Deeds AND Words Towards Liberation
100+ Years of Women's Socio-Political Activism in Derbyshire 1866 - Present
Celebrating the Centenary of The Representation of The People Act 1918 and Decades of The Women's Liberation Movement Which Succeeded It
“For Most of History Anonymous was a Woman ”
―Virginia Woolf
“So never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself.”
― Florence Nightingale
The Time For Change is Overdue.....Deeds Not Words, TOWARDS liberation Proudly picks up the gauntlet To shARE, Tell and Involve.
please NOTE THAT THIS PROJECT STARTED ON SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2016 AND THAT This weBsIte iS being developed as the project evolves.
Deeds Not Words Towards Liberation has been supported by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to record, preserve and raise awareness about women's social and political activism in Derbyshire.
In Our Time: Melvyn Bragg and Guests Talks Suffragism
Melvyn Bragg and guests Krista Cowman, June Purvis and Julia Bush discuss suffragism, a name for the various movements to get the vote for women in the 19th and early-20th century. On the 4th June 1913 theEpsom Derby was underway. King George V was there watching his horse Anmer, ridden by Herbert Jones. Also watching was a young woman called Emily Davison. As the horses thundered towards the finish line, Emily Davison stepped through the barrier and threw herself in front of the King's horse and died of her injuries four days later. Davison was a suffragette, a campaigner for the woman's right to vote and her death is perhaps the most powerful image of that entire movement. Emmeline Pankhurst and her Suffragettes are famous for their militant campaign of suicide, violence and direct action, but Suffragism was a broader movement involving letter writing, reasoned argument, journalism and parliamentary petition - all played out across biology, medicine, law, psychology, politics and the military amidst the rising tide of democratic ideas
UN Women: Women's Footprint in History
Click the link to view
Women's History Month 2022
UPCOMING Events
Welcome to Women's History Month 2022
March is Women’s History Month and we would like to welcome you to Vox Feminarum's 11th annual celebration of Women's History Month (WHM) in Derby. WHM theme for 2022, “Providing Healing, Promoting Hope,” is both a tribute to the ceaseless work of caregivers and frontline workers during this ongoing pandemic and also a recognition of the thousands of ways that women of all cultures have provided both healing and hope throughout history.
Women's History Month Annual Feminist Readathon: Take The Challenge
March 1st - 31st, 2022
Help us celebrate the women writers we admire who have touched our lives, changed our perspectives, and entertained us with their stories!
The challenges:
All books must be written by a woman author;
•Read an anthology/essay collection;
•Read a book with a disabled main character - Including 'invisible' disabilities such as mental illness, learning disabilities, etc.
•Read a body positive book
•Read a book with an racially or ethnically minoritised woman as the main character;
•Read a classic written by/about a woman. The definition of “classic” can be your own determination;
•Read a biography or memoir of a woman;
•Read a book with a trans woman as the main character. Including nonbinary, genderqueer, agender, etc.
•Read a book with a queer main character - Including lesbian, bi, pansexual etc.
•Read a book translated by a woman;
•Read a sci-fi or fantasy by/about a woman;
•Read a book with a woman on the cover;
•Read a book with no romantic subplot;
•Read a graphic novel by/about a woman;
•If none of the above are what you want then...Just read a book you enjoy and elevate women writers and stories in the process
IWD Derby Festival March 5th - 8th 2022
Click the link below
March 9th 2022 WHM Event
PowerPoint Presentation: Discovering HERstory
Date: March 9th 2022
Location: Self Education Activity
March 11th, 2022 Women's Safety Charter Consultation
Event: Derby Women's Safety Charter Consultation meeting
Time: 7-8.30pm
Location: Zoom Register in advance for this meeting
Registration Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register\n/tZ0pf-2gqjojHdP0y4TRE3TErQJQAPkcc0dC
March 12th, 2022
Windrush Bridges Over Troubled Waters
Event: Windrush Bridges Over Troubled Waters
Time: 3pm until late
Location: Sold Out
March 14th, 2022
Be More Than a Bystander Campaign: When Good People Do Nothing
FREE workshops to prevent & stop misogynist harassment and violence against women & girls, making Derby a safer place to live, work & play.
