accounts of women in Florida since its earliest times and provided biographies of middle- and upper-class white women active in different state organizations. It is notable that Blackman\u2019s volumes did not include any women of color, reflecting the segregationist era of its publication.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The title page of Lucy Blackman’s book, <\/em>The Women of Florida, published in 1940<\/em><\/p>\n

Still, her observations about women\u2019s actions to improve Florida have value. Long before women could vote, they were organizing in female-only clubs\u2014notably the Florida Federation of Women\u2019s Clubs (FFWC). They raised money, signed petitions, and lobbied state legislators to do their bidding. Blackman wrote that in Tallahassee women faced the \u201cold Adam war-cry, \u2018Woman\u2019s place is in the home\u2019\u201d which \u201creverberated through the pines and over the rivers and lakes and ocean from Pensacola to Key West.\u201d Women were \u201creviled\u201d for getting involved in the movement, Blackman wrote, adding \u201cThanks be, there were enough women with spinal cords starched stiff, who raised their undaunted eyebrows and said, \u2018Ah! indeed!\u2019 to this masculine mandate \u2013 and then went forth and did as they saw fit.\u201d  Blackman recalled the \u201cannoying habit of the women of talking aback at the legislators after they had been told politely to go home and tend the babies \u2013 this pesky, unreasonable, feminine pertinacity.\u201d By 1940, the FFWC no longer came to the legislature with a large package of proposals; the list was shorter \u201cbecause, as a result of their sandspur tactics, the lawmakers finally succumbed and cleared the women\u2019s calendar by passing the legislation so persistently demanded of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lucy Blackman (standing, center, wearing a light-colored necklace), President of the State Federation of Women’s Clubs, with fellow Board members in 1925 (from <\/em>The Women of Florida)
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Clubwomen across Florida and the nation made their voices heard and achieved many of their goals, despite their inability to vote. Through grassroots organizing they found and claimed power. Florida clubwomen in 1916 created, financed, and maintained the first state park\u2014Royal Palm State Park. Three decades later it would become the nucleus of Everglades National Park, an internationally recognized gem. They also demanded better forestry practices, argued for protection of birds, pressed cities for tree ordinances, and fought the \u201cuglification\u201d of Florida that came through billboards, roaming cattle, and garbage in the streets.<\/p>\n

As the century progressed, women turned their attention to the ills of air and water pollution and championed saving species on the brink of extinction. By the end of the 1900s, Florida women, reflecting changing roles in society, began to head conservation groups, lead environmental bureaucracies, and join the legislature\u2014no longer an all-boys club.<\/p>\n

These conservation-minded women are an inspiration and example in today\u2019s world and I remind my students regularly of the lessons they offer: Never give up. Find power in numbers. Utilize your connections. Change public opinion. Use facts. Make yourself heard.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s world that likely means using social media and platforms that these women never imagined. But I\u2019m sure that, given the opportunity, Lucy Blackman would have employed Twitter, Instagram, online petitions, and any other means to save Florida\u2019s natural beauty. Blackman and her \u201csisters\u201d were pushing the boundaries then and we should do the same today.<\/p>\n

*******<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Prof. Poole’s book, <\/em>Saving Florida: Women\u2019s Fight for the Environment in the Twentieth Century, is available at the Olin Library and the Winter Park Public Library. Copies may also be purchased at http:\/\/www.lesliekemppoole.com\/<\/a> .<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lucy Worthington Blackman, circa 1902-1915 As we observe Women’s History Month, the Archives is pleased to share this guest blog post by Dr. Leslie Poole, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies. Prof. Poole’s subject, Lucy Blackman, came to Winter Park in 1902, when her husband, William, was appointed president of Rollins. In addition to her work…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":375455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[192,200,360,361,363],"class_list":["post-2396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-leslie-poole","tag-lucy-blackman","tag-women-in-florida","tag-women-of-florida","tag-womens-clubs","wpcat-1-id"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2396"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":375450,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396\/revisions\/375450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}