The undoing of emphasis on gender roles is inherent to the anti-hierarchical structure of anarchism. To deconstruct the concept of binary gender, in general, is something seen especially in progressive youth, many anarchists tending to identify as genderqueer themselves, so the male/female dichotomy pertaining to one’s role in the community becomes ambiguous and futile to direct. However, these are also communities that serve to prioritize marginalized people, whether that’s people of color, queer-identifying people, or women. To that end, it is important when involving oneself in anarchist circles that teaching encompasses the narratives of those that anarchist idealism aims to protect. Intersectionality and anarchism have always fought to enunciate the rights of the oppressed, and in many historical cases, those efforts were catalyzed by great women.
An excellent self-proclaimed anarchist and feminist is Madelyn Murray O’Hair. Born in 1919, she formed the American Atheists organization in 1963; two of its major accomplishments decided by a Supreme Court case that sided with Murray O’Hair were getting “In God, We Trust” removed from American currency and dissolving mandatory prayer and reading of the Bible in public schools. Her call for the dissolution of religious residence in society brought the American Atheists to court tens of times, marking the ongoing attempt at separating church and state. Religious freedom is absolutely an anarchist issue, considering the point of self-governing directly involves going against the word of supposed authority – in this case, the puritanical nature the United States was built upon that anarchism serves to undo. Murray O’Hair’s efforts to turn the fine line between church and state into a noticeable trench proved a valiant fight in the war against oppression.
Another highly influential anarchist was Lucy Parsons. Born in 1853, she was the first black female activist of historical fame in the United States. She was responsible for organizing protests in Chicago while the country was going through the consequent Jim Crow era following the Civil War. As true anarchism insists, she spoke and wrote about how capitalism and institutionalized racial, economic, and sexual prejudice must be dismantled at all costs; she rallied for a complete undoing of the government. The Haymarket Affair, a protest in Chicago’s Haymarket Square on May 4th, 1886, was spurred by the previous day’s slaughter of one worker and injuring of several more by corrupt policemen. The protest began as a peaceful gathering of people demanding an eight-hour workday and an end to police brutality, but as these things can go, a member of the crowd threw a dynamite bomb at the police who were attempting to disperse the rioters. The ensuing maelstrom of assault resulted in the death of seven policemen and four protesters, wounding a dozen others. Following the riot were the courts convicting eight anarchists of conspiracy and sentencing them to death by hanging, including Lucy Parsons’ husband, Albert. Despite this twist of tragedy, Parsons’ protest went down in history, paving the path toward workers’ rights and becoming the origin of International Workers’ Day, celebrated on May 1st.
The Haymarket Affair was the main event that ignited the militant stances of famed Jewish anarchist Emma Goldman. She was born in the Russian Empire – now Lithuania – in 1869, arriving in America in 1885, just in time for Parsons’ inspiring Chicago protest. Spurred by the Affair, Goldman became a renowned writer and lecturer on anarchism, specifically rallying for women’s rights and even going so far as to illegally distribute information about obtaining birth control to those in need. She was imprisoned several times under the pretense that she was inciting riots with her public speeches on anarchist philosophy. Her lover Alexander Berkman joined her in writing anarchist texts and making headway in the ongoing anti-government battle, and in 1892 attempted an attack on the life of Henry Clay Frick, American industrialist chairman of Carnegie Steel. Frick survived, and Berkman was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Then in 1906, Goldman founded the anarchist journal Mother Earth: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Social Science and Literature. In proper anarchist mentality, she rejected much of first-wave feminism, steering away from its colonialized consequences that put white women’s rights above those of black and indigenous women of color; instead, she fought against sexism and racism at once to create an inclusive system. Her lectures and writing wrestled with the issues of racial inequality, gay marriage, reproductive rights, prisons, atheism, freedom of speech, and of course, capitalism. Feminists and anarchists of the time looked to her as a particularly powerful revolutionary, and much advancement for people of color, queer people, and women can be attributed to Emma Goldman’s work.
These women are just three of those largely accredited with the advancement of anarchist ideals that affected society in very permanent ways. Life for marginalized people would be nowhere near where it is today without the efforts of those in history; today’s quality of life is just a platform above the ladder anarchists and feminists have been climbing for many years. But there is undeniably more ladder above us; the fight will not be over until governmental tyranny no longer crushes those it was never erected to serve with its oppressive heel. We must continue striving toward our goals for equality on the sturdy shoulders of those before us – those who never stopped believing in what was right.
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