#In Memory of Elizabeth How Salem 1692 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

girlactionfigure · 2 years

Text

Her last words were "If it was the last moment I was to live, God knows I am innocent..."

Her name was Elizabeth Howe.

She was one of five women who were hanged in 1692 during the first Salem witch trials.

She was described by her defenders as a loving, kind woman who cared for her blind husband and her children. But, in doing so, she had to make “decisions well beyond the accepted level for a retiring domestic Puritan housewife,” according to the “History of American Women.”

She was strong, she was independent, and she was outspoken.

During those times, that may have been enough to be accused of witchcraft.

“For Puritan women, there were so many ways to get accused of witchcraft,” according to The Conversation.

Olivia B. Waxman of TIME writes:

“According to Emerson Baker, author of “A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience, 156 people were formally charged with witchcraft—mostly women. Between June and September 1692, 19 people were hanged to death for the crime, and one was pressed to death by a rock. Five more died in prison between May 1692 and May 1693. Additionally, at least 120 were imprisoned for a year or more.”

This is a new story from the Jon S. Randal Peace Page, focusing on past and present stories seldom told of lives forgotten, ignored, or dismissed. The stories are gathered from writers, journalists, and historians to share awareness and foster understanding.

“Witchcraft is really all about scapegoating,” Baker says. “It took this perfect storm of factors to create the largest witchcraft outbreak in American history.” These victims included people who spoke a little bit differently—like with an accent—were confrontational, or suffered from mental or physical challenges. All of these victims got blamed for what was perceived as a decline in religiosity in Puritan New England society.”

“History is often misunderstood, much like the women who were accused of being witches were misunderstood,” wrote Waxman.

The first women accused of witchcraft were Tituba, an enslaved Caribbean woman; Sarah Good, a homeless beggar; and Sarah Osborne, an elderly impoverished woman, according to the Smithsonian.

“Witch trials didn’t target the powerful,” according to The Conversation. “They persecuted society’s most marginal members – particularly women.”

Other women, like Elizabeth Howe, were accused by neighbors, possibly envious of her independence.

“Elizabeth apparently was not a submissive female figure,” according to the “History of American Women.” “She had to take strong positions to safeguard the interests of her blind husband and her children.”

Rebecca Beatrice Brooks in the historyofmassachusetts web page said, according to the book “The Societal History of Crime and Punishment in America”:

“A number of historians have speculated as to why the witch hunts occurred and why certain people were singled out. These proposed reasons have included personal vendettas, fear of strong women, and economic competition. Regardless, the Salem Witch Trials are a memorial and a warning to what hysteria, religious intolerance, and ignorance can cause in the criminal justice system.”

Europe also had its share of witch trials and executions, as a way of punishing women. According to the Smithsonian, “Between the mid-16th and early 19th centuries, an untold number of women in England (as well as Scotland and colonial America) underwent ducking [being immersed in water while tied to an apparatus known as a ducking stool] as a punishment for speaking out of turn. Largely forgotten today, the practice speaks to the lengthy history of policing women’s voices—a trend that continues today.

In her book, “Gender, Media and Voice: Communicative Injustice and Public Speech”,

Cultural studies scholar Jilly Kay “argues that demonizing women’s speech was a way of controlling them.”

“Women were often really punished for challenging power, for challenging patriarchal power, and capitalist power as well,” she says.

~~~~~

According to the Conversation, “Women held a precarious, mostly powerless position within the deeply religious Puritan community.

“The Puritans thought women should have babies, raise children, manage household life and model Christian subservience to their husbands. Recalling Eve and her sinful apple, Puritans also believed that women were more likely to be tempted by the Devil.

“As magistrates, judges and clergy, men enforced the rules of this early American society.

“When women stepped outside their prescribed roles, they became targets. Too much wealth might reflect sinful gains. Too little money demonstrated bad character. Too many children could indicate a deal with a devil. Having too few children was suspicious, too.

“Women were both the victims and the accused in this terrible American history, casualties of a society created and controlled by powerful men.”

“Puritans were very hostile towards colonists who didn’t follow the strict religious and societal rules in the colony,” wrote Brooks.

“The accusations were overwhelmingly hurled at women,” according to writer Veronica Esposito. It “started with the scapegoating of ostracized members of the community.’ It started with marginalized women who were in one way or another more easily scapegoated, and then it spread to these wealthier and sometimes male figures.”

