csmonitor--2020-08-03--19th Amendment: The six-week 'brawl' that won women the vote

The decisive struggle over the 19th Amendment in Nashville , Tennessee , played out during a charged moment in U.S. history , in circumstances that may seem eerily familiar to us right now .
The economy was slipping from recession into depression .
A global influenza pandemic had claimed 600,000 American lives .
Racial unrest and labor strikes were roiling cities .
Into this volatile moment came three women , rushing to Nashville .
With the arrival of the three demurely dressed campaign generals the battle was joined , and all the forces – for and against – gathered for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ summer of 1920 one last state was needed to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – giving all women , in every state , the right to vote in every election .
This summer , as we mark the 100th anniversary of that achievement , it ’ s important to realize how fraught the final battle was , how truly uncertain the outcome .
It required three generations of fearless activists over more than seven decades to win the vote for American women .
And that active verb – win – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the vote .
As one commentator so aptly describes it : “ They took it.
” On a midsummer night in 1920 , three women rushed to Nashville , Tennessee , on steam-powered trains , converging on the city from different directions .
They were very ordinary looking , in their summer frocks and hats ; they didn ’ t look like veteran warriors , or political agitators , much less battlefield generals .
But they were all of these .
These women were on a mission , called to command their separate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pivotal political battles in American history .
A battle for the soul of American democracy .
An epic confrontation to decide : Should American women have the right to vote ?
In that summer of 1920 one last state was needed to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – giving all women , in every state , the right to vote in every election : 35 states had ratified , but 36 – or three-fourths of the 48 states in the Union at the time – were required for full @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state .
If the Tennessee legislature approved the amendment , it would become the law of the land , just in time for the fall 1920 presidential election .
If the amendment failed in Tennessee , it could be delayed indefinitely , and perhaps not be enacted anytime in the foreseeable future .
After seven decades of furious debate and passionate protest , the enfranchisement of half of the citizens of the nation was at stake in Tennessee .
This summer , as we mark the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vote , it ’ s important to realize how difficult and fraught the final battle was , how complex the issues , how bitter the fight , how truly uncertain the outcome .
Even at the dawn of the second decade of the 20th century , the idea of women casting a ballot was still controversial and contested ; today women make up the majority of U.S. voters .
We tend to envision the American woman suffrage movement as a triumphant newsreel of women in white dresses and fabulous hats marching to victory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hand the ballot to female citizens – all female citizens .
That newsreel is romantic fiction .
The truth is grittier , and more important : It required three generations of fearless activists over a span of more than seven decades working in more than 900 state , local , and national campaigns to finally win the vote for American women .
And that active verb – win – is important : Women were not given the vote ; they were not granted the vote .
As one commentator so aptly describes it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when the 19th Amendment was subsequently subverted by racist Jim Crow laws in Southern states , denying the promise of the ballot to Black women , and by racist laws in Western states , robbing Native American and Asian women – and men – of the vote , the fight for voting rights would continue for decades longer .
It wasn ’ t quick , and it was never easy .
The fight for woman suffrage is one of the defining civil rights struggles in our nation ’ s history – one that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ means : Who gets to participate in government ?
Who has a voice ?
When we say “ We the People ” do we really mean everyone ?
Of course , we are asking those same questions today , as voting rights , citizenship rights , and women ’ s rights are still burning issues .
Those same flickering newsreel images also give the impression that the final confrontations over women ’ s voting rights took place in a simpler time of Model T ’ s and exquisite haberdashery , all polite and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ raw political and cultural smackdowns .
Actually , the decisive struggle over the 19th Amendment in Nashville played out during a charged moment in U.S. history , in circumstances that may seem eerily familiar to us right now .
A century ago , the nation was on edge , and Americans entered the summer of 1920 in an anxious mood .
The economy was slipping from recession into depression .
The global pandemic of influenza was subsiding , but had already claimed 600,000 American lives .
Racial unrest was roiling cities across the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was in resurgence .
Labor strikes for better wages and conditions were being met with violent reprisals .
Immigration was a contentious issue , and the public , wary of international entanglements , signaled a desire for a more isolationist foreign policy .
A nasty presidential election campaign was underway , featuring the Republican candidate ’ s divisive slogan : America First .
Into this volatile moment came three women , rushing to Nashville .
Carrie Chapman Catt , president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association , the preeminent suffrage organization in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ headquarters in New York City to direct the ratification campaign .
Catt – a master strategist , brilliant orator , and protégé of Susan B. Anthony – knew this could shape up to be the ultimate battle for her cause , and she would face her greatest challenge .
Sue Shelton White , chairwoman of the Tennessee chapter of the National Woman ’ s Party , the more radical wing of the suffrage movement , arrived fresh from the NWP ’ s latest picketing demonstration .
A lieutenant to NWP founder Alice Paul @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of suffragists , the younger women who ’ d lost patience with the slow progress of the movement .
They were tired of asking politely for their rights and were willing to be confrontational , disruptive – even go to prison – for The Cause .
White was dispatched to Nashville to manage the NWP ’ s own campaign to convince the legislature to ratify , working toward the same goal of , but not in concert with , Catt ’ s NAWSA suffragists .
Rounding out the trio was Josephine Pearson , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Woman Suffrage .
A college teacher and dean , Pearson came to Nashville to defend her home state against the “ feminist peril ” and the “ scourge of suffrage ” that the 19th Amendment threatened to unleash .
She and her sister “ antis ” swore to maintain their feminine dignity , but fight viciously , to protect Southern women from the dirty world of politics , and especially make certain that Black women would not be allowed the right to vote .
The suffragists understood that Tennessee was a terrible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 19th Amendment .
Almost all the other states of the former Confederacy had already rejected the amendment , and more were poised to do so , all using the same rationales of opposition .
( Even Southern border states like Maryland and Delaware had refused to ratify . )
The 19th Amendment promised the vote to all eligible female citizens , including Black women , and these states balked at the federal government “ meddling ” in state affairs , mandating who should be allowed to vote .
Those same states ’ rights @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fights over the 14th Amendment ( granting African Americans citizenship and equal rights ) and the 15th Amendment ( granting African American men the right to vote ) in the 1860s , and would be used again in the 1960s civil rights conflicts ; we still hear them articulated today .
But the suffragists had little choice : Tennessee was their last best hope to get the 36th state to ratify before the pivotal fall presidential election , when the policy direction of the nation would be determined for the foreseeable future ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those decisions .
They ’ d proved their patriotism and citizenship during the recent Great War by voluntarily taking on roles never before asked of American women : They ’ d worked in mines and munition factories , as streetcar conductors , truck drivers , and pilots , as farmerettes and lumberjills , as well as doctors and nurses overseas .
It had recently become harder for American men , especially legislators , to argue that women were the weaker sex , were too emotionally unstable and intellectually limited , did not “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ By the end of the war , the women of 15 states , mostly in the West , but also in Illinois and New York , already enjoyed the right to vote , thanks to the suffragists ’ relentless campaigns to change state enfranchisement laws .
But for the women in all the other states , a federal amendment was their only hope for achieving full suffrage .
Twenty-six nations had already extended voting rights to women , including Great Britain and , more embarrassingly , Russia and the recently defeated enemy , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appeal to not only Congress ’ sense of justice , but also sense of guilt , and even wounded national pride .
If America had just fought a war “ to make the world safe for democracy , ” how could it deny half of its citizens a voice in that democracy ?
Only after the war , in June 1919 , did Congress finally pass the woman suffrage amendment , after 40 years of stalling – a biblical span of debate , deceit , and delay .
The amendment had been introduced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in committee or on the floor of the House or Senate , 28 times .
When the Senate finally passed the amendment by a margin of only two votes , it went to the states for ratification in an off year for many state legislatures – when they were not in regular session – making the process far more difficult .
Suffragists had to convince 30 governors to call their legislatures back into special session to act on the amendment , and many balked at the cost , both financial and political @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these reluctant politicians ; he was running for reelection in a tight primary and didn ’ t want his campaign complicated by a woman suffrage showdown .
It would require a U.S. Supreme Court decision , arm twisting by the White House , and strenuous effort by the suffragists to force Gov .
Albert Roberts to call the legislature back to Nashville .
He finally , reluctantly , did , but even so , Tennessee was not a promising site for ratification .
The state suffrage association was energetic but fractured by regional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the legislature notoriously susceptible to bribery and special interest pressure .
As Catt made her way to Nashville on that Saturday evening , she confessed to a suffrage colleague : “ I do not believe there is a ghost of a chance of ratification in Tennessee.
” But she also knew there was no choice but to try .
The same was true for White , who had a native-daughters ’ knowledge of Tennessee political customs , but a tiny staff and bare-bones budget with which to lead the Woman ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Woman ’ s Party wasn ’ t popular in Tennessee ; their confrontational tactics of picketing the White House and burning President Woodrow Wilson in effigy were condemned as not only unladylike , but unpatriotic .
White herself had participated in these protests , had been arrested and imprisoned , and proudly wore her “ prison pin ” – the Woman ’ s Party ’ s medal of honor – on her lapel .
Now she was returning home to confront her erstwhile Tennessee suffrage colleagues , who ’ d condemned her for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , was excited as she made her journey to the state capital .
