Irrepressible - A Hidden History of Texas Women

By Faith Chatham - Austin, TX - Oct. 27, 2019

This past week I have juggled my time between writing, art and research. In the studio I have made progress on the art exhibition. Also, I have finally decided on the title: Irrepressible, a hidden history of Invincible Texas Women.

There will be 14 large pieces in the exhibition and a book including the portraits, some photos and an essay about each person or event in the artwork. I finally got the draft of the project prospectus written. In addition to spotlighting the contributions of these incredible women, hopefully, the exhibition will help raise money for some non-profit organizations which support women and girls and help us continue opening doors.

I have completed and framed the portrait of State Representative Senfronia Thompson. She has served in the Texas House for 28 years (2nd in seniority) and has cracked through the ceiling in the legislature for persons of color and women. The portrait of Governor Ann Richards is ready to frame. I have almost finished the sketch of State Representative Donna Howard. I have begun preliminary sketches of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Most of the portraits are in black and white. A few pieces are in color. Currently I am working on a montage/collage highlighting suffragette Minnie Fisher Cunningham. The watercolor/pen and ink portrait of Minnie Cunningham is complete. The work also includes a sketch of 32 Texas women who were photographed together in Austin the day they first cast their vote in the Texas Democratic Primary in 1918. A copy of the Congratulatory Telegram from President Woodrow Wilson to Minnie Cunningham is included beside the news clipping when the judge ruled that the women’s vote in the primary was unconstitutional and ordered that their votes not be counted. This was a year before passage of the Constitutional Amendment granting women the right to vote.

Indefatigable and irrepressible describes Minnie Fisher Cunningham and the women who fought for the right to vote and to serve in elected office in Texas. Minnie served as the first secretary/treasurer of the national League of Women Voters. She was the first Texas woman to run for the U.S. Senate. Identifying incumbents in office who were hostile to women’s suffrage, Minnie and her associated vetted candidates and backed those who were favorable to women’s vote. Minnie promoted Bill Hobby over Gov. Ferguson and the women were largely responsible for electing Hobby Governor.

Minnie traveled, educated and recruited throughout Texas and the nation. Her influence reached from the earliest days of women’s suffrage in Texas to the 1960s. She helped finance the opening of the JFK/LBJ for President Headquarters in Texas by organizing a garage sale.

When women march in Texas for Women’s Rights, we are assuming the torch lit by women, many of them unnamed and forgotten, who wrote the book on persistence. They refused to accept defeat. When their triumphs were overturned by the courts, they used the setback to propel them forward, to change the incumbents, to rewrite the narrative, to persevere.

The Colors of Suffrage

Gold, White and Violet (Purple)

Review of Blue, Illicit and Unspoken

By Shirley McKellar, PhD 

I met Ms. Faith Chatham about 10 years ago while running for U.S. Congress, District Three, East Texas. I was immediately impressed, drawn to her tenacity and her brilliant brain. I was even more impressed when I saw her words in print. I loved her encouragement of women and young college students about the importance of educating themselves both academically and politically. The richness of my political life has been invigorating since my introduction to the Dynastical History of this East Texas WIZ kid from Harrison County.

This amazing author writes of East Texas and the newspaper as an insider. She is a 6th Generation East Texan and her family are Texas Republic pioneer settlers. 

She has spent over twenty years in newspaper and her first job was writing for The Marshall News Messenger before becoming an Ad Rep for The Longview News Journal and opening her own independent advertising agency in Longview.

“Public corruption is not a victimless crime,” she states.

The book is inspired by the authors’ experiences in business in Longview during the era when Sheriff Tom Welch's crime organization was at its heights. As a young single businesswoman, Ms. Faith noticed things that seemed a bit odd to her but, it wasn’t until the death of Deputy Wayne Gill, like most citizens of Gregg County, that parts of the crime story begin to unfold. Prior to that she states, “I was oblivious to the depths of corruption in local government.” And, because of what she saw and learned, she was further inspired to write her book.

