Margaret Sanger: an autobiography.Sanger, Margaret
History
Margaret Sanger: an autobiography.
Sanger, Margaret
Birth control -- United States -- Biography; Sanger, Margaret, 1879-1966
The noisy clamor of the world could not reach me through thick stone
walls; prison had been a quiet interim for reflection, for assembling
past experiences and preparing for the future. The tempestuous season of
agitation—courts and jails and shrieking and thumbing-the-nose—should
now end. Heretofore there had been much notoriety and but little
understanding. The next three steps were to be: first, education; then,
organization; and, finally, legislation. All were clearly
differentiated, though they necessarily overlapped to a certain extent.
I based my program on the existence in the country of a forceful
sentiment which, if co-ordinated, could become powerful enough to change
laws. Horses wildly careering around a pasture have as much strength as
when harnessed to a plow, but only in the latter case can the strength
be measured and turned to some useful purpose. The public had to be
educated before it could be organized and before the laws could be
changed as a result of that organization. I set myself to the task. It
was to be a long one, because the press did not want articles stating
the facts of birth control; they wanted news, and to them news still
consisted of fights, police, arrests, controversy.
One of the early essays in education was a moving picture dramatizing
the grim and woeful life of the East Side. Both Blossom and I believed
it would have value, and I continue to be of the same mind. He had not
approved of the clinic and had declined to have anything to do with it,
but was eager to join me in capitalizing on the ensuing publicity.
Together we wrote a scenario of sorts, concluding with the trial.
Although I had long since lost faith in my abilities as an actress, I
played the part of the nurse, and an associate of Blossom’s financed its
production. But before it could appear Commissioner of Licenses George
H. Bell ordered it suppressed.
To prove the film mirrored conditions which called for birth control, we
gave a private showing at a theater, inviting some two hundred people
concerned with social welfare. All agreed the public should see it, and
signed a letter to that effect. Justice Nathan Bijur issued an
injunction against interfering with its presentation. The moving picture
theaters, however, fearful lest the breath of censure wither their
profits, were too timid to take advantage of this.
Of infinitely greater and more lasting significance than this venture
was the _Birth Control Review_, which, from 1917 to 1921, was the
spearhead in the educational stage. It could introduce a quieter and
more scientific tone, and also enable me to keep in touch with people
everywhere whose interest had already been evoked. Emotion was not
enough; ideas were not enough; facts were what we needed so that leaders
of opinion who were articulate and willing to speak out might have
authoritative data to back them up.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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