Please
welcome Victoria Woodhull, the main character of Madame Presidentess and historically the first woman to run for
President in the US in 1872, forty-eight years before women got the right to
vote.
RW: What's your story/back story? Why would someone come up with a
story about YOU?
VW: I am a woman of great firsts whose story didn’t make it into the
history books thanks to three angry, vindictive women who succeeded in quashing
it. Fortunately, my author believes it is time for that to change. After all, I
was the first woman ever to run for President, the first woman to own a stock
brokerage on Wall Street (which I ran with the help of my sister, Tennie), the
first woman to testify before a sitting committee of Congress (not that they
listened to me), and one of the first women to run a weekly newspaper, also
with Tennie.
Beyond those grand accomplishments, the
world still needs my messages. Women got the right to vote when I was 82 years
old, but you haven’t made enough progress since then. All the things I was
saying back in the 1870s about women’s need to rise up and seize our own
rights, especially related to our bodies and sexuality, are still valid today.
Abuse may not be condoned like it was in my time, but it still happens far too
frequently. And your prudish views on marriage, divorce, and affairs are
astonishing; 144 years later and you still follow that silly Biblical rule.
Don’t even get me going about your
current political race. It makes mine seem tame by comparison.
RW: Can you tell us about your hero/ine
VW: As my first husband doesn’t deserve use of my
breath to speak his name, I’ll happily tell you about my second husband,
Colonel James Blood. He was a wonderful,
loving man who supported all of my ambitions and helped me where he could. He’s
the reason I became involved in the suffrage movement, and the person who
taught me about Free Love. I should probably clarify that I don’t mean it as
your hippies used the term; my definition of Free Love is based in the idea
that the government should have no role in private affairs. Marriage should
begin when two people love one another and end when the love is no longer there
without the law or religion being involved.
Anyway, back to my husband. He was the
silent partner behind my Wall Street brokerage, the success of which is what
made my Presidential bid possible. He also served as my secretary, as I had
terrible handwriting, and he helped write many of my speeches. But most of all,
he gave me the courage to go against the mores of my time and speak my truth. I
couldn’t have done what I did without him.
RW: What problems do you have to face and
overcome in your life?
VW: Where do you want me to start? I was born
poor to two parents who were more interested in making money illegally than
anything else. Both of them were abusive. I only had three years of formal
education, then my Pa put me and Tennie to work as magnetic healers and
clairvoyants. We really did have those gifts, so we weren’t swindling people,
but no young girl should have to work such long hours.
Then there was my abusive ass of a first
husband. He started frequenting brothels a mere three days after we were wed.
I’m still convinced his addiction to alcohol and laudanum is what made my baby
boy be born an idiot. Or, what is it you call it today, “mentally challenged?”
When my little girl was born, I was determined she wouldn’t grow up to fear her
father, so I left him.
When I finally started to make something
of myself, people immediately mistrusted or demeaned me because I’m female. I
hear you still have that problem today. So I had to work at least twice as hard
to get people to listen to me and take me seriously. Even after the election,
there were plenty of doubters.
RW: Do you expect your hero/ine to help or is
s/he the problem?
VW: Oh
yes, James was a big help. He not only protected me from my father, he
introduced me to a much more stable and higher class way of living. He really
was my hero.
RW: Where
do you live?
VW: I
was born in a tiny town called Homer, Ohio, but we moved all over. I lived in Cincinnati, San Francisco, St.
Louis, New York City and even for a few months in Washington, D.C., not to
mention in a dozen tiny Midwestern towns. But New York City is where I spent
most of my political career.
RW: During
what time period does your story take place?
VW: Though
I lived from 1838 to 1928, the part of my story my author chose to tell spans
from 1853 through 1873.
RW: How
are you coping with the conflict in your life?
VW: Like I always do, with the guidance of the
spirits. You see, I’m a Spiritualist, and I’ve been able to communicate with
the spirits since I was a little girl. They always tell me what I need to hear
to hang on when things are tough, and they have even told me when and where to
move so that a new opportunity can cross my path. My spirit guide, the Greek
orator Demosthenes, never lets me down.
RW: Tell us about your family.
VW: Oh, heavens, they are crazier than swarm of bats! Pa has always
been a con-man, stealing money when he was postmaster, painting horses in order
to make them look better so he could sell them, and swindling people in any way
he could think of. But his favorite was selling snake oil to treat all manner
of diseases. That stuff was so dangerous, it even killed a woman. Poor Tennie
took the fall for that one. Bastard.