She confided her fears and suspicions to the new newspaper publisher, Tom Meredith. She had no evidence, but had seen enough and heard enough to realize that things were not how they should be. The newspaper publisher had no local ties and had been the publisher in Lufkin when that paper won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting on the death of a mentally challenged marine recruit during basic training. He was a journalist she trusted to protect his source and have the tools and resources and resolve to investigate.  He contacted the Texas Attorney General who worked with the Texas Rangers and the FBI.

Except for the newspaper publisher, Ms. Faith did not discuss what she had seen, heard or suspected until decades later. Now that the principals are deceased, she has created fictional characters to share some of the experience of those she knew in Longview in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Ms. Faith is a highly effective writer and her work is a must read. It will keep you on the edge of your seat until the last page. And, you will certainly want more.

Councilwoman Shirley J. McKellar, PhD

                                       August 30, 2019, Tyler, Texas

BLUE, ILLICIT AND UNSPOKEN by Faith Chatham is available on Amazon.com in paperback ($19.95) or e-book ($5.99). This week Kindle Unlimited is featuring it as one of their READ FOR FREE Selections. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Faith+Chatham&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

Ms. Chatham's second novel in the Graham Fergusson Adventure Series, DIVIDING LINE is available for pre-order.

Woman owned Pine Tinder Press Releases First Novel

Action Alert - House Judiciary Holds First Hearings on ERA in 30 Years

https://now.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Take-Action-ERA_-Target-States-1.pdf

USA trails behind 73 other nations in women in legislatures

By Faith Chatham - January 13, 2019

The USA, after making more gains in representation by women than in the women than in the history of this nation, still trails behind 73 other nations in the world in the percent of women serving in Legislatures and Parliaments.

81% of the world's Parliaments /Legislatures were led by men in 2018. More than half of the countries of the world apply a gender minimum/quota for their legislative bodies.

In the USA the 116th Congress has 24% female in the house and 25% in the Senate.

Rawanda has 61%; Mexico has 48%; Cuba and Bolivia have 32%; France has 40%; Great Britain has 32%; Germany has 31%; USA has 24%

Research shows that on average a woman elected to the Legislature is more qualified (education and related experience) than the average male legislator because women seeking higher office are held to different standards than men. In the USA, our current Congress has fewer veterans than previously, but more of recently elected veterans who were elected are women.

There is a stark partisan difference in the roles of women in government. Historically, Democrats are more supportive of women and minorities serving in elected office.

Democratic women candidates are currently turning out higher numbers of votes in many key states and nationally than any of their male or female predecessors.It is difficult to change the perception that it requires a man to win the office.

Historically, women in Texas have rarely served in higher office. In the history of the state and during the years Texas was a Republic, only two women have served as Governor.

The first Black American elected to the Texas Senate (following Reconstruction) was Barbara Jordan. She was truly a trailblazer.

State Senator Jordan continued and won a seat in the US Congress:

At that time, there were ten Black Americans serving in the US Congress. The Hon. Congresswoman from NY, Shirley Chisholm ran for President. She cited the perception that only a white man could serve as President, or as head of University or in business as the reason she ran. She said:

"If I stood on my head, a lot of people wouldn't believe that I am serious. If you are serious, you do not sit back like a reluctant dragon and expect that somebody is going to give you the nomination. You get out and get to the American people, in the highways the by ways here look at me in terms of what I can do the prescribed roles that this nation has given to women and the prescribed roles that have been given to Blacks.This country needs the talents, the intellect, and the capabilities of human beings. There are brilliant women in this country and there are brilliant men. There are stupid women and there are stupid men. There is no psychological test yet which shows that one sex has the superiority of great cranial matter over the other sex.... I am no ordinary woman running out here for president. Before I even went to the United States Congress I knew I would have to be two, three or four times as good than many of the gentlemen in the Congress because of who I am. I am aware of double and triple standards so I make sure I fit the standards before I get out here...I am sick and tired of people not look at me in terms of my humanity and my capabilities.

