{"id":138,"date":"2024-05-02T17:35:29","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T17:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/moneysp2024\/?p=138"},"modified":"2024-05-22T18:46:34","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T18:46:34","slug":"protest-as-a-currency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/moneysp2024\/2024\/05\/02\/protest-as-a-currency\/","title":{"rendered":"Protest as a Currency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This project focuses on traditionally valuable objects that convey a political message, which was not typically projected onto the elites. There is an added layer to the overlap between relationships between Suffragettes and Abolitionists belonging to imperial powers. The first object in this analysis is a silver coin, minted 1892, decorated with a Golden Jubilee portrait of Queen Victoria. It\u2019s unique in the representation of the political climate of the time as it was defaced by the prominent suffragette group, Women\u2019s Social and Political Union, in the early 20th-century. In Britain, the abolitionist movement made headway in the 19th century. Ideology spread through typical monied objects, such as medallions, coins, jewelry, and luxury ceramic goods. Am I not a man and a brother <\/em>created by a renowned ceramicist, who has received commissions from the monarch itself, created a collection of anti-slavery goods to spread the movement’s message. Josiah Wedgwood’s confection of high status goods and revolutionary abolitionist support reinvented the mode in which a political message could be spread to a group who is usually unwilling to listen. Disguised in pristine bone white china, Wedgwood made abolition a product of consumption so the elites who had benefited from slavery the most. The final object, Am I not a woman and a sister<\/em>, brings together the messages of abolition and women\u2019s rights together. Featuring an enslaved woman, the coin uplifted the voices of women affected by slavery and also those fighting to end it. The intersections of each object encapsulate the ways in which money and valuable goods were used as a protest against the very systems that controlled them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women’s Suffrage Coin<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On the obverse of the silver coin has an engraving of Queen Victoria\u2019s Golden Jubilee portrait, and was minted in 1892 as is indicated on the reverse. The prominent militant suffragette group, the Women\u2019s Social and Political Union, carved \u201cVotes for Women\u201d on the obverse as political protest. On the reverse of the coin is an official engraving of a Trojan soldier atop a rearing horse stabbing a dragon with his sword. The letters \u201cWSPU,\u201d standing for the Women\u2019s Social and Political Union, who are responsible for the defacement, are engraved over the horse and dragon.<\/p>\n\n\n

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On the obverse of the silver coin is an engraving of Queen Victoria facing left with a crown in the middle and the words \u201cVictoria D: G: Britt: Reg: F: D:\u201d surrounding her head. The words \u201cVotes for Women\u201d are engraved over Queen Victoria.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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On the reverse of the silver coin is an engraving of a Trojan soldier atop a rearing horse stabbing a dragon with his sword. Underneath the image is the date 1892. The letters \u201cWSPU\u201d are engraved over the horse and dragon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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

Anti-Slavery Mug<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This pristine white bone china mug was designed for exportation by an abolitionist movement. There is but one image on the mug, that of a shackled kneeling enslaved African, surrounded by a tropical environment. The Am I not a man and a brother? <\/em>emblem was a recurring image for the British Anti-Slavery movement carried forward by Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce. By 1807, and before the abolition of slavery in all the British colonies in 1838, many versions of the kneeling slave found their way onto the surface of artifacts made in ceramic, metal, glass and fabric. The golden detailing and bone china entice an audience of exorbitant taste to consume abolitionist messaging.<\/p>\n\n\n

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This is a small white mug with golden rim detailing. On it lays an image of a kneeling enslaved African wearing nothing but trouser and chains on his wrist. The enslaved African is looking up presumably in prayer. Behind him is is fauna and two palm trees.  
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Hard Times Token<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The token, \u201cAm I Not a Woman and a Sister?<\/em>\u201d from 1838 was created at a time of multiple crises. It was minted during the \u201cHard Times\u201d era of economic crisis, in which Andrew Jackson closed the Second Bank of the United States, removing vast amounts of coinage in circulation. Simultaneously, slavery was still thriving in the United States, but not without opposition. The economic crisis allowed private minters to create coinage used as legal tender, thus leading to the use of coinage as a tool for spreading political messages. This particular token was sponsored by the American Anti-Slavery Society and depicted an enslaved woman as a symbol for the exploitation and torment of slavery. Women as a symbol of protest was rare, and held particular meaning for activist women. Coinage was also a unique tool for protest in its ability to hold political significance on a functional, everyday object.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The image shows both sides of a copper 1838 token. This image, the obverse, has, at center, a relief of a woman kneeling on one knee with chains on her arms. She is looking to the sky, with her hands together (due to the chains) also pointing upward. The rim of the coin says, \u201cAM I NOT A WOMAN & A SISTER.\u201d At the bottom, it also says \u201c1838\u201d with a flower on each side of the date. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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This image, the reverse, has a large wreath at center with the words, \u201cLIBERTY\u201d (above) and the date \u201c1838\u201d (below) at the center of the wreath. The rim of the coin says \u201cUNITED STATES OF AMERICA.\u201d
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

–Maggie Herman, Elspeth Howland, and Hannah Model<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This project focuses on traditionally valuable objects that convey a political message, which was not typically projected onto the elites. There is an added layer…<\/p>\n

Continue ReadingProtest as a Currency<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2491,"featured_media":385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-laboratory","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/moneysp2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/moneysp2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/moneysp2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/moneysp2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2491"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/moneysp2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/moneysp2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":644,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/moneysp2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions\/644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/moneysp2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/moneysp2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/moneysp2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/moneysp2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}