Her “ anti ” colleagues across the state and around the nation were rallying to her side , promising to feverishly fight to prevent what they warned would be “ the moral collapse of the nation ” should ratification succeed .
Such hyperbole was nothing new : Suffragists had always been considered dangerous , a threat to the natural ( meaning male-constructed ) order of the world .
Over the decades , suffragists endured contempt and ridicule in their communities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the press – and often within their own families .
They ’ d been spat upon and pelted with rotten eggs and spoiled vegetables .
Anthony used to say that she could mark the progress of the movement by the projectiles thrown at her : When the eggs and tomatoes were no longer of the rotten variety , that was progress .
Suffragists were physically attacked by mobs of angry men and boys while police looked the other way .
They ’ d been roughly arrested ; been held in fetid , cold @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the wall ; and endured abuse and even torture in jail .
When they went on hunger strikes , they were force-fed , tubes rammed up their noses .
All the old tropes about subversive and dangerous suffragists would be trotted out in Nashville and given an additional spin : These women agitators were a threat to Christianity , to the American family , and to the foundations of Southern white supremacy .
With the arrival of the three demurely dressed campaign generals the battle was joined in Nashville , and all the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ amendment – gathered in the city for a giant six-week brawl .
Suffragists from across the state and around the nation flooded into the capital , joined by political party operatives , lobbyists , journalists , and beleaguered legislators .
There were powerful forces working against ratification in Tennessee – political , corporate , and ideological foes , each with their own reasons for resistance .
Politicians feared an unpredictable new voting bloc : 27 million women would be eligible to vote if the amendment was ratified , and no one knew how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suffragists had long promised – or threatened – a solid “ women ’ s vote , ” which , when unleashed , could benefit political friends and punish enemies .
The 1920 presidential candidates , Republican Warren G. Harding and his vice presidential running mate , Calvin Coolidge , and their Democratic rivals , James Cox and Franklin D. Roosevelt , were all carefully calibrating their level of support for Tennessee ’ s ratification with the calculation of whether it would help or hurt their White House chances and their party .
Clergymen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the issue of women voting .
Some actively supported suffrage , but others believed it violated “ God ’ s plan ” for the daughters of Eve to be happily subservient to the sons of Adam , and women screaming for equality was a violation of biblical teachings .
Pearson and her anti colleagues encouraged Tennessee pastors to rail against the amendment from their Sunday pulpits while debates raged in the statehouse .
Corporations also often joined the ranks of the opponents , believing that suffrage would be bad for their bottom lines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ provided influence and funds to the anti-ratification drive .
It was well known that the railroads had purchased the cooperation of the legislature for favorable treatment with money , gifts , and lucrative jobs .
Placing women into the electoral mix threatened the industry ’ s investments in pliant legislators .
Tennessee textile manufacturers were afraid women might want to vote to abolish child labor , and the mills relied on the cheap labor of both children and exploited women .
They gave their workers a holiday and shipped them to Nashville to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ big business in Tennessee , and the historic alliance between the suffrage and temperance movements ensured liquor industry opposition to women voting .
Prohibition was already in effect in the summer of 1920 – the 18th Amendment had been quickly ratified in Tennessee – but liquor interests feared that women would insist that Prohibition be stringently enforced in the state , rather than with the usual wink and nod .
To make its case more alluring to Tennessee legislators , the liquor lobby sponsored a hospitality suite – really a speak-easy – on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( where Catt , White , and Pearson were staying ) , which came to be known as the Jack Daniels Suite , in honor of Tennessee ’ s favorite spirit .
There legislators were plied with free booze , day and night , and treated to a lesson on why they should vote against ratification .
Many a state lawmaker could be spotted emerging from the suite in a stupor , requiring he be thrown into a shower to sober up before returning to the General Assembly chambers .
In the first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ native Tennessee suffragists took up the front-line positions in persuading their representatives to support the amendment , chasing them with pledge cards to commit to passage .
“ I ’ m with you women ’ til the cows come home , ” insisted one Tennessee delegate on his card .
His , along with many similar pledges , would dissolve in the heat of the Nashville battle .
While Catt ’ s NAWSA suffragists were traipsing through the hills and hollers of the state , finding their delegates to pledge , White ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ veteran field organizers was doing the same .
Catt toured the state herself , rallying her troops , conferring with political leaders , compiling a list of which legislators were known to take bribes – it was a long list .
Once back in Nashville , she fired off telegrams to the presidential candidates , the chairmen of the Democratic and Republican parties , prominent U.S. senators , and President Wilson , urging them all to exert whatever pressure they could on Tennessee .
Pearson ’ s cadre of Tennessee antis was bolstered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anti-suffrage luminaries from New York , Washington , Boston , and many Southern cities .
They set up a lavish headquarters in the Hermitage , complete with a “ museum ” of artifacts and documents they hoped could convince legislators and the public that suffragists were not just wrong , but evil .
One prominent Nashville suffrage leader who was not invited to join the lobbying efforts was Juno Frankie Pierce .
As an experienced and respected activist in Nashville ’ s African American community , she ’ d organized Black women to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she had forged a rare cooperative arrangement with white Nashville suffragists to work toward common policy goals .
At a time when many suffrage organizations , not only in the South , were racially segregated , Pierce had addressed a recent meeting of the white suffragists , emphasizing the potential strength of Black women voters .
“ What will the Negro woman do with the vote ?
” Pierce asked her white allies .
“ We are interested in the same moral uplift of the community in which we live as you are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support for the legislative priorities of the Black community .
“ We are asking only one thing – a square deal.
” It was a taboo-shattering moment of Tennessee women working across the color line to achieve political goals , but even the persuasive Pierce would not be invited to lobby her state ’ s completely white and male legislature .
She could not help convince them to vote for ratification , and the idea of a Black woman advocating for the vote might make them less inclined to approve it .
Neither @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her fellow suffragists in the chambers ’ segregated visitors galleries .
She could only watch the unfolding drama from the sidelines .
When the governor finally convened the legislature into special session and the delegates poured into Nashville , both “ suffs ” and “ antis ” were there to meet them at Union Station , armed with floral badges of affiliation – yellow roses for ratification supporters , red roses for those opposed – poised to be pinned on willing lapels .
From then on , the Tennessee campaign would be known @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Nashville would become a petal-strewn battlefield .
The confrontation was intense , and wild .
There were spies roaming the hallways , bribes under the table , and maneuvers in the chambers .
Nashville was awash with conspiracies and kidnappings and even death threats , compromising setups , fake telegrams calling legislators home to false emergencies .
The antis weaponized racial fears and waved the Confederate flag as their symbol of defiance .
Commentators called it “ suffrage Armageddon.
” The suffragists were betrayed by the speaker of the House , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ major daily newspapers , as well as one of the presidential candidates , but also found some unlikely champions , including the Tennessee governor .
The pledges to ratify mysteriously dissolved as the pressure on legislators ratcheted up , and on the eve of the final vote the tally showed ratification falling short .
Pearson was overjoyed , White was furious , and even the unflappable Catt was in despair .
What happened the next morning is one of the great tales of American history .
The outcome of the ratification battle came @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cast by the youngest member of the Tennessee legislature , with a nudge from his mother .
Harry Thomas Burn , age 24 , a freshman delegate from the tiny eastern town of Niota , had worn a red rose in his lapel and voted with the anti-suffragists on all previous motions .
He personally believed women should have the right to vote , but he was up for reelection in the fall , and his constituents opposed the amendment .
It seemed safer to just go with the flow of those voting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the final tally , he received a letter from his mother , Phoebe ( Febb ) Burn , a staunch suffragist , who conveyed the usual news about Niota – updates on the family and even a shopping list for Harry .
But she also expressed her disappointment that Harry was not mentioned in the newspapers as favoring ratification .
“ Be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt ... with ratification , ” she admonished him .
Burn tucked the letter into his jacket pocket , next to his heart , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and roll calls in the House chamber on the morning of Aug. 18 .
When his name was called for the final vote on ratification , the tally was tied .
He could duck no longer .
He had to take a stand .
Burn shocked the chamber by voting aye for ratification .
The antis accused him of taking a bribe to change his vote .
He was unapologetic .
“ I believe in full suffrage as a right , ” Burn told his colleagues .
“ And I knew that a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a boy to follow , and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification.
” The 19th Amendment entered the U.S. Constitution on Aug. 26 , 1920 , and bells tolled around the country ; it was the largest expansion of the electorate in American history .
But the amendment still faced resistance , violent reaction , and Supreme Court challenges .
And , as we know , the promise of the 19th Amendment was immediately subverted by Jim Crow laws in the Southern states , including Tennessee , impeding the right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ discriminatory poll taxes , outrageous literacy tests , intimidation , and violence .
They were the same tactics used to historically deny the vote to Black men .
Congress never used its powers of enforcement – stated clearly in the second section of the amendment – to protect the vote for Black women .
And because Native Americans and Asian Americans were not considered citizens in 1920 , the 19th Amendment did not apply to the women of those communities until decades later .