,,, I don't have any money. One of the gentlemen out here said 'if Shirley Chisholm had any money, we'd have to scurry for cover. You know they w
Either we want change or we like the idea of taking about change. To bring about changed in this nation So many young people told me: Shirley you have a national voice You cannot make a difference in this nation you have to get out of the system and Give me a chance to try it this time. Come with me on the Chisholm Trail. Because if we want
If you have a hang up because I am black and you're a racist I can't change that. If you have a hang up, you're sexist because I'm a woman. I can't help that. My bones are so fixed. I can't go to Denmark and get an operation.

Where is this nation going to get ...
God help them if they are outdoors and the wind blows that speech away. They can't even talk. Unless you have loads of money you can't even They can move from one issue to another issues and have ten different positions in the same state. No wonder people do not trust the leaders of our nation because they do nothing but talk with forked tongues.

...He who pays the piper calls the tune. That is why people are distrusting our politicians because by the time they get to the White House, they have to take care of the i other interest first before they take care of the interests of the American people.

 And they don't hear us. It means that they really don't have to listen to you because you have not made politics important enough in your lives to begin start doing something about it on the local level, on the state level and pulling out some of those Congressmen who are constantly giving he authorizations and making the appropriations..
You have abdicated your citizenship rights and your responsibilities by saying you are fed up I don't want to be
you cannot make a difference.
By abdicating it you are getting what you deserve
You have the power. Don't go out there and just give your voted to someone because he is just a good Democrat or he is handsome or he talks nicely or something. Go and look at the record for the last 8 or 10 years and see if they have the commitment to the people. You get caught up. You get caught up in how the people supporting certain candidates come into your community and open up the storefront. You get caught up. You go along.
Every man, woman, individual who can vote has the right to cast their vote for the right to cast their vote for the individual who can guide this ship of state in the direction that it surely should be guided.
If I were not black, and if I were not a woman, if I were a white male I would get much more attention in terms of what I am doing at this moment in this nation at this hour.
 To look at the position of this country in terms of espousal of egalatrian principals,
millions of dollars taxpayer money is going abroad or economic of financial assistance to prompt up the administrations of military dictorships who are who are oppressing and repressing their own citizens
What happens to these egalatarian principles when our dollar goes abroad
I would cut off every cent of your money, not my money, your money which is going to prompt up these dictatorships in these countries where their leaders are oppressing and repressing their own people.

Texas Legislature is addressing sexual assault and human trafficking

 By Faith Chatham - March 31, 2018

Of all the bills I have read this year, the bill I most want to see passed 
is SB SB 2384 by Sen Kirk Watson and Donna Howard's companion 
HB 1590.

This legislation strengthens the framework of Office of Sexual Assault Survivors Assistance (under the Governor's Office of Criminal Justice). It stipulates that the Governor appoint a Director and the Director be allowed to hire staff.

Changes in the language of this bill clarifies the duties and responsibilities of the office in addressing the mission of preventing sexual assault, prosecuting and providing services to survivors through communication and coordination with all agencies dealing with sexual assault or survivors. This bill links law enforcement, social work, medical examiners, training, SAFE sites, prosecution and survivors resources together. It is intended to minimize some of the silos and dark holes which frustrate law enforcement, social workers, prosecutors, and survivors.

There are over 200 bills this session in both houses addressing sexual assault, rape, trafficking and harassment. This bill provides clarification of an agency which should be functioning as a clearing house for information and resources which could reduce the number of victims by improving services to survivors and prosecutors.

These bills are all part of a mosaic. I see them each as one of the tiles making up the whole with  Senate Bill 2384 which improves the Office of Sexual Assault Survivors Services as the framework and foundation for the entire mission of reducing the number of victims and serving those who are survivors.

Instead of the Attorney General getting to select any "individual with knowledge of sexual assault" to establish the protocols for collecting and processing sexual assault evidence kits, it stipulates that the Attorney General consult with the Office of Sexual Assault Survivors Services.