Training developed by Vox Feminarum delivered in partnership with International Women's Day Derby, funded by The Safer Streets Fund
Event: Active Bystander Training
Time: 12.30 - 2.30pm
Location: Via Zoom Please Register in advance. The Zoom link will be sent to you before the event.
Registration Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/be-more-than-a-bystander-registration-269060466097?aff=erelexpmlt
March 18th, 2022
Women's Safety Charter Consultation
Event: Derby Women's Safety Charter Consultation meeting
Time: 11am -12.30pm
Location: The Mandela Centre, 179 - 181 Pear Tree Rd, Derby DE238NQ
Register Attendance: via Email at vox.feminarum@gmail.com
March 18th & 25th 2022
Feminist/Womanist Consciousness Raising
Feminist/Womanist consciousness raising meetings. Broad theme Owning Our Story, Finding Our Voice by Reclaiming The Feminist Vision. Register in advance for this meeting.
Event: Derby Women's Safety Charter Consultation meeting
Time: 7pm - 9pm
Location: Online Via Zoom
Register Attendance: via Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/\nregister/tZUkf-mqqjMoEtU1BhvESWqs1Szn\n450ZW-zG
March 22nd 2022
Roma Women's Group
Join Derby Women's Health Forum for the launch of Roma Women's Support Group
Location: The Mandela Centre, 179, 181 Pear Tree Rd, DE238NQ
Time: 11am - 1pm
Register attendance for catering purposes: by emailing vox.feminarum@gmail.com
March 26th 2022
Violence Against Women and Girls Toward a Grassroot Agenda
Fighting from The Grassroots Up Join us for a presentation, discussion and a call to action on Violence Against Women and Girls...
Location: The Mandela Centre, 179, 181 Pear Tree Rd, DE238NQ
Time: 1pm - 3.30pm Male allies are welcome to join us for the last hour of the meeting between 2.30 and 3.30pm
Register attendance for catering purposes: by emailing vox.feminarum@gmail.com
April 2nd 2022
Launch of the MWord Menopause Support Group
Join The MWord Menopause group at it's official launch Discussions workshops, lovely food and more. For updates and information contact us at vox.feminarum@gmail.com.
Location: Boyer Street Community Rooms, Derby \nDE22 3XD,
Time: 5pm - 8pm
Register attendance for catering and workshop purposes: by emailing vox.feminarum@gmail.com
All Videos
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Highlighting the Transformative Power of Women's Participation
.jpg)
Object Teaser of The Month
Latest Aquisitions
Sneak previews of newly acquired items/linked materials - See item/question of The Month.
March 2022: The treatment of the women's deputations by the metropolitan police : copy of evidence collected by Dr. Jessie Murray and Mr. H.N. Brailsford, and forwarded to the Home Office by the Conciliation Committee for Women Suffrage, in support of its demand for a public enquiry.
London : The Woman's Press, 156, Charing Cross Road, W.C., 1911.
Outlines evidence from the treatment of protesting suffragettes by the police in London on Black Friday protests, 18 November 1910. We draw your attention to the incident, more than 110 years later in 2021 with the treatment by the London Police, of women attending a vigil for the murder of Sarah Everard and other women lost through male violence....Not the kind of comparison that we should be able to make so easily..the suggested lack of progress is frightening! But perhaps we can take some solace in the High Court Judges ruling in favour of the vigil organisers. See below for more details
https://news.sky.com/story/sarah-everard-metropolitan-police-breached-vigil-organisers-rights-high-court-judges-rule-12563200 See our latest Blog entry for more information and photographs
.jpg)
.jpg)
Respond and Re-Imagine
Derby Museum's Respond and Reimagine Project is working with two new producers, Anisha Parmar and our very own Sonya Robotham.