The themes behind the ratification of the 19th Amendment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s headlines : voting rights and women ’ s rights , inequality , dark money in politics , states ’ rights , the ghosts of the Civil War , and racism .
The story of American women winning the vote is an inspiring tale of ordinary citizens rising to lead , of grassroots activists protesting injustice and demanding equality .
But it is also a cautionary tale ; it ’ s complicated and messy .
Reform movements are imperfect , and moral compromises were made to achieve success ; white suffragists left @ @ @ @ @ @ @ learn from those mistakes .
As we ’ ve watched demonstrations against systemic racism and inequality spread across the nation , there are historic flashbacks to the great suffrage marches , to their picket lines , their protests – and arrests – in Lafayette Park , across from the White House , and to their exercise of civil disobedience .
They pioneered many of these tactics .
The woman suffragists offer a legacy of persistence and courage that holds vital lessons for today ’ s political activists : Protest is important – and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up by well-designed and sustained political strategies in order to enact lasting change .
The suffragists did not just march and picket ; they also debated and lobbied , drafted legislation and campaigned .
They learned to effectively communicate their cause to the public , build alliances , master the intricacies of legislative procedure , and pull the levers of political power .
And they kept going even after the 19th Amendment was secured : Catt founded the League of Women Voters , also celebrating its centennial anniversary this year , and today @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protections .
And Paul – along with White – drafted the next step in the campaign for women ’ s rights , the Equal Rights Amendment , introduced into Congress in 1923 .
It is still not fully ratified , and its final outcome now lies with the courts .
Another lesson from the era : The struggle to protect and expand our democracy is ongoing .
It was not accomplished in 1920 , and it is still not complete today , as voting rights for many groups , particularly minorities , remain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stress test of the health of our democracy .
The most meaningful way to commemorate the centennial of the 19th Amendment this August and the legacy of the suffragists and the suffrage movement – made up of women of all ages , classes , and races , of all political persuasions and party affiliations – is to rededicate ourselves to expanding and improving our democracy by protecting voting rights for all citizens .
Making sure every citizen can vote without barriers , without difficulty , without fear .
Only then can the words @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ We the People , ” ring loud and ring true .
Elaine Weiss is the author of “ The Woman ’ s Hour : The Great Fight to Win the Vote .
”

The decadeslong fight for women’s suffrage is one of the defining civil rights struggles in U.S. history. It cuts to the heart of what democracy means – and holds powerful lessons for today. Part of our special 100th anniversary edition on women winning the right to vote.
The decisive struggle over the 19th Amendment in Nashville, Tennessee, played out during a charged moment in U.S. history, in circumstances that may seem eerily familiar to us right now. The economy was slipping from recession into depression. A global influenza pandemic had claimed 600,000 American lives. Racial unrest and labor strikes were roiling cities. Into this volatile moment came three women, rushing to Nashville. With the arrival of the three demurely dressed campaign generals the battle was joined, and all the forces – for and against – gathered for a giant six-week brawl.
In the summer of 1920 one last state was needed to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – giving all women, in every state, the right to vote in every election. This summer, as we mark the 100th anniversary of that achievement, it’s important to realize how fraught the final battle was, how truly uncertain the outcome.
It required three generations of fearless activists over more than seven decades to win the vote for American women. And that active verb – win – is important: Women were not given the vote. As one commentator so aptly describes it: “They took it.”
On a midsummer night in 1920, three women rushed to Nashville, Tennessee, on steam-powered trains, converging on the city from different directions. They were very ordinary looking, in their summer frocks and hats; they didn’t look like veteran warriors, or political agitators, much less battlefield generals. But they were all of these.
These women were on a mission, called to command their separate forces in what would be one of the pivotal political battles in American history. A battle for the soul of American democracy. An epic confrontation to decide: Should American women have the right to vote?
In that summer of 1920 one last state was needed to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – giving all women, in every state, the right to vote in every election: 35 states had ratified, but 36 – or three-fourths of the 48 states in the Union at the time – were required for full ratification.
Why We Wrote This The decadeslong fight for women’s suffrage is one of the defining civil rights struggles in U.S. history. It cuts to the heart of what democracy means – and holds powerful lessons for today. Part of our special 100th anniversary edition on women winning the right to vote.
Tennessee could be the 36th state.
If the Tennessee legislature approved the amendment, it would become the law of the land, just in time for the fall 1920 presidential election. If the amendment failed in Tennessee, it could be delayed indefinitely, and perhaps not be enacted anytime in the foreseeable future. After seven decades of furious debate and passionate protest, the enfranchisement of half of the citizens of the nation was at stake in Tennessee.
Library of Congress View caption Hide caption Alice Paul (on right) rides with other suffragists in a parade. She was the leader of a young generation of women suffragists willing to be disruptive, confrontational – even go to prison – for The Cause.
This summer, as we mark the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and American women’s constitutional right to vote, it’s important to realize how difficult and fraught the final battle was, how complex the issues, how bitter the fight, how truly uncertain the outcome. Even at the dawn of the second decade of the 20th century, the idea of women casting a ballot was still controversial and contested; today women make up the majority of U.S. voters.
We tend to envision the American woman suffrage movement as a triumphant newsreel of women in white dresses and fabulous hats marching to victory, as enlightened men suddenly and nobly hand the ballot to female citizens – all female citizens. That newsreel is romantic fiction.
The truth is grittier, and more important: It required three generations of fearless activists over a span of more than seven decades working in more than 900 state, local, and national campaigns to finally win the vote for American women. And that active verb – win – is important: Women were not given the vote; they were not granted the vote. As one commentator so aptly describes it: “They took it.”
And when the 19th Amendment was subsequently subverted by racist Jim Crow laws in Southern states, denying the promise of the ballot to Black women, and by racist laws in Western states, robbing Native American and Asian women – and men – of the vote, the fight for voting rights would continue for decades longer. It wasn’t quick, and it was never easy.
The fight for woman suffrage is one of the defining civil rights struggles in our nation’s history – one that cuts to the heart of what democracy means: Who gets to participate in government? Who has a voice? When we say “We the People” do we really mean everyone? Of course, we are asking those same questions today, as voting rights, citizenship rights, and women’s rights are still burning issues.
Those same flickering newsreel images also give the impression that the final confrontations over women’s voting rights took place in a simpler time of Model T’s and exquisite haberdashery, all polite and decorous, far from today’s raw political and cultural smackdowns. Actually, the decisive struggle over the 19th Amendment in Nashville played out during a charged moment in U.S. history, in circumstances that may seem eerily familiar to us right now.
Tennessee State Archives and Library View caption Hide caption In this clipping, Tennessee Gov. Albert Roberts signs the state’s certificate ratifying the 19th Amendment. He had been reluctant to call for a vote on the issue.
***
A century ago, the nation was on edge, and Americans entered the summer of 1920 in an anxious mood. The economy was slipping from recession into depression. The global pandemic of influenza was subsiding, but had already claimed 600,000 American lives. Racial unrest was roiling cities across the country, and the Ku Klux Klan was in resurgence. Labor strikes for better wages and conditions were being met with violent reprisals. Immigration was a contentious issue, and the public, wary of international entanglements, signaled a desire for a more isolationist foreign policy. A nasty presidential election campaign was underway, featuring the Republican candidate’s divisive slogan: America First.
Into this volatile moment came three women, rushing to Nashville.
AP View caption Hide caption New York dignitaries congratulate women’s suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt on Aug. 27, 1920, after her triumphal return from the ratification of the 19th Amendment in Tennessee.
Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the preeminent suffrage organization in the nation, was traveling from NAWSA headquarters in New York City to direct the ratification campaign. Catt – a master strategist, brilliant orator, and protégé of Susan B. Anthony – knew this could shape up to be the ultimate battle for her cause, and she would face her greatest challenge.
Sue Shelton White, chairwoman of the Tennessee chapter of the National Woman’s Party, the more radical wing of the suffrage movement, arrived fresh from the NWP’s latest picketing demonstration. A lieutenant to NWP founder Alice Paul, White emerged from the third generation of suffragists, the younger women who’d lost patience with the slow progress of the movement. They were tired of asking politely for their rights and were willing to be confrontational, disruptive – even go to prison – for The Cause. White was dispatched to Nashville to manage the NWP’s own campaign to convince the legislature to ratify, working toward the same goal of, but not in concert with, Catt’s NAWSA suffragists.
Library of Congress View caption Hide caption Sue Shelton White, posing here (third from left) with other suffragists, was a key figure in the pro-ratification drive in Tennessee as the head of the state chapter of the National Woman’s Party.
Rounding out the trio was Josephine Pearson, president of the Tennessee State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. A college teacher and dean, Pearson came to Nashville to defend her home state against the “feminist peril” and the “scourge of suffrage” that the 19th Amendment threatened to unleash. She and her sister “antis” swore to maintain their feminine dignity, but fight viciously, to protect Southern women from the dirty world of politics, and especially make certain that Black women would not be allowed the right to vote.
The suffragists understood that Tennessee was a terrible place for a definitive confrontation over the 19th Amendment. Almost all the other states of the former Confederacy had already rejected the amendment, and more were poised to do so, all using the same rationales of opposition. (Even Southern border states like Maryland and Delaware had refused to ratify.) The 19th Amendment promised the vote to all eligible female citizens, including Black women, and these states balked at the federal government “meddling” in state affairs, mandating who should be allowed to vote.