~~~~~

“Elizabeth How was hanged on July 19, 1692, along with Sarah Good, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, and Sarah Wilde,” according to ThoughtCo.

[Note, in some articles, Elizabeth’s last name is also spelled “How.” Note also that the picture attached is not of Howe; The 1869 oil painting 'Witch Hill (The Salem Martyr)' by Thomas Satterwhite Noble shows a young woman posing as a condemned witch, courtesy of Thomas Satterwhite Noble/New-York Historical Society.]

“In 1709, How’s daughter joined the petition of Phillip English and others to get the victims’ names cleared and to get financial compensation. In [October] 1711, they finally won the case, and Elizabeth How’s name was mentioned among those who had been unfairly convicted and some executed, and whose convictions were reversed and nullified.”

However, “the trials were not technically completed until July of this year, when Elizabeth Johnson Jr became the last of the accused to be formally cleared of all charges of witchcraft.”

~~~~~

“The Salem witch trials are an example of a community at its absolute worst,” according to Anna Danziger Halperin, associate director of the Center for Women’s History at the New-York Historical Society and coordinating curator of the New-York Historical Society’s new exhibition, The Salem Witch Trials: Reckoning and Reclaiming, which runs from October 7 through January 22, 2023.

“It’s something that we look to as example of what not to do, and yet we keep repeating these mistakes,” she added.

“While people are not being put on trial for being witches in 2022, Baker sees the shadows of witch hunts in some of our modern-day paranoia—“Salem moments,” as he calls them,” wrote Waxman “Extremism, scapegoating, racism, hatred, bigotry—as long as we have that, we’re going to have some version of witch hunts,” he says.

“We still live with the legacy of the connections between contingent features of somebody's being and their moral character,” notes Wellesley College professor Julie Walsh. “We as a society have these ideas about how a person looks, and the way that they are sexualized or racialized in our society has some connection to their moral character.”

Walsh notes Halloween as an obvious example, according to writer James Bennett II. “Walsh challenges us to think about where a lot of the imagery — specifically witch imagery — comes from. The pointy hat and crooked nose? Antisemitic holdovers from depictions of Jewish religious ritual and physical caricature. And green skin relates back to that whole bit about outward appearance being linked to moral stature. Even the ritual of trick-or-treating, Walsh argues, mimics the action of a poor woman going door to door for food (the treat), lest you refuse her and suffer a hex (the trick).”

Even the term “witch”, according to author Judika Illes in the New York Times: “People use the word ‘witch’ as an insult — as an insult for a woman who maybe has too much power or is perceived as arrogant . . . It’s a word to cut women down.”

The “witch trials weren’t just about accusations that today seem baseless. They were also about a justice system that escalated local grievances to capital offenses and targeted a subjugated minority,” according to the Conversation.

“What has always resonated with me is that these are some of the earliest historical examples in the US of women being vilified for acting outside of their accepted role,” said Governor Jane Swift.

~~~~~

“In Elizabeth’s defense, James Howe, her father-in-law who was then ninety four years old, presented a letter to the court commending Elizabeth as a loving, obedient, and kind person who looked after his blind son and their children. The minister and his assistant from Rowley also spoke on her behalf,” according to the “History of American Women.”

“Never did her blind husband or her children change their loving feelings towards her. They walked miles twice a week to visit her in prison, bringing her things to eat and objects to provide her comfort.”

“Reckoning and Reclaiming also reminds us of the very real people behind these historical events, its ample documentation helping audiences to connect with the humanity of the witch trials’ victims,” wrote Esposito.

“It was the darkest time in Massachusetts’ history,” said David Allen Lambert, chief genealogist for NEHGS (New England Historic Genealogical Society)

“It echoes today, what happens when disinformation spreads and neighbours turn on neighbours.”

At a city of Salem, Mass.memorial to commemorate the people who were convicted and killed during its notorious series of "witch trials" in 1692, the Rev. Jeffrey Barz-Snell of the First Church in Salem told the assembled crowd, "We should not be here today. We should not be here dedicating this memorial and setting aside this small patch of rocky earth. We should not be here commemorating the heartbreaking and tragic loss of life, people who were falsely and unjustly accused of being in the snare of the devil."