This office is charged with collecting compiling and reporting data on sexual assault and survivors resources by council of government districts.

There are other important bills which address part of the mission such as:

HB 152 (Minjarez) which addresses the collection storage and analysis of rape kit evidence and

HB 467 (Miller) Retention of records of sexual assault by hospital and

HB 3106 (Goldman) requires law enforcement to enter sexual assault data into the Texas Data Exchange System

HB 2339 (Meza) Relating to the entry into the Texas Crime Information Center of information concerning the release on bond of persons charged with committing a violent offense

Rep. Neave's HB 401 Creation of Texas Sexual Assault Evidentiary Council is a good idea. It could be part of the Office of Sexual Assault Survivors Services.

Several bills address correct data.

HB 2678 (Zwiener) Compilation and reports of statistics involving sexual assault victims who receive a forensic medical examination before reporting the assault to law enforcement.

HB 3106 (Goldman) requires law enforcement to enter sexual assault data into the Texas Data Exchange System.

In the Senate the major data collection/reporting bill is SB 587 (Watson) Relating to the collection and reporting of information relating to the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault offenses.

ll of these initiatives rely on funding. Senator Jane Nelsons SB 1 and the House HB 1 both provide increased funding for increases funding for Rape Crisis Centers, and $50 M to double Crime Lab to test rape kits, and more funding for forensic nurse examiners.

To read the text of these bills or to see where in the pipeline the bill is currently go to: https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/BillNumber.aspx

Note: This article only skims through the bills. There are other important bills which define sexual assault, decriminalize homosexual behavior, or address human trafficking or rape on college campuses or molestation of public school children. Passage of some of the bills will improve training in childhood trauma and sexual assault for teachers, school personnel and law enforcement. Other bills improve training for law enforcement and nurse examiners. Much of this work was begun in prior legislative session and continued during the months while the Legislature was not in session. Collectively, it is evident that members of the Texas House and Senate on both sides of the aisle are evaluating the problems and the process and seeking solutions to improve the process. They are mission oriented in seeking to reduce the number of victims (survivors) through services which improve law enforcement/prosecution of perpetrators and services which assist the survivors.

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David Whitley is a dismal failure as SOS of Texas.

By Faith Chatham - Feb. 7, 2019

The Texas Tribune reported: State Rep. Rafael Anchia ...wanted to know: Did Whitley know for sure that any of the (95K registered voters) on the list SOS David Whitley had turned over to the Attorney General had committed crimes by voting as noncitizens?

“No,” Whitley answered, according to Anchia.

“And I said, ‘Well, isn’t it the protocol that you investigate and, if you find facts, you turn it over to the AG?”

“I do not have an answer for that,” Whitley responded, according to Anchia’s recollection of the Monday meeting.

The Senate Nominations Committee meets today (Thursday, Feb. 7) at 9 a.m. in E2.106 to consider David Whitely's confirmation as SOS. Gov. Abbott appointed him in mid Dec. 2018 but he must be confirmed by the Senate.

The former Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor is in over his head. He has demonstrated that he falls painfully short in performing due diligence before making statements to the press, releasing data to counties and before turning people over to the Attorney General. We need a better candidate for SOS.

See  Texas Tribune article:

Forgotten Mothers: US faces dramatic increase in maternal death rates

Maternal Mortality Review Terminology

Sen. Michael Bennet Calls on Senate Republicans to End the Shutdown

What is Imperfect produce?

http://imprfct.us/luRDP

Mitch McConnell hides from freshman Congresswomen

By Faith Chatham - Jan. 17, 2019

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell evaded four freshmen congresswomen who chased him around the Capitol Wednesday.  Rep. Jahana Hayes of Connecticut, Lauren Underwood of Illinois, Katie Hill of California and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pursued McConnell. They visited his Capitol office, cloakroom, went to the Senate floor and even rode the subway to a suite in another office building asking: "Where is Mitch? He's not in his office. He's not on the floor. We've looked in the cloak room."