Tennessee State Library and Archives View caption Hide caption A scrapbook photo shows Josephine Pearson, a leading anti-suffragist in Tennessee (on left), with a Confederate veteran and another “anti” at The Hermitage Hotel in Nashville in August 1920.
Those same states’ rights arguments had been employed during the ratification fights over the 14th Amendment (granting African Americans citizenship and equal rights) and the 15th Amendment (granting African American men the right to vote) in the 1860s, and would be used again in the 1960s civil rights conflicts; we still hear them articulated today.
But the suffragists had little choice: Tennessee was their last best hope to get the 36th state to ratify before the pivotal fall presidential election, when the policy direction of the nation would be determined for the foreseeable future; women wanted to have a voice in those decisions. They’d proved their patriotism and citizenship during the recent Great War by voluntarily taking on roles never before asked of American women: They’d worked in mines and munition factories, as streetcar conductors, truck drivers, and pilots, as farmerettes and lumberjills, as well as doctors and nurses overseas.
It had recently become harder for American men, especially legislators, to argue that women were the weaker sex, were too emotionally unstable and intellectually limited, did not “deserve” or want the vote. By the end of the war, the women of 15 states, mostly in the West, but also in Illinois and New York, already enjoyed the right to vote, thanks to the suffragists’ relentless campaigns to change state enfranchisement laws. But for the women in all the other states, a federal amendment was their only hope for achieving full suffrage.
Twenty-six nations had already extended voting rights to women, including Great Britain and, more embarrassingly, Russia and the recently defeated enemy, Germany. Suffragists cleverly used this to appeal to not only Congress’ sense of justice, but also sense of guilt, and even wounded national pride. If America had just fought a war “to make the world safe for democracy,” how could it deny half of its citizens a voice in that democracy?
***
Only after the war, in June 1919, did Congress finally pass the woman suffrage amendment, after 40 years of stalling – a biblical span of debate, deceit, and delay. The amendment had been introduced in 1878, but was voted down, in committee or on the floor of the House or Senate, 28 times.
When the Senate finally passed the amendment by a margin of only two votes, it went to the states for ratification in an off year for many state legislatures – when they were not in regular session – making the process far more difficult. Suffragists had to convince 30 governors to call their legislatures back into special session to act on the amendment, and many balked at the cost, both financial and political.
The governor of Tennessee was among these reluctant politicians; he was running for reelection in a tight primary and didn’t want his campaign complicated by a woman suffrage showdown. It would require a U.S. Supreme Court decision, arm twisting by the White House, and strenuous effort by the suffragists to force Gov. Albert Roberts to call the legislature back to Nashville. He finally, reluctantly, did, but even so, Tennessee was not a promising site for ratification. The state suffrage association was energetic but fractured by regional and personal animosities, the governor unpopular, the legislature notoriously susceptible to bribery and special interest pressure.
As Catt made her way to Nashville on that Saturday evening, she confessed to a suffrage colleague: “I do not believe there is a ghost of a chance of ratification in Tennessee.” But she also knew there was no choice but to try.
The same was true for White, who had a native-daughters’ knowledge of Tennessee political customs, but a tiny staff and bare-bones budget with which to lead the Woman’s Party ratification effort in Nashville. The Woman’s Party wasn’t popular in Tennessee; their confrontational tactics of picketing the White House and burning President Woodrow Wilson in effigy were condemned as not only unladylike, but unpatriotic. White herself had participated in these protests, had been arrested and imprisoned, and proudly wore her “prison pin” – the Woman’s Party’s medal of honor – on her lapel. Now she was returning home to confront her erstwhile Tennessee suffrage colleagues, who’d condemned her for being too radical.
Pearson, however, was excited as she made her journey to the state capital. Her “anti” colleagues across the state and around the nation were rallying to her side, promising to feverishly fight to prevent what they warned would be “the moral collapse of the nation” should ratification succeed.
Tennessee State Library and Archives View caption Hide caption Anti-suffrage organizers hold a meeting at Washington Hall in northern Tennessee with judges, senators, and others during their campaign against expanding voting rights to women.
Such hyperbole was nothing new: Suffragists had always been considered dangerous, a threat to the natural (meaning male-constructed) order of the world. Over the decades, suffragists endured contempt and ridicule in their communities, their churches, their clubs, the press – and often within their own families. They’d been spat upon and pelted with rotten eggs and spoiled vegetables. Anthony used to say that she could mark the progress of the movement by the projectiles thrown at her: When the eggs and tomatoes were no longer of the rotten variety, that was progress.
Suffragists were physically attacked by mobs of angry men and boys while police looked the other way. They’d been roughly arrested; been held in fetid, cold, vermin-infested cells; been shackled to the wall; and endured abuse and even torture in jail. When they went on hunger strikes, they were force-fed, tubes rammed up their noses.
All the old tropes about subversive and dangerous suffragists would be trotted out in Nashville and given an additional spin: These women agitators were a threat to Christianity, to the American family, and to the foundations of Southern white supremacy.
***
With the arrival of the three demurely dressed campaign generals the battle was joined in Nashville, and all the forces – for and against the federal amendment – gathered in the city for a giant six-week brawl. Suffragists from across the state and around the nation flooded into the capital, joined by political party operatives, lobbyists, journalists, and beleaguered legislators.
There were powerful forces working against ratification in Tennessee – political, corporate, and ideological foes, each with their own reasons for resistance. Politicians feared an unpredictable new voting bloc: 27 million women would be eligible to vote if the amendment was ratified, and no one knew how they would cast their ballots. The suffragists had long promised – or threatened – a solid “women’s vote,” which, when unleashed, could benefit political friends and punish enemies. The 1920 presidential candidates, Republican Warren G. Harding and his vice presidential running mate, Calvin Coolidge, and their Democratic rivals, James Cox and Franklin D. Roosevelt, were all carefully calibrating their level of support for Tennessee’s ratification with the calculation of whether it would help or hurt their White House chances and their party.
Clergymen in Tennessee and elsewhere were split on the issue of women voting. Some actively supported suffrage, but others believed it violated “God’s plan” for the daughters of Eve to be happily subservient to the sons of Adam, and women screaming for equality was a violation of biblical teachings. Pearson and her anti colleagues encouraged Tennessee pastors to rail against the amendment from their Sunday pulpits while debates raged in the statehouse.
Corporations also often joined the ranks of the opponents, believing that suffrage would be bad for their bottom lines. In Tennessee, several powerful industries provided influence and funds to the anti-ratification drive. It was well known that the railroads had purchased the cooperation of the legislature for favorable treatment with money, gifts, and lucrative jobs. Placing women into the electoral mix threatened the industry’s investments in pliant legislators.
Tennessee textile manufacturers were afraid women might want to vote to abolish child labor, and the mills relied on the cheap labor of both children and exploited women. They gave their workers a holiday and shipped them to Nashville to protest against ratification.
Whiskey was also big business in Tennessee, and the historic alliance between the suffrage and temperance movements ensured liquor industry opposition to women voting. Prohibition was already in effect in the summer of 1920 – the 18th Amendment had been quickly ratified in Tennessee – but liquor interests feared that women would insist that Prohibition be stringently enforced in the state, rather than with the usual wink and nod.
To make its case more alluring to Tennessee legislators, the liquor lobby sponsored a hospitality suite – really a speak-easy – on the eighth floor of The Hermitage Hotel (where Catt, White, and Pearson were staying), which came to be known as the Jack Daniels Suite, in honor of Tennessee’s favorite spirit. There legislators were plied with free booze, day and night, and treated to a lesson on why they should vote against ratification. Many a state lawmaker could be spotted emerging from the suite in a stupor, requiring he be thrown into a shower to sober up before returning to the General Assembly chambers.
In the first weeks of the ratification campaign, stalwart native Tennessee suffragists took up the front-line positions in persuading their representatives to support the amendment, chasing them with pledge cards to commit to passage. “I’m with you women ’til the cows come home,” insisted one Tennessee delegate on his card. His, along with many similar pledges, would dissolve in the heat of the Nashville battle.
AP View caption Hide caption Chairwoman Alice Paul (second from left) and officers of the National Woman’s Party hold a banner with a Susan B. Anthony quote in front of the NWP headquarters in Washington, D.C., in June 1920.
While Catt’s NAWSA suffragists were traipsing through the hills and hollers of the state, finding their delegates to pledge, White’s Woman’s Party team of veteran field organizers was doing the same. Catt toured the state herself, rallying her troops, conferring with political leaders, compiling a list of which legislators were known to take bribes – it was a long list. Once back in Nashville, she fired off telegrams to the presidential candidates, the chairmen of the Democratic and Republican parties, prominent U.S. senators, and President Wilson, urging them all to exert whatever pressure they could on Tennessee.
Pearson’s cadre of Tennessee antis was bolstered by the arrival of regional and national anti-suffrage luminaries from New York, Washington, Boston, and many Southern cities. They set up a lavish headquarters in the Hermitage, complete with a “museum” of artifacts and documents they hoped could convince legislators and the public that suffragists were not just wrong, but evil.
