ArtA plaque for a museum vandal? Yes.
After decades of campaigning for the right to vote, in 1903 a Birmingham-led group of women switched to civil disobedience, window-smashing, bombing, and arson. One woman, Bertha Ryland, slashed art (below) in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
The right to vote is called suffrage, and the press called women activists suffragettes, intending to belittle them. Instead, the movement adopted this name. Protesters learned self-defense so they could escape police holds. Many were arrested, assaulted, and convicted. Several died. In prison they held hunger strikes, but were violently force-fed; it caused permanent organ damage in Ryland's case.
By 1918 some UK women got the vote. The slashed artwork was repaired. Over time, opinions changed and Ryland got a medal and, in 2018, a memorial plaqueโinside the museum.
#women #feminism #suffragette #protest #activism #vote #CivilDisobedience #DirectAction #police #art #culture #vandalism #BirminghamMuseum
๐ค The Metal Dog ๐ค
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Malcolm Landon