“He seems to be running away from us,” said Rep. Ocasio-Cortez. They dropped off a letter signed by 38 freshmen members of Congress, calling on McConnell to call ending the shut-down to  vote.  Frustration that the House passed multiple bills to reopen the government and to allow 800,000 furloughed federal workers to be paid, but McConnell has refused to bring any of them to the Senate floor for a vote, the four women, who describe themselves as 'a former school teacher, nurse,  a former non-profit worker. and most recently a bartender' stated that they are not part of the millionaire class. "Working people deserve to be paid."

“At this point, the only thing left is for us to make noise and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Hill said after they dropped off a letter signed by 38 House freshmen to McConnell’s office asking him to call a vote.

Shirley Chisholm : The First Black Congresswoman

Powerful Woman Workout Wear

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Hillary Clinton and Tony Goldwyn Play Broadway or Beltway

Explain to me again why we must have a man on the top of the ticket to win?

By Faith Chatham - Jan. 7, 2019

Lupe Valdez had a smaller war chest than any of the previous five Texas governor Democratic nominees, yet got more votes than the four previous male nominees and of Wendy Davis. Lupe also got the most votes in a primary featuring 6 men. She was only a few points shy of avoiding a run-off.

Hillary Clinton's campaign did not deploy a field team to Texas in 2016 until the last six weeks of he campaign, yet she got more votes than any previous Democratic Nominee on the ballot in Texas. More Texans voted for Hillary, a state where little advertising was spent, than in most of the battle ground states where the campaign invested heavily.

In 2018, in every Congressional District in Texas where there was a woman running in the Democratic Primary except 2, the woman won.

Women are running and women are winning. So explain to me again. Help me understand why it is necessary for a man to be on the top of the ticket in 2020 for Democrats to win?

Granted, 60% of Republican men have been reported to say that they do not want to see a woman elected President in their lifetime. That leaves 40% of the Republican men who  do not seem to mind.  And since all Democratic men and all Republican men combined make up less than 49% of the US Population, it seems to me that the 60% of women hating Republican men are definately in the minority.

I think what we need to do is to continue registering and getting progressives out to vote. 
We need to continue changing the culture by changing women. We need to continue showing women that when we run, we do win. When we win, we do serve. When we serve, we improve things for us, for our families, for our communities, for our nation and the world.

Let's continue reminding people that:

And that Ann Richards ignored them when ...

Despite what they said to Sylvia Garcia and Veronica Escobar:

Nellie Ross ignored them when ...

Lupe Valdez didn't see why she couldn't be sheriff when ..

They told Barbara Jordan:

When she considered running for Congress...

It's nothing new. Women have been hearing the same tired ole lines:

If you lose an election, the nay sayers get louder:

In 2018, Terry Meza beat the GOP male incumbent by more than 4,000 votes.

Hillary Clinton heard:

Donors looked at Hillary's numbers and decided that many districts they thought were "too Red to win" weren't quite so red. They gave money to challengers and...

So that brings us back to where we began. Women are more than 51% of the US Population. We comprise 24% of the House and 25% of the Senate. In 2018, in Texas in all US Congressional Districts except two, women beat every man on the ballot. Similar number were reflected in returns in other states. 

Democrats have a strong track-record of electing women and minorities to public office. Only 60% of the White male Republicans says they do not want to see a woman elected president in their lifetime. 

For example, if Republicans have been getting 55% to 60% of the vote and half of them are men,

then only 27.5% to 30% of the voters are Republican men. Only 60% of the Republican men say they don't want to see a woman elected President in their lifetime -- so that is only 60% of 27.5% to 30% of the voters. That is far from being a majority. It is probable that a significant number of the remaining 40% of Republican men and of the Republican women are open to voting for a qualified woman. Democratic men have been voting for women for decades. Democratic women are running and helping other women win.

So, again, explain to me why it is so important to run a man at the top of the ticket? 

