Sites of sabotage, a history of protest - 11 June 2018
Is there historic value in sites that have witnessed political and social protest? We held a panel discussion on Monday 11 June at the Royal Academy in London.
In February 1912 Emmeline Pankhurst declared that: “the argument of the broken pane of glass is the most valuable argument in modern politics”. The right for some women to vote was won in 1918, in part through militant protest, including a considerable number of attacks on the built environment – both public and private property.
The Royal Academy itself was a prominent site of protest, with suffragette Mary Wood attacking John Singer Sargent RA’s portrait of the author Henry James on the opening day of the 1914 Summer Exhibition. Sargent’s portrait can be seen this year in The Great Spectacle exhibition, telling the story of 250 years of the Summer Exhibition.
The panel will debated this hot topic in light of Historic England’s upcoming Suffrage Centenary listings that form part of Historic England’s HerStories campaign to enrich the national record of listed sites with women’s history – making history Her Story.
Speakers included:
Prof Krista Cowman – Professor of History and Director of Research, University of Lincoln; author of Women in British politics, c. 1689-1979
Emily Gee – London Planning Director, Historic England
Stewy – artist, author of life size stencils of psycho-geographically placed British icons, such as Mary on the Green
Rachel Cooke (chair) – journalist and author of Her Brilliant Career: Ten Extraordinary Women of the Fifties (2013)