Ma
wasn’t any better. She was a religious nut who would praise us one moment and
beat us the next. She passed the time by blackmailing people. Even taught my
sister Polly and a few of my other siblings how to do it.
I
have seven sisters and two brothers. Two of my sisters died as babies, but they
are some of the spirits I regularly commune with. I don’t like my living
siblings much—Polly and Utica are useless cheats and drunks. My younger sister,
Tennie, is the only one I really love. She and I have banded together since we
were little and don’t intend to stop now. We survived Ma and Pa together,
opened a successful brokerage firm together and co-run Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly, our newspaper. There’s nothing we
cannot do together.
RW: If you came with a
warning label, what would it say?
VW: Warning: Speaks her mind with no regard for
what others may think.
RW: What is your secret
guilty pleasure?
VW: I really like men, and
since James and I practice Free Love, I’ve taken a few lovers since marrying
him. I felt guilty at first, but now I don’t; after all he does it, too.
RW: You'd never be able to
tell, but (fill in the blank).
VW: I am actually quite
vulnerable. Beneath my hard façade, I am still the scared little girl cowering
beneath my Pa’s hand. I have a terrible fear of not being accepted, but my need
to share my message is so strong that I barrel on through the fear.
RW: That’s
all the questions we have for you. Thank you for speaking to us.
VW: It was my pleasure. I’ll speak with anyone who shares my author’s
desire to get my name back into the history books where it belongs.
Your Bio:
Nicole Evelina is a
multi-award-winning historical fiction and romantic comedy writer. Her most
recent novel, Madame Presidentess, a
historical novel about Victoria Woodhull, America's first female Presidential
candidate, was the first place winner in the Women’s US History category of the
2015 Chaucer Awards for Historical Fiction.
Her debut novel, Daughter of Destiny, the first book of
an Arthurian legend trilogy that tells Guinevere’s life story from her point of
view, was named Book of the Year by Chanticleer Reviews, took the Grand Prize
in the 2015 Chatelaine Awards for Women’s Fiction/Romance, won a Gold Medal in
the fantasy category in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards and was
short-listed for the Chaucer Award for Historical Fiction. Been
Searching for You*, her contemporary romantic comedy, won the 2015 Romance
Writers of America (RWA) Great Expectations and Golden Rose contests.
Nicole is one of only
six authors who completed a week-long writing intensive taught by #1 New York
Times bestselling author Deborah Harkness. As an armchair historian, Nicole
researches her books extensively, consulting with biographers, historical
societies and traveling to locations when possible. For example, she traveled
to England twice to research the Guinevere’s Tale trilogy, where she consulted
with internationally acclaimed author and historian Geoffrey Ashe, as well as
Arthurian/Glastonbury expert Jaime George, the man who helped Marion Zimmer
Bradley research The Mists of Avalon.
Nicole is a member of
and book reviewer for The Historical Novel Society, and Sirens (a group
supporting female fantasy authors), as well as a member of the Historical
Writers of America, Women’s Fiction Writers Association, Romance Writers of
America, the St. Louis Writer’s Guild, Women Writing the West, Broad Universe
(promoting women in fantasy, science fiction and horror), Alliance of
Independent Authors, the Independent Book Publishers Association and the
Midwest Publisher’s Association.
Book Blurb:
Forty-eight years before women were granted the right to
vote, one woman dared to run for President of the United States, yet her name
has been virtually written out of the history books.
Rising from the shame
of an abusive childhood, Victoria Woodhull, the daughter of a con-man and a
religious zealot, vows to follow her destiny, one the spirits say will lead her
out of poverty to “become ruler of her people.”
But the road to glory
is far from easy. A nightmarish marriage teaches Victoria that women are
stronger and deserve far more credit than society gives. Eschewing the
conventions of her day, she strikes out on her own to improve herself and the
lot of American women.
Over the next several
years, she sets into motion plans that shatter the old boys club of Wall Street
and defile even the sanctity of the halls of Congress. But it’s not just her
ambition that threatens men of wealth and privilege; when she announces her candidacy
for President in the 1872 election, they realize she may well usurp the power
they’ve so long fought to protect.
Those who support her
laud “Notorious Victoria” as a gifted spiritualist medium and healer, a
talented financial mind, a fresh voice in the suffrage movement, and the
radical idealist needed to move the nation forward. But those who dislike her
see a dangerous force who is too willing to speak out when women are expected
to be quiet. Ultimately, “Mrs. Satan’s” radical views on women’s rights,
equality of the sexes, free love and the role of politics in private affairs
collide with her tumultuous personal life to endanger all she has built, and
change how she is viewed by future generations.