Fresh Zucchini Cornbread

By Faith Chatham - Jan. 6, 2019

1 pkg yellow corn bread mix
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk (Almond milk works fine)
1 zucchini squash sliced fine and diced
1/2 onion, diced
1/4 tsp of finely chopped fresh thyme
1/2 tsp of chopped cilantro


Mix together and bake in oiled pan  for 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until brown
Serves 6.

Optional a small can of drained yellow corn and/or a half-cup of cheese can be blended in before baking.

Preparing for 2019

By Faith Chatham - January 1, 2019

It is 2019. What are the most important things to experience and accomplish this year? What must be done to for each of us to individually enjoy what we want to enjoy, and to accomplish what we want to accomplish?

For me, one thing on my to do list is cleaning the kitchen. I let things slide when I'm involved in causes or projects. The exterminators treated the apt. while I was in San Antonio. Everything is out of the cabinets. I've been running the dishwasher continuously since getting home. Each load of dishes placed in a recently cleaned cupboard shelf, each tray of silver arranged, instead of hastily flung into a drawer, moves me closer toward being ready to proceed with the new year. By the end of today, the kitchen and dining area will be probably be in better shape than it will probably be any other time in the coming year. Then I will move to bedroom closets. Hopefully within a week this rare obsession with orderliness will spill over into the studio.

I am not a tidy spic and span priority person. I live in creative, mental, research, literary, political and artistic worlds. When in those creative zones, I am oblivious to food, clocks, germs, clutter, sleep. So, whenever a rare spell of obsessive straightening and scrubbing overshadows me, I try to ride it as long, and as far, as it can be sustained, because it may be months before it enters my door again. The longer it remains outside, the harder it gets to find space to work inside.

This year there is lots of work to be done. I feel characters, images, causes, and projects pushing to get out.

There are relics here of people and causes I respect and value. I still have evidence of activism in Ready for Hillary and Hillary 2016 intermingled with 2018 buttons for Lupe, Kim, Terry, Gina, MJ, Vikki, Victoria, Shirley, Sheryl, Sylvia, Rhetta, Beverly, Ana Maria and others scattered about.

It is nice to see that the phrases on cards and posters have changed from messaging in 2014. Then we were trying to help Texans understand how few Dems, minorities, veterans and women Texans sent to Congress. We need to acknowledge the scope of a problem before we can inspire enough people to help change it. Now the messages are targeting getting specific Democrats, specific women, specific veterans, specific minorities elected to office.

This year, despite the harm wrought by Donald Trump and his enablers, we have victories to celebrate. On Jan. 3rd in DC over 100 women will be seated in the US House when the new Congress is sworn in.  I look forward to being in the gallery of the Texas Capitol Jan 8th to see friends seated as newly elected Senators and State Representatives. We've made progress. We have a long way to go. Now we have a few more warriors in place to watch the backs of the ethical and brave and to carry the torch in legislative relays.

I want 2019 to be more than just the year when we share our stories and say "Me Too!' I want it to be the year when those who enable or refuse to pursue and punish serial rapists are removed. This should be the year when instead of 1 out of 3 women and 1 out of 5 men being survivors, it becomes the year when the majority of perpetrators are stopped and prevented from every violating any boy or girl, man or woman every again. Instead of #METOO I want to see #ZeroTolerance.

I truly hope and pray that the Trump administration comes to a speedy, and abrupt end. We need to rid this nation, and our psyche, from the excesses, corruption and violation of that man and his henchmen and enablers. I hope both Trump and Pence are nothing more than a footnote by March of this year. We need to push the RESET button and begin anew. These are some of the things which are on my heart. They are goals and causes worth working for, worth enduring clutter and other inconveniences to accomplish jointly with others who care and sacrifice. Caring also means helping worthy people have the means to step forward to run for office and to win in 2020. Those of us who are older owe it to those who protected and nurtured us when we were young and to those who are younger and deserve to be nurtured and mentored.