“These were real lives, and lives that were ruined, and the way that we tell that story carries so much weight,” said Danziger Halperin. “We really want to make sure that we do it in a way that honors those real lives and helps us stand up against injustice moving forward.”

According to the Salem Award Foundation website, there are roughly 25 million people around the world who are descended from the Salem Witch Trials victims and the other participants in the trials.

~ jsr

The Jon S. Randal Peace Page

#Salem Witch Trials #History

38 notes · View notes

deannadupont · 1 year

Photo

In 2006, fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen learned that his ancestor, Elizabeth Jackson How (also spelled Howe), was executed during the Salem witch trials. His curiosity piqued, McQueen made a research trip to Salem with his assistant Sarah Burton (now creative director for the fashion house) and Vogue critic Sarah Mower. Consulting with local historians and institutions, McQueen traced How's history. She stands out among the accused because the documentary record of her case is unusually complete, from the initial accusation to her exoneration in 1711, alongside the restitution granted to her daughters shortly after. McQueen's archival discoveries became a catalyst for the creation in 2007 of an entire ready-to-wear collection, In Memory of Elizabeth How, Salem 1692. Sparked by this ancestral heritage, it is a continuation of How's descendants' efforts to reclaim her honor. Whereas How's daughters emphasized her innocence, McQueen explores the injustice of her execution through symbols and imagery associated with witchcraft and the occult. Alexander McQueen's provocative fashion shows frequently drew on religious themes, and combined a dark, violent aesthetic with arrestingly beautiful textiles and embellishments. Critics regularly accused him of misogyny, but as a sexual assault survivor himself, McQueen sought to transform women in peril into powerful warriors. In this collection's 2007 debut, the clothing design, models' styling, and set design-including a pentagram-shaped runway-evoked witchcraft, paganism, the occult, and religious persecution across time periods, from ancient Egypt and Puritan New England to Victorian England. McQueen also integrated his signature elements such as oversized jewelry and armor-like bodices of leather and metal. (at New-York Historical Society) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkygYzkL9nR/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

3 notes · View notes

audikatia · 2 years

Note

for the book ask, 1, 10, and 11!!

1. book you’ve reread the most times?

Definitely The Raven Cycle series haha I've probably read it over a dozen times at this point, though I think I've read BLLB and TRK maybe two times less since they had not come out yet when I found the series.

I've also read the Harry Potter series easily 20 times and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the one I read the most out of all of them.

Honorable mentionings go to: Matilda by Roald Dahl, Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, Dracula by Bram Stoker, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. Probably some others, but those are the ones that stick out the most in my mind right now. I love rereading books haha

10. do you have a guilty fav?

I don't really feel guilty about any books I read, to be honest. But I guess if I had to pick? The Flowers in the Attic series by V. C. Andrews

11. what non-fiction books do you like if any?

lol this is gonna be long...

Holy Shit: A Brief History of Swearing by Melissa Mohr

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore

The Ghost: A Cultural History by Susan Owens

Frida Kahlo by Elizabeth Carpenter

The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by Deborah Blum

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

The Five: The Lives of Jack the Ripper's Women by Hallie Rubenhold

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson

The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee

The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight For Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear by Kate Moore

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Daniel Tatum

The Anatomy of Evil by Michael H. Stone

The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff

Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus by Bill Wasik

The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe by Matthew Gabriele

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic and How it Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson

Dread: How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics from Black Death to the Avian Flu by Philip Alcabes

LITERALLY ANYTHING BY MARY ROACH.

That's more than I'm sure you asked for and more than anyone wanted lol but thank you!!!

#ask audi #sirenwalker

5 notes · View notes

wonky-mushroom · 1 year

Text

The Court of of Oyer and Terminer

date: august 20th 1692

location: Andover Massachusetts

accused: Mrs Elizabeth Alton

judge: Mr Jonathan Corwin

report:

accused of witchcraft.