This is the story of
one woman who was ahead of her time—a woman who would make waves even in the 21st
century—but who dared to speak out and challenge the conventions of post-Civil
War America, setting a precedent that is still followed by female politicians
today.
Excerpt:
Among the morning’s speakers
was my old friend from St. Louis, Virginia Minor. After she was introduced,
Mrs. Minor wasted no time in getting to the point of her speech. “You may know
that my husband and I are vocal proponents of the idea that the Constitution
already gives us the right to vote. But we are willing to put before you an
additional piece of supporting evidence, found in the Fourteenth Amendment,
that I believe gives all women the
right to vote.
“As persons born in the
United States, women are citizens. Nowhere in the text does it specify ‘males’
or ‘men,’ only ‘persons,’ which is a term without gender and therefore should
include both men and women. The Constitution gives all citizens the right to vote. Therefore, as citizens, we already have
the right to vote. The next line of the amendment elaborates, noting that no
state is allowed to legally deprive citizens of their rights or deny them equal
protection.”
I followed Mrs. Minor’s
words closely, taking in each argument and dissecting it carefully. I was not
trained to debate the finer points of law, but I could find no flaw in the
woman’s logic. In fact, the longer I listened, the more I found myself
agreeing. Around us, women whispered to each other, nudging husbands and
companions in agreement with Mrs. Minor’s peaceful call to arms.
“Therefore, if the
right is already ours, all we need do is take it back. Yes,” her voice rang out
like the peal of an Easter church bell, “I mean we must take action. Perhaps
you have heard of the Spiritualist town of Vineland, New Jersey? There, late
last year, nearly two hundred women cast their votes. They pledge to do so
annually until they are acknowledged. This is what I call on you to do.
“What I am asking of
you is revolutionary, this I know. It goes against all we are raised to believe
and how society demands we behave, but I urge you to open your minds to the
idea. As a group, we have the power to change state laws, something which Miss
Anthony, Mrs. Stanton, and other leaders of this group will be working to put
into action. But each of us bears personal responsibility as well. So on your
next election day, I ask that you hand over your ballot, not meekly but with
pride, and demand to be counted among the citizens of this fine country. Only
in that way can we hope to affect change in time to cast our votes for the next
president in 1872.”
The crowd roared with
applause, and I leapt to my feet, clapping as loud as my hands would let me.
This woman was onto something.
“We should do this,” I
mouthed to Tennie, who nodded enthusiastically. I would have to discuss the
possibilities taking shape in my mind with James.
“They’ve got motivation
now,” said a man in the row behind me. “Too bad they don’t have the money to
see it through.”
His offhand comment
snagged my attention. The party needed money, and I needed a way into its upper
echelons. If Josie’s stock tips had taught me anything, it was that there was
money to be made in the stock market—lots of it. Perhaps that could be my entry
into suffrage society. I mulled over the thought as other people spoke. By the
time Elizabeth Cady Stanton delivered the closing address, I was determined to
work with Tennie to see how our budding business relationship with Mr. Vanderbilt
might help advance our work for women.
When Mrs. Stanton said,
“The need of this hour is a new evangel of womanhood to exalt purity, virtue,
morality, true religion, to lift man up into the high realms of thought and
action,” a chill raced down my spine. Those words were meant for me.
My sight blurred, and I
blinked as a vision took over my consciousness. I stood in the center of a
spotlighted stage, speaking to throngs larger even than the crowd gathered for
this convention, as Demosthenes had promised.
A flash, then I sat on
a platform next to the three Fates who ran the organization. I was the golden
child sent to breathe new life into a movement desperately in need of new
energy.
The next thing I knew,
Miss Anthony was announcing me as president of the National Women’s Rights
Convention.
Another shift and the
vision began to fade, but not before a newspaper headline blared the
fulfillment of the highest of Demosthenes’ prophecies: “Victoria Woodhull Makes
History as First Woman President.”
Yes! I will bring this movement to the masses. I will show
them that a woman like them, raised in the dirt, who works for a living, can be
an agent of change. Then they shall see one Victoria sitting on the throne of
England while her namesake guards the interests of women in the United States.
Less than four years from now, I shall be president.
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Cheryl was born in Duncan, Oklahoma, and grew up in Seminole,
Oklahoma. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma and holds a B.A. in
English.