***
One prominent Nashville suffrage leader who was not invited to join the lobbying efforts was Juno Frankie Pierce. As an experienced and respected activist in Nashville’s African American community, she’d organized Black women to take up the suffrage cause, and she had forged a rare cooperative arrangement with white Nashville suffragists to work toward common policy goals. At a time when many suffrage organizations, not only in the South, were racially segregated, Pierce had addressed a recent meeting of the white suffragists, emphasizing the potential strength of Black women voters.
“What will the Negro woman do with the vote?” Pierce asked her white allies. “We are interested in the same moral uplift of the community in which we live as you are,” she explained, asking their support for the legislative priorities of the Black community. “We are asking only one thing – a square deal.”
It was a taboo-shattering moment of Tennessee women working across the color line to achieve political goals, but even the persuasive Pierce would not be invited to lobby her state’s completely white and male legislature. She could not help convince them to vote for ratification, and the idea of a Black woman advocating for the vote might make them less inclined to approve it. Neither would Pierce be allowed to sit with her fellow suffragists in the chambers’ segregated visitors galleries. She could only watch the unfolding drama from the sidelines.
When the governor finally convened the legislature into special session and the delegates poured into Nashville, both “suffs” and “antis” were there to meet them at Union Station, armed with floral badges of affiliation – yellow roses for ratification supporters, red roses for those opposed – poised to be pinned on willing lapels. From then on, the Tennessee campaign would be known as the War of the Roses, and Nashville would become a petal-strewn battlefield.
The confrontation was intense, and wild. There were spies roaming the hallways, bribes under the table, and maneuvers in the chambers. Nashville was awash with conspiracies and kidnappings and even death threats, compromising setups, fake telegrams calling legislators home to false emergencies. The antis weaponized racial fears and waved the Confederate flag as their symbol of defiance. Commentators called it “suffrage Armageddon.”
The suffragists were betrayed by the speaker of the House, the publisher of one of Nashville’s major daily newspapers, as well as one of the presidential candidates, but also found some unlikely champions, including the Tennessee governor. The pledges to ratify mysteriously dissolved as the pressure on legislators ratcheted up, and on the eve of the final vote the tally showed ratification falling short. Pearson was overjoyed, White was furious, and even the unflappable Catt was in despair.
What happened the next morning is one of the great tales of American history. The outcome of the ratification battle came down to a single vote of conscience cast by the youngest member of the Tennessee legislature, with a nudge from his mother.
Tennessee State Library and Archives View caption Hide caption Harry Burn, the youngest member of the Tennessee legislature, shocked his colleagues by voting in favor of ratification – at his mother’s urging – breaking a tie on the historic suffrage resolution.
Harry Thomas Burn, age 24, a freshman delegate from the tiny eastern town of Niota, had worn a red rose in his lapel and voted with the anti-suffragists on all previous motions. He personally believed women should have the right to vote, but he was up for reelection in the fall, and his constituents opposed the amendment. It seemed safer to just go with the flow of those voting against ratification.
But on the morning of the final tally, he received a letter from his mother, Phoebe (Febb) Burn, a staunch suffragist, who conveyed the usual news about Niota – updates on the family and even a shopping list for Harry. But she also expressed her disappointment that Harry was not mentioned in the newspapers as favoring ratification. “Be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt ... with ratification,” she admonished him.
Burn tucked the letter into his jacket pocket, next to his heart, as he sat through the final debates and roll calls in the House chamber on the morning of Aug. 18. When his name was called for the final vote on ratification, the tally was tied. He could duck no longer. He had to take a stand.
Burn shocked the chamber by voting aye for ratification. The antis accused him of taking a bribe to change his vote. He was unapologetic. “I believe in full suffrage as a right,” Burn told his colleagues. “And I knew that a mother’s advice is always safest for a boy to follow, and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification.”
The 19th Amendment entered the U.S. Constitution on Aug. 26, 1920, and bells tolled around the country; it was the largest expansion of the electorate in American history. But the amendment still faced resistance, violent reaction, and Supreme Court challenges. And, as we know, the promise of the 19th Amendment was immediately subverted by Jim Crow laws in the Southern states, including Tennessee, impeding the right to vote for many Black women through discriminatory poll taxes, outrageous literacy tests, intimidation, and violence. They were the same tactics used to historically deny the vote to Black men. Congress never used its powers of enforcement – stated clearly in the second section of the amendment – to protect the vote for Black women. And because Native Americans and Asian Americans were not considered citizens in 1920, the 19th Amendment did not apply to the women of those communities until decades later.
***
The themes behind the ratification of the 19th Amendment a century ago seem ripped from today’s headlines: voting rights and women’s rights, inequality, dark money in politics, states’ rights, the ghosts of the Civil War, and racism.
The story of American women winning the vote is an inspiring tale of ordinary citizens rising to lead, of grassroots activists protesting injustice and demanding equality. But it is also a cautionary tale; it’s complicated and messy. Reform movements are imperfect, and moral compromises were made to achieve success; white suffragists left their Black sisters behind. We should learn from those mistakes.
As we’ve watched demonstrations against systemic racism and inequality spread across the nation, there are historic flashbacks to the great suffrage marches, to their picket lines, their protests – and arrests – in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, and to their exercise of civil disobedience. They pioneered many of these tactics.
The woman suffragists offer a legacy of persistence and courage that holds vital lessons for today’s political activists: Protest is important – and patriotic – but it must be followed up by well-designed and sustained political strategies in order to enact lasting change. The suffragists did not just march and picket; they also debated and lobbied, drafted legislation and campaigned. They learned to effectively communicate their cause to the public, build alliances, master the intricacies of legislative procedure, and pull the levers of political power.
And they kept going even after the 19th Amendment was secured: Catt founded the League of Women Voters, also celebrating its centennial anniversary this year, and today in the forefront of demanding voting rights protections. And Paul – along with White – drafted the next step in the campaign for women’s rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, introduced into Congress in 1923. It is still not fully ratified, and its final outcome now lies with the courts.
Another lesson from the era: The struggle to protect and expand our democracy is ongoing. It was not accomplished in 1920, and it is still not complete today, as voting rights for many groups, particularly minorities, remain under threat.
Voting rights are the stress test of the health of our democracy. The most meaningful way to commemorate the centennial of the 19th Amendment this August and the legacy of the suffragists and the suffrage movement – made up of women of all ages, classes, and races, of all political persuasions and party affiliations – is to rededicate ourselves to expanding and improving our democracy by protecting voting rights for all citizens. Making sure every citizen can vote without barriers, without difficulty, without fear.
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Only then can the words of the preamble of our Constitution, “We the People,” ring loud and ring true.
Elaine Weiss is the author of “The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote.”


csmonitor--2020-08-04--Mysterious, massive explosion in Beirut flattens port

A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday , flattening much of the port , damaging buildings across the capital , and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky .
At least 50 people were killed and 2,700 injured , with bodies buried in the rubble , officials said .
Hours later , ambulances still carried away the wounded as army helicopters helped battle fires raging at the port .
The sudden devastation overwhelmed a country already struggling with both the coronavirus pandemic and an economic crisis : Beirut hospitals quickly filled beyond capacity , pleading for blood supplies and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The cause of the blast , which sparked fires , overturned cars , and blew out windows and doors , was not immediately known .
Abbas Ibrahim , chief of Lebanese General Security , said it might have been caused by highly explosive material that was confiscated from a ship some time ago and stored at the port .
Local television channel LBC said the material was sodium nitrate .
Witnesses reported seeing a strange orange-colored cloud over the site after the explosion .
Orange clouds of toxic nitrogen dioxide gas often accompany @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government official said Israel “ had nothing to do ” with the blast .
He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media .
Israeli officials usually do not comment on “ foreign reports.
” The blast was stunning even for a city that has seen civil war , suicide bombings , and bombardment by Israel .
It could be heard and felt as far away as Cyprus , more than 180 miles across the Mediterranean .
“ It was a real horror show @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like that since the days of the [ civil ] war , ” said Marwan Ramadan , who was about 500 yards from the port and was knocked off his feet by the force of the explosion .
Health Minister Hassan Hamad said the preliminary toll was at least 50 dead and 2,700 wounded .
Emergency teams streamed in from across Lebanon to help , and the injured had to be taken to hospitals outside the capital .
Mr. Hamad added that hospitals were barely coping and offers of aid were pouring in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Some of those injured lay on the ground at the port , Associated Press staff at the scene said .
A civil defense official said there were still bodies inside the port , many under debris .
Beirut ’ s governor , Marwan Abboud , broke into tears as he toured the site , saying , “ Beirut is a devastated city.
” Initially , video taken by residents showed a fire raging at the port , sending up a giant column of smoke , illuminated by flashes of what appear to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that a fireworks warehouse was involved .
The fire then appeared to catch at a nearby building , triggering a more massive explosion , sending up a mushroom cloud and a shock wave .
Charbel Haj , who works at the port , said it started as small explosions like firecrackers .
Then , he said , he was thrown off his feet by the huge blast .
His clothes were torn .