Sonya Robotham: Pandemic HERstories
Sonya is working on a Project which seeks to collect, preserve and share women's Pandemic Stories from across the spectrum of diversity. In a world where women continue to bear the substantial responsibility for caregiving, domestic chores and the home, the pandemic, by the nature of the confinements to home, the disruption of school, food chains and the central role of 'caregivers', seems to be, for a myriad of reasons both positive negative and positive, very much the story of women. We want to use this opportunity not just to capture, preserve and tell women's stories as a response to the pandemic, but also to amplify the voices of women whose stories often go untold and whose voices are often unheard. In time we hope the stories gathered will be part of a wider process of healing, better understanding of pandemics in terms of how to prepare and live through them in the future.
Please see the Call out below for more details of how you can contact Sonya and get involved.
Anisha Parmar: Empowered Adornment
Producer, Anisha Parmar, is working on a project with us that aims to celebrate culturally diverse women of Derby and increase representation, through group discussions about adornment and identity that will culminate in a reclaiming photoshoot in British spaces featuring objects with links to Empire.
For this project, Anisha is looking for five women of colour who are based in Derby to be part of a series of group discussions that will run from April-June 2022 and a photoshoot that will take place in July 2022, with a final exhibition in August/September 2022.
The key pillars of the project are Representation, Reclamation and Celebration.
Please get in touch with Anisha on hello@anishaparmar.com to find out more. #EmpoweredAdornment Anisha Parmar London
.jpg)
.png)
.jpg)
_edited.jpg)
Interview Updates
Coming
Soon
Upcoming Launch of Alice and Elisabeth Centre for Civic Egagement:
When: Postponed due to Corona Virus
Where: The Mandela Centre, 179 Pear Tree Rd
DE238NQ
The Centre which is part of the legacy of our Deeds Not Words Towards Liberation Project, is named after Alice Wheeldon (born Derby 27 January 1866 - Died Derby 21 February 1919) and Elisabeth Freeman (born Chesterfield Derbyshire,12 Sept 1876 - Died Pasendena, Texas, USA 27 Feb 1942).
We are now planning a February 2021 Launch to mark the death of both women some 23 years apart. The Centre will be housed on the ground floor of the main Mandela Centre and will include our Deeds and Words Archive, a Women's History and People's History Library and public space. Watch this space for information. To find out more about the remarkable lives of Alice and Elisabeth see our Derbyshire 100+ Women Page. Watch this space!
Alice Wheeldon
27 Jan1866 - 21 Feb 1919
Elisabeth Freeman
12 Sept 1876 - 27 Feb 42
Contact Us
We are always seeking to improve our site and to strengthen the project through volunteer contributions and dialogue. Do get in touch to volunteer, or to contribute your stories, memorabilia or documents and to just let us know what you think.
Are You A HERitage Sleuth? We Need Your Help to...
Do You Know Anything About This Beautiful Well-Dressing? It is located in Ashford-in-the-Water, Derbyshire and was dressed in 2008? Please contact Sonya Robotham on 07779560284 or by email on vox.feminarum@gmail.com. Looking forward to hearing from you. Image courtesy of Derbyshire.photgraphs.co.uk
Revealed: Latest Names added to Made in Derby 'walk of fame'
More than 400 nominations were received for 220 individuals to be inscribed we were successful in our lobbying to get Alice Wheeldon included in the first 8 stars alongside Bess of Hardwick Hall. The first names were revealed in May 2018. The second set of names (10) were revealed on September 14th 2019. While we wince at the inclusion of a fictional character Lara Croft (more a nod to the creators of Lara Croft men!), we note the inclusion of several women in the current cohort of names including Florence Nightingale and artist Marion Adnams. Read more about the Project and public comments by clicking on the links below.