Mrs Elizabeth Alton, 32 years of age, was bought before the church and its people on this the 20th august 1692. charged with witchcraft, Mrs Alton produced the only lacklustre harvest in the town, along with a collection of black animals suspected of being Mrs. Alton's familiars, who assisted in her suspected devil worship. Mrs Alton remained quiet during sentencing and such a standard witch test was performed. the accused was stripped of her garments and taken to Lake Cochichewick, where she was lashed to a church chair and pushed in. She remained silent with a grim expression. However, Mrs. Alton failed to float and passed away in the water. She is absolved of all sins and will be prayed for. May our Lord be merciful to her soul. A headstone will be erected in her memory. Cases of witchcraft are still on the rise, with another five cases preceding this one. this town will not fall to the devils rule.

The Court of Oyer and Terminer

date: September 14th 1692

location: Salem town Massachusetts

accused: miss Anne Osbourne

judge: Mr. John Hathorne

report:

sentenced for communing with the devil

Miss Anne Osbourne was bought before the church on September 14th for wearing garments torn or worn in an unholy manor tempting the good, holy men of Salem town. upon hearing the sentence, the accused screamed back in anguish and cursed the jury, leaning into the accusation from the court further. A witch cake made from the accused's urine, mixed with rye-meal and ashes, was baked by Mr. James Holmes, as the assailant was held in the church jail overnight. This was then fed to the cat suspected of being the accused's familiar to test if the church's suspicions were correct. The baker of the witch cake was said to have had a divine vision of the accused abducting the children of the town, although the animal sustained no injury. The accused was sentenced to burn at the stake for her crimes against the lord and village. Upon the stroke of midnight, the accused was lashed to a spike on top of a pile of firewood, set ablaze and left to burn, screaming curses of the devil at the town and people. The ashes will be cleansed and thrown into the bay river. Her records will be destroyed in the gods' purifying flames as this is the 8th witch we have found in our midst and fear the devil may be calling to these women through the water. May God help these holy men.

sources:

https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/salem-witch-trials

The Penguin Book of Witches by Katherine Howe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials#:~:text=Arrests%20were%20made%20in%20numerous,)%2C%20notably%20Andover%20and%20Topsfield

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials#:~:text=The%20Salem%20witch%20trials%20were,fourteen%20women%20and%20five%20men)..

0 notes

citylifeorg · 2 years

Text

New-York Historical Society Shines a Contemporary Light on a Defining Chapter in American History in the Exhibition The Salem Witch Trials: Reckoning and Reclaiming

Alexander McQueen, 1969 -2010. Evening dress (detail), from the In Memory of Elizabeth How, Salem, 1692, Ready-to-wear collection, fall/winter 2007. Velvet, glass beads, and satin. Peabody Essex Museum, Gift of anonymous donors in London who are friends of Peabody Essex Museum, 2011.44.1. Photo by Bob Packert On view October 7, 2022 – January 22, 2023 In an episode that has resonated through…

View On WordPress

0 notes

bebemoon · 3 years

Photo

‘moon’ headpiece in memory of elizabeth how, salem 1692 autumn/winter 2oo7 shaun leane for alexander mcqueen. silver and swarovski crystal.

“...made by shaun leane for a collection that fused elements of religious puritanism and paganism.”

#alexander mcqueen #shaun leane #elizabeth how #mooncore #mode #jewellry

964 notes · View notes

goodpark · 3 years

Photo

Alexander McQueen: leather moulded bust In Memory of Elizabeth How(e), Salem, 1692; ph. Milan Vukmirovic for Numéro Magazine

#Alexander McQueen #Milan Vukmirovic #Elizabeth How(e)#Salem #Numéro Magazine #Élise Crombez #fashion #fashion photography #photography #Fall 2007

599 notes · View notes

ripplefactor · 4 years

Photo

‘Star’ headpiece, detail ..

In Memory of Elizabeth Howe, Salem 1692 .. Autumn/Winter 2007 .. Shaun Leane for Alexander McQueen .. Silver and Swarovski gemstones.

#Star headpiece #Shaune Leane #Alexander McQueen #ripplefactor #rpf2

91 notes · View notes

zegalba · 6 months

Text

Alexander McQueen: “In Memory of Elizabeth Howe, Salem, 1692” Fall Ready-to-Wear 2007

#Alexander McQueen #runway #fashion #details #black #gothic #In Memory of Elizabeth Howe Salem 1692 #ready to wear #rtw #aw07 #2007

239 notes · View notes

trustfundbabyyy · 5 years

Text

Alexander McQueen A/W 2007

‘In Memory of Elizabeth Howe, Salem, 1692’

#mcqueen #alexander mcqueen #runway #pfw

25 notes · View notes

lamaisongaga · 5 years

Photo

FASHION CREDITS: LADY GAGA BY JEAN-PAUL GOUDE

10 years after her first V Magazine photoshoot, Lady Gaga returns on the cover of Issue #V118 shot by the iconic Jean-Paul Goude.