Miles from the port , building facades were shredded , balconies were knocked down , and windows shattered .
Streets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lined with wrecked cars .
Motorcyclists picked their way through traffic , carrying the injured .
The blast came at a time when Lebanon ’ s economy is facing collapse from the financial crisis and the coronavirus restrictions .
Many have lost jobs , while the worth of their savings has evaporated as the currency has plunged in value against the dollar .
The result has thrown many into poverty .
It also occurred amid rising tensions between Israel and the militant Hezbollah group along Lebanon ’ s southern border .
The explosion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s civil war and took place only three days before a U.N.-backed tribunal was set to give its verdict in the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a truck bombing more than 15 years ago .
That explosion , with a ton of explosives , was felt miles away , just like Tuesday ’ s explosion .
Several of Beirut ’ s hospitals were damaged in the blast .
Roum Hospital put out a call for people to bring it spare generators to keep its electricity going as it evacuated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the St. George University Hospital in Beirut ’ s Achrafieh neighborhood , people with various injuries arrived in ambulances , in cars , and on foot .
The explosion had caused major damage inside the building and knocked out the electricity at the hospital .
Dozens of injured were being treated on the spot on the street outside , on stretchers and wheelchairs .
“ This is a catastrophe we have on our hands , ” said one doctor , speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make press @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Associated Press .
AP writers Sarah El Deeb and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed .
Editor ’ s note : As a public service , the Monitor has removed the paywall for all our coronavirus coverage .
It ’ s free .

A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the port, damaging buildings across the capital, and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. At least 50 people were killed and 2,700 injured, with bodies buried in the rubble, officials said.
Hours later, ambulances still carried away the wounded as army helicopters helped battle fires raging at the port.
The sudden devastation overwhelmed a country already struggling with both the coronavirus pandemic and an economic crisis: Beirut hospitals quickly filled beyond capacity, pleading for blood supplies and generators to keep their lights on.
The cause of the blast, which sparked fires, overturned cars, and blew out windows and doors, was not immediately known.
Abbas Ibrahim, chief of Lebanese General Security, said it might have been caused by highly explosive material that was confiscated from a ship some time ago and stored at the port. Local television channel LBC said the material was sodium nitrate.
Witnesses reported seeing a strange orange-colored cloud over the site after the explosion. Orange clouds of toxic nitrogen dioxide gas often accompany an explosion involving nitrates.
An Israeli government official said Israel “had nothing to do” with the blast. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media. Israeli officials usually do not comment on “foreign reports.”
The blast was stunning even for a city that has seen civil war, suicide bombings, and bombardment by Israel. It could be heard and felt as far away as Cyprus, more than 180 miles across the Mediterranean.
“It was a real horror show. I haven’t seen anything like that since the days of the [civil] war,” said Marwan Ramadan, who was about 500 yards from the port and was knocked off his feet by the force of the explosion.
Health Minister Hassan Hamad said the preliminary toll was at least 50 dead and 2,700 wounded. Emergency teams streamed in from across Lebanon to help, and the injured had to be taken to hospitals outside the capital. Mr. Hamad added that hospitals were barely coping and offers of aid were pouring in from Arab states and friends of Lebanon.
Some of those injured lay on the ground at the port, Associated Press staff at the scene said. A civil defense official said there were still bodies inside the port, many under debris.
Beirut’s governor, Marwan Abboud, broke into tears as he toured the site, saying, “Beirut is a devastated city.”
Initially, video taken by residents showed a fire raging at the port, sending up a giant column of smoke, illuminated by flashes of what appear to be fireworks. Local TV stations reported that a fireworks warehouse was involved.
The fire then appeared to catch at a nearby building, triggering a more massive explosion, sending up a mushroom cloud and a shock wave.
Charbel Haj, who works at the port, said it started as small explosions like firecrackers. Then, he said, he was thrown off his feet by the huge blast. His clothes were torn.
Miles from the port, building facades were shredded, balconies were knocked down, and windows shattered. Streets were covered with glass and bricks and lined with wrecked cars. Motorcyclists picked their way through traffic, carrying the injured.
“This country is cursed,” a young man passing by muttered.
The blast came at a time when Lebanon’s economy is facing collapse from the financial crisis and the coronavirus restrictions. Many have lost jobs, while the worth of their savings has evaporated as the currency has plunged in value against the dollar. The result has thrown many into poverty.
It also occurred amid rising tensions between Israel and the militant Hezbollah group along Lebanon’s southern border.
The explosion was reminiscent of massive blasts during Lebanon’s civil war and took place only three days before a U.N.-backed tribunal was set to give its verdict in the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a truck bombing more than 15 years ago. That explosion, with a ton of explosives, was felt miles away, just like Tuesday’s explosion.
Several of Beirut’s hospitals were damaged in the blast. Roum Hospital put out a call for people to bring it spare generators to keep its electricity going as it evacuated patients because of heavy damage.
Outside the St. George University Hospital in Beirut’s Achrafieh neighborhood, people with various injuries arrived in ambulances, in cars, and on foot. The explosion had caused major damage inside the building and knocked out the electricity at the hospital. Dozens of injured were being treated on the spot on the street outside, on stretchers and wheelchairs.
“This is a catastrophe we have on our hands,” said one doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make press statements.
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This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP writers Sarah El Deeb and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed.
Editor’s note: As a public service, the Monitor has removed the paywall for all our coronavirus coverage. It’s free.


csmonitor--2020-08-04--With federal agents off the streets, Portland protesters refocus

“ It ’ s like chess pieces , ” he says .
“ Everyone has their own position on the game board , and mine happens to be art and imagery.
” Quan Walters , an illustrator with the Portland Street Art Alliance , paints a mural near the courthouse where protesters and federal agents faced off .
He ’ s joined street marches , but prefers to protest through art .
With the chaos receded , Saturday ’ s protest drew a diverse crowd of locals and out-of-towners , young and old , veterans , blue-collar workers , teachers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ – with a range of political persuasions from anti-fascists and communists to mainstream Democrats .
In addition to demanding an end to systemic racism , they called to shift funds and responsibilities from the police to community services .
Violence escalated sharply after the Trump administration deployed tactical teams of federal agents to Portland in early July to protect federal property from damage by protesters .
Since Oregon officials negotiated a phased withdrawal , however , there has been an easing of tensions and reduction in violence .
As federal agents pull back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s the end of a distracting standoff over the federal use of force – but one that , for some , underscored their sense that they can bring change .
With federal agents , tear gas , and other crowd-control munitions notably absent from around Mark O. Hatfield U.S .
Courthouse in downtown Portland , protesters here are celebrating what they hope is the end of a distracting standoff over the federal use of force .
Several successive nights of peaceful demonstrations drawing thousands of people signal a welcome turning point in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on issues of racial justice and police reform , they say – relieved , but also motivated , by the agents ’ pullback .
“ The focus was taken away from the real thing , which is supposed to be Black Lives Matter , ” says Carolyn Welty-Fick , a fifth-grade teacher from Hood River , Oregon , holding a large sign saying “ RESIST ” in bold letters under a black fist , as people all around her chant “ Black lives !
” The contrast on Saturday night was striking , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ great .
It ’ s a lot more peaceful .
Last week there was a lot more tension in the air , ” she says .
“ We were in full combat gear – helmets and that sort of thing , there was gas coming.
” At the same time , protesters say the aggressive tactics of federal agents without insignia , who injured some people with crowd-control munitions and dragged protesters into unmarked cars , generated widespread outrage and a media spotlight that has energized support for their movement .
“ It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Matt Robbins , a Portland security officer who acts as a medic during the protests .
Demonstrations were “ dying down , ” with just 300 or 400 people a night , but “ as soon as the Feds came it was a few thousand .
Last weekend we had 11,000 people.
” Furthermore , protesters can now claim the withdrawal of those agents from the Hatfield courthouse as a tangible victory – and a sign that their activism can produce concrete change .
“ It ’ s a small victory , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ black clothes and boots , who like many protesters declined to give his last name to protect his privacy .
“ That ’ s proof this works .
That ’ s proof that being out here and occupying space and showing them ‘ we are not afraid of your police brutality ’ … and we will fight until we get change – works.
” As Portland ’ s demonstrations enter their 10th week , protesters say they will continue to press forward .
Protests against police brutality erupted in Portland May 29 as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police killed George Floyd .
That night , a peaceful vigil by thousands later devolved into what police declared a riot , as some protesters broke windows of a jail and set fires inside .
Early that morning , Mayor Ted Wheeler declared a state of emergency .
The following weeks saw a mix of large , peaceful marches and unrest targeting government buildings , with Portland police firing tear gas and other munitions and protesters hurling rocks , bottles , and commercial grade fireworks and setting fires , injuring officers , according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black man and a public servant , I have a unique perspective , ” Chuck Lovell , chief of the Portland Police Bureau , wrote in an Aug. 3 New York Times op-ed , stressing he is committed to leading police reforms .
“ This violence is doing nothing to further the Black Lives Matter movement.
” Throughout the protests , some demonstrators have also voiced concern and disagreement over the movement ’ s tactics , and argued that the original focus on racism and policing have been overshadowed .