The eccentric photoshoot features Lady Gaga in different characters, all put together and styled by Alex Aikiu. Hair by Kazue Deki and makeup by Mayia Alleaume using Maybelline.

On the Goude cover, Gaga serves us showgirl realness in an Armani Privé Fall/Winter 2018 Haute Couture deep-plunging black velvet column gown, pink & black ostrich feather opera coat and hot pink satin & PVC pumps with crystal-embellished details.

Her crystal star headpiece was created by Shaun Leane for Alexander McQueen’s Fall/Winter 2007 “In Memory Of Elizabeth Howe Salem 1692″ collection. The feathers are the stylist’s own.

She’s also wearing diamond necklaces from Chanel’s exclusive “Haute Joaillerie” collection: Signature Surpiquée necklace in 18k white-gold set with 728 brilliant-cut diamonds for a total weight of 34.2 carats...

...and the Pétales de Camélia Sautoir long white gold and pavé white diamond necklace from the “Jardin de Camélias” collection, which means Garden of Camelias.

The large stone necklace held in blue & brown is a vintage piece sourced at Galerie Argiles in Paris.

She’s also repping Swarovski crystal elements on her face and the Castiglione opera-length black leather gloves by Causse Gantier (€450).

In this shot Gaga wears the Hermitage silver metallic liquid bandage bustier gown with sculptural open front skirt and crystal flower appliqués from Atelier Versace’s Fall/Winter 2018 Haute Couture collection while channeling her inner Marie Antoinette.

The feathered headpiece on top of her Marie Antoinette-inspired wig is by the feather atelier Maison Février.

The sky-high Pleaser Beyond-1020 black patent lace-up platform ankle-boots make a return and are accented with real flowers this time!

My absolute favorite is this “broken doll” ensemble from Maison Margiela’s Fall/Winter 2018 Haute Couture collection!

This artisanal winter ensemble is composed of a beige puff bolster jacket with self tie-front, a yellow capitonnage quilt vest, muted blue felt coat between two blue down zip coats, black plaid wool coat with elongated layered sleeve, and army-green trench coat, all held together by an orange PVC belt and further accessorized with a sorbet foam fringe wig headpiece (made by Daniel Henry Studio) and clear plastic “veil”, finished with cream & almond-green hand-painted leather Tabi platform boots.

In this BTS video we can see Gaga rocking a different headpiece. Alex told me Kathmandu designer Oanh Vovan and hairstylist Kazue Deki teamed up to create it out of a silk scarf featuring a Tibetan blue cloud print. She wrapped an Atelier Swarovski necklace around it.

Here, Gaga is rocking several layered necklaces. One of them is the Mikimoto Duet Akoya conch pearl necklace. The gold one with red, blue & green gripoix stones is vintage Christian Lacroix sourced from Au Grenier de Lucie.

Her other necklaces are vintage from Bvlgari, Cartier, Galerie Argiles and Van Cleef & Arpels. One of the necklaces around her left foot is by Atelier Swarovski.

Some of her largest rings were provided by de GRISOGONO.

She wears a-white gold ring set with white diamonds and emeralds from their “High Jewellery” line, a white-gold ring set with amethysts, white diamonds, peridots, rubies and pink sapphires from their “Melody of Colours” collection and an amethyst version of their oversized white-gold cabochon cocktail ring which also belongs to the “Melody of Colours” collection.

On her left hand, she also wears a round ring by Jean-Marc Laroche.

She also wore several stacks of bracelets! The first one on her right arm is the Bvlgari Serpenti two-coil snake bracelet in 18kt white-gold, set with full pavé white diamonds.

Right below we can spot the Van Cleef & Arpels hammered 18K gold Etruscan cuff. They’re about $40,000 - $60,000.

What appears to be a stack of bracelets in various sizes, is actually this Chanel Coco Crush quilted gold and white diamond cuff!

27 notes · View notes