Violence escalated sharply @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of federal agents to Portland in early July in order to protect federal property from damage by protesters .
But there has been little violence since Oregon officials negotiated a phased withdrawal of the federal teams beginning last week .
Portland police are investigating the stabbing of a victim on Monday , reportedly a female protester attacked in Lownsdale Square .
While waning in other urban areas , the protests have been sustained in Portland – a city of 655,000 that is more than 70 % white – fueled by activists with eclectic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the core goals of ending racism and promoting more humane policing .
“ Killing Black Americans for no reason has got to stop , ” says David Anthony , an iron worker at Western Group , who quit his union job to take part in the Portland protests from Day 1 .
Raising awareness among the general population is the first step toward ultimately ending U.S. police brutality , he says , which leads not only to deaths , but to “ suppressing Black people , and silencing them.
” Toward that end @ @ @ @ @ @ @ barbecuing donated food to feed the Portland movement .
“ Right now , it ’ s about people being aware of what ’ s going on , ” he says , as he hands out free chicken wings to hungry demonstrators at a corner stand with a huge Black Lives Matter sign .
“ We just barbecue with love and send that out , ” he says , welcoming Saturday ’ s more relaxed atmosphere .
“ Keeping people fed is ground zero to keeping people calmer.
” Indeed , with the chaos @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drew a large , racially diverse crowd of locals and out-of-towners , young and old , veterans , blue-collar workers , teachers , artists , mothers , and families – with some school-aged children leading chants .
They also included self-identified anti-fascists clad in black and people of many political persuasions , ranging from communists to mainstream Democrats .
In addition to demanding an end to systemic racism , they called to shift funds from the Portland Police Bureau to community services , transferring some police work to social workers and mental health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who gather nightly across from the courthouse in Portland ’ s shady Lownsdale Square are loosely organized at best .
Activists who occupied a section of Seattle ’ s Capitol Hill neighborhood called the CHOP in June have recently fanned out to Portland and other cities to offer help .
“ They helped us organize a medical supply tent , a propaganda supply tent , and … are helping us get started with a council and assembly , ” says Jared , a software developer and Portland protest leader , leaning against a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Most of the organization has come from Seattle , and the street fighting has come from Portland , ” he says .
Mike , an anti-fascist organizer who arrived in Portland from Seattle six weeks ago , says he helps provide security and “ intelligence ” to the protesters by monitoring police scanners , flight logs , and license plates , as well as right-wing groups such as the Proud Boys , Three Percenters , and others who have shown up during protests .
Yet mainly the protests are made up of disparate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a common cause .
Near the courthouse , Quan Walters , an illustrator with the Portland Street Art Alliance , paints a huge mural of the cartoon character Huey with a raised fist symbolizing empowerment .
Mr. Walters says his art is “ a testament to where we are in history and where we want to go.
” He has joined street marches , but prefers to protest through art .
“ It ’ s like chess pieces , ” he says .
“ Everyone has their own position on the game board @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and imagery.
” Vietnam-era veterans have formed “ walls ” in solidarity with the protesters , while urging the police and federal agents , generally much younger , to reject orders to use force .
“ I stepped forward to tell them why I was here , ” says Mike Hastie , a member of Veterans for Peace who served with an Army cavalry unit in the Central Highlands of Vietnam .
But as he spoke passionately of Vietnam atrocities to a line of federal agents outside the Portland courthouse in late July @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the face , an incident captured on a video that went viral .
“ If we end the militarization [ of police ] , we can have a dialogue , ” says another Army veteran , Maurice Martin .
“ Police dogs , overwhelming force , tear gas – they don ’ t even use that in the real fighting , ” he says .
“ We … sure should not use it in the streets on unarmed civilians.
” One sign the protests will continue is that they bring together newly energized @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been a life-long struggle .
Ms. Welty-Fick , the teacher , says she recently took a class on white privilege at her church , and realized she had been a passive “ non-racist , ” rather than actively “ anti-racist , ” and needed to speak out for people of color .
Haseena , a recent college graduate who sells Black Lives Matter T-shirts at the protests , says she is gratified to see so many people advocating for Black lives .
“ Since I was young , I have seen Black people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” she says .
“ Change is way over past due .
”

“It’s like chess pieces,” he says. “Everyone has their own position on the game board, and mine happens to be art and imagery.”
Quan Walters, an illustrator with the Portland Street Art Alliance, paints a mural near the courthouse where protesters and federal agents faced off. He’s joined street marches, but prefers to protest through art.
With the chaos receded, Saturday’s protest drew a diverse crowd of locals and out-of-towners, young and old, veterans, blue-collar workers, teachers, artists, mothers, and families – with a range of political persuasions from anti-fascists and communists to mainstream Democrats. In addition to demanding an end to systemic racism, they called to shift funds and responsibilities from the police to community services.
The deployment of federal agents pushed Portland’s protests into the spotlight, marking a new chapter in the national conversation around race and policing – and the limits of the federal power. Now that agents are pulling back, what happens to demonstrators’ original goals?
Violence escalated sharply after the Trump administration deployed tactical teams of federal agents to Portland in early July to protect federal property from damage by protesters. Since Oregon officials negotiated a phased withdrawal, however, there has been an easing of tensions and reduction in violence.
As federal agents pull back in Portland, protesters say it’s the end of a distracting standoff over the federal use of force – but one that, for some, underscored their sense that they can bring change.
With federal agents, tear gas, and other crowd-control munitions notably absent from around Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in downtown Portland, protesters here are celebrating what they hope is the end of a distracting standoff over the federal use of force.
Several successive nights of peaceful demonstrations drawing thousands of people signal a welcome turning point in the Portland movement and an opportunity to refocus on issues of racial justice and police reform, they say – relieved, but also motivated, by the agents’ pullback.
“The focus was taken away from the real thing, which is supposed to be Black Lives Matter,” says Carolyn Welty-Fick, a fifth-grade teacher from Hood River, Oregon, holding a large sign saying “RESIST” in bold letters under a black fist, as people all around her chant “Black lives!” The contrast on Saturday night was striking, she says. “It’s great. It’s a lot more peaceful. Last week there was a lot more tension in the air,” she says. “We were in full combat gear – helmets and that sort of thing, there was gas coming.”
Why We Wrote This The deployment of federal agents pushed Portland’s protests into the spotlight, marking a new chapter in the national conversation around race and policing – and the limits of the federal power. Now that agents are pulling back, what happens to demonstrators’ original goals?
At the same time, protesters say the aggressive tactics of federal agents without insignia, who injured some people with crowd-control munitions and dragged protesters into unmarked cars, generated widespread outrage and a media spotlight that has energized support for their movement.
“It got people more angry,” says Matt Robbins, a Portland security officer who acts as a medic during the protests. Demonstrations were “dying down,” with just 300 or 400 people a night, but “as soon as the Feds came it was a few thousand. Last weekend we had 11,000 people.”
Ann Scott Tyson/The Christian Science Monitor View caption Hide caption Black Lives Matter protesters demonstrate for police reform and an end to systemic racism in downtown Portland, Oregon, Aug. 1, 2020.
Furthermore, protesters can now claim the withdrawal of those agents from the Hatfield courthouse as a tangible victory – and a sign that their activism can produce concrete change.
“It’s a small victory,” says Mike, an organizer dressed in black clothes and boots, who like many protesters declined to give his last name to protect his privacy. “That’s proof this works. That’s proof that being out here and occupying space and showing them ‘we are not afraid of your police brutality’ … and we will fight until we get change – works.”
Summer of protest
As Portland’s demonstrations enter their 10th week, protesters say they will continue to press forward. Protests against police brutality erupted in Portland May 29 as unrest swept many U.S. cities after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd. That night, a peaceful vigil by thousands later devolved into what police declared a riot, as some protesters broke windows of a jail and set fires inside. Early that morning, Mayor Ted Wheeler declared a state of emergency.
The following weeks saw a mix of large, peaceful marches and unrest targeting government buildings, with Portland police firing tear gas and other munitions and protesters hurling rocks, bottles, and commercial grade fireworks and setting fires, injuring officers, according to the police.
“As a Black man and a public servant, I have a unique perspective,” Chuck Lovell, chief of the Portland Police Bureau, wrote in an Aug. 3 New York Times op-ed, stressing he is committed to leading police reforms. “This violence is doing nothing to further the Black Lives Matter movement.”
Throughout the protests, some demonstrators have also voiced concern and disagreement over the movement’s tactics, and argued that the original focus on racism and policing have been overshadowed.
Violence escalated sharply after the Trump administration deployed tactical teams of federal agents to Portland in early July in order to protect federal property from damage by protesters. But there has been little violence since Oregon officials negotiated a phased withdrawal of the federal teams beginning last week. Portland police are investigating the stabbing of a victim on Monday, reportedly a female protester attacked in Lownsdale Square.
While waning in other urban areas, the protests have been sustained in Portland – a city of 655,000 that is more than 70% white – fueled by activists with eclectic viewpoints and tactics, but united around the core goals of ending racism and promoting more humane policing.
“Killing Black Americans for no reason has got to stop,” says David Anthony, an iron worker at Western Group, who quit his union job to take part in the Portland protests from Day 1.
Raising awareness among the general population is the first step toward ultimately ending U.S. police brutality, he says, which leads not only to deaths, but to “suppressing Black people, and silencing them.”
Toward that end, Mr. Anthony now spends all day barbecuing donated food to feed the Portland movement. “Right now, it’s about people being aware of what’s going on,” he says, as he hands out free chicken wings to hungry demonstrators at a corner stand with a huge Black Lives Matter sign. “We just barbecue with love and send that out,” he says, welcoming Saturday’s more relaxed atmosphere. “Keeping people fed is ground zero to keeping people calmer.”
Ann Scott Tyson/The Christian Science Monitor View caption Hide caption David Anthony, an iron worker from Portland, stands outside a barbecue tent where he cooks donated food for protesters each day in Portland, Oregon, Aug. 1, 2020.
Indeed, with the chaos receded, Saturday’s peaceful protest drew a large, racially diverse crowd of locals and out-of-towners, young and old, veterans, blue-collar workers, teachers, artists, mothers, and families – with some school-aged children leading chants. They also included self-identified anti-fascists clad in black and people of many political persuasions, ranging from communists to mainstream Democrats. In addition to demanding an end to systemic racism, they called to shift funds from the Portland Police Bureau to community services, transferring some police work to social workers and mental health care providers.
Many stories, one protest
Still, the protesters who gather nightly across from the courthouse in Portland’s shady Lownsdale Square are loosely organized at best. Activists who occupied a section of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood called the CHOP in June have recently fanned out to Portland and other cities to offer help.
“They helped us organize a medical supply tent, a propaganda supply tent, and … are helping us get started with a council and assembly,” says Jared, a software developer and Portland protest leader, leaning against a tree trunk with his guitar. “Most of the organization has come from Seattle, and the street fighting has come from Portland,” he says.
Mike, an anti-fascist organizer who arrived in Portland from Seattle six weeks ago, says he helps provide security and “intelligence” to the protesters by monitoring police scanners, flight logs, and license plates, as well as right-wing groups such as the Proud Boys, Three Percenters, and others who have shown up during protests.
Yet mainly the protests are made up of disparate individuals contributing as they see fit to a common cause.
Ann Scott Tyson/The Christian Science Monitor View caption Hide caption Artist Quan Walters paints a mural of the cartoon character Huey holding his fist in a sign of empowerment, as part of the Portland Street Art Alliance effort to support the Black Lives Matter movement in Portland, Oregon, Aug. 1, 2020.
Near the courthouse, Quan Walters, an illustrator with the Portland Street Art Alliance, paints a huge mural of the cartoon character Huey with a raised fist symbolizing empowerment. Mr. Walters says his art is “a testament to where we are in history and where we want to go.” He has joined street marches, but prefers to protest through art. “It’s like chess pieces,” he says. “Everyone has their own position on the game board, and mine happens to be art and imagery.”
Vietnam-era veterans have formed “walls” in solidarity with the protesters, while urging the police and federal agents, generally much younger, to reject orders to use force. “I stepped forward to tell them why I was here,” says Mike Hastie, a member of Veterans for Peace who served with an Army cavalry unit in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. But as he spoke passionately of Vietnam atrocities to a line of federal agents outside the Portland courthouse in late July, one of them pepper-sprayed him in the face, an incident captured on a video that went viral.
“If we end the militarization [of police], we can have a dialogue,” says another Army veteran, Maurice Martin. “Police dogs, overwhelming force, tear gas – they don’t even use that in the real fighting,” he says. “We … sure should not use it in the streets on unarmed civilians.”
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One sign the protests will continue is that they bring together newly energized protesters and those for whom racism has been a life-long struggle. Ms. Welty-Fick, the teacher, says she recently took a class on white privilege at her church, and realized she had been a passive “non-racist,” rather than actively “anti-racist,” and needed to speak out for people of color.
Haseena, a recent college graduate who sells Black Lives Matter T-shirts at the protests, says she is gratified to see so many people advocating for Black lives. “Since I was young, I have seen Black people die and be killed over nothing,” she says. “Change is way over past due.”


csmonitor--2020-08-04--Camping in Siberia: On the trail of the world’s largest owl

In Russia ’ s far east , a land of frozen rivers and towering forests , an American biologist pushes his way through hip-high snow in search of the world ’ s largest living species of owl .
He stops , listening to the duet of a pair Blakiston ’ s fish owls .
Their call is a low-frequency rumbling , he writes , one that seems to come from the forest itself .
It ’ s a sound that is easy to miss if there are other distractions , such as wind rustling through leaves , or slush running @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russian logging trucks tearing down another path into the birds ’ habitat .
It is a sound Jonathan Slaght had strained to hear for years , ever since he first visited the Primorye wilderness in his late teens , accompanying his father on a business trip .
As he writes in “ Owls of the Eastern Ice : A Quest to Find and Save the World ’ s Largest Owl , ” he fell in love immediately with the dramatic ridges and low valleys of this Russian frontierland – and its mysterious , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fish owls were like a beautiful thought I couldn ’ t quite articulate , ” he writes .
“ They evoked the same wonderous longing as some distant place I ’ d always wanted to visit but didn ’ t really know much about.
” For the next decade and beyond , Slaght chased this thought .
He spent three years in Primorye in the Peace Corps , and then returned as a PhD student from the University of Minnesota .
His goal , he writes , was to better understand the owls @ @ @ @ @ @ @ help guide conservation efforts in the face of increasing resource extraction in the region .
Although fish owls are an endangered species and protected by Russian law , it was impossible to develop a conservation plan without knowing what the birds actually needed to survive .
And so , with a collection of eccentric field assistants , a variety of snow-ready ( and occasionally duct-taped ) vehicles , and a willingness to follow wherever tracks led , Slaght delved into the wilderness .
“ It was one thing to sit comfortably ... and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he writes , but “ the reality of the process – the cold and the darkness and the silence – was another thing entirely.
” Indeed , in Slaght ’ s capable hands , the scientist-as-adventurer narrative brings readers into a strange land .
There , ornithologists find lodging deep in remote cabins with spies-turned-hermits , they float trucks across rapids , and they snowmobile across frozen rivers already dangerously scarred by melting slush .
He and his fellow scientists are stranded on riverbanks , in snow drifts , and rough border towns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But they also , slowly , discover critical information about the fish owl .
It is this portrait of scientific research , as much as the story of the search for one fragile species , that centers “ Owls of the Eastern Ice.
” Slaght ’ s book does not end in any great dramatic revelation or climax .
But readers will appreciate the dedication that such research takes , the kind of single-mindedness that once led a graduate student to spend months in a frigid sleeping bag , watching a tree where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

In Russia’s far east, a land of frozen rivers and towering forests, an American biologist pushes his way through hip-high snow in search of the world’s largest living species of owl. He stops, listening to the duet of a pair Blakiston’s fish owls. Their call is a low-frequency rumbling, he writes, one that seems to come from the forest itself. It’s a sound that is easy to miss if there are other distractions, such as wind rustling through leaves, or slush running down an otherwise frozen river, or Russian logging trucks tearing down another path into the birds’ habitat.
It is a sound Jonathan Slaght had strained to hear for years, ever since he first visited the Primorye wilderness in his late teens, accompanying his father on a business trip. As he writes in “Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World’s Largest Owl,” he fell in love immediately with the dramatic ridges and low valleys of this Russian frontierland – and its mysterious, elusive birds.
“For me, fish owls were like a beautiful thought I couldn’t quite articulate,” he writes. “They evoked the same wonderous longing as some distant place I’d always wanted to visit but didn’t really know much about.”
For the next decade and beyond, Slaght chased this thought. He spent three years in Primorye in the Peace Corps, and then returned as a PhD student from the University of Minnesota. His goal, he writes, was to better understand the owls’ habitats so he and others could help guide conservation efforts in the face of increasing resource extraction in the region. Although fish owls are an endangered species and protected by Russian law, it was impossible to develop a conservation plan without knowing what the birds actually needed to survive.
And so, with a collection of eccentric field assistants, a variety of snow-ready (and occasionally duct-taped) vehicles, and a willingness to follow wherever tracks led, Slaght delved into the wilderness.
“It was one thing to sit comfortably ... and talk about finding fish owls,” he writes, but “the reality of the process – the cold and the darkness and the silence – was another thing entirely.”
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empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
Indeed, in Slaght’s capable hands, the scientist-as-adventurer narrative brings readers into a strange land. There, ornithologists find lodging deep in remote cabins with spies-turned-hermits, they float trucks across rapids, and they snowmobile across frozen rivers already dangerously scarred by melting slush. He and his fellow scientists are stranded on riverbanks, in snow drifts, and rough border towns; they face failures and frostbite. But they also, slowly, discover critical information about the fish owl.
It is this portrait of scientific research, as much as the story of the search for one fragile species, that centers “Owls of the Eastern Ice.” Slaght’s book does not end in any great dramatic revelation or climax. But readers will appreciate the dedication that such research takes, the kind of single-mindedness that once led a graduate student to spend months in a frigid sleeping bag, watching a tree where he believed there might be an owl.