1935–1936: (Revolutionary Rhetoric and Feminism as Revolution — In the Early Years LFAS Women Explaining Feminism by Rerouting Women’s Politics Through a Pat…

1935–1936: (Revolutionary Rhetoric and Feminism as Revolution — In the Early Years LFAS Women Explaining Feminism by Rerouting Women’s Politics Through a Patriotic National Landscape Drawing on the Affective Markers of the 1804 Revolution to Naturalize Feminism the Way Revolution Was Normalized, Editor Jeanne Perez Writing “Would You Be a Feminist in Cap Haïtien?” — Combining Nostalgia for the Revolutionary History of the Former Capital with the Assertion That Antifeminism Was Anti-Intellectualism and Antirevolutionary, Concluding “Vive la Cité du Grand Roi et Vive le Féminisme!”, Perez Arguing That Women’s Native Virtues Would “Wake Up Like a Sleeping Giant” — Like Enslaved Africans These Women Contemplated Imagined and Rehearsed Their Freedom Beyond Their Condition, Identifying Historical Silencing at the Site of Memory as an Assault on Women’s Capacity to Transmit Knowledge): In the early years of the newspaper, the women explained feminism by rerouting the history of women’s politics through a patriotic national landscape. Drawing on the affective markers of the 1804 Haitian Revolution, the LFAS set the stage to naturalize the idea of feminism in the way that revolution was normalized in political discourse. In an essay titled Would you be a feminist in Cap Haïtien?, editor Jeanne Perez used the organization’s recruitment to locate feminism in the memory of the nineteenth-century revolution. She wrote that Cap was an important part of the country from the intellectual point of view and asked why they would not be feminists there — who would proudly boast of being anti-feminist if he understood that feminism only claims the material and moral improvement of women? Combining nostalgia for the intellectual and revolutionary history of the former capital, Perez attached antifeminism to anti-intellectualism and antirevolutionary sentiments, concluding: Vive la Cité du Grand Roi, et Vive le féminisme! Perez argued that one might want to stifle women and force them to believe themselves only good at slavery to the male spirit, but their native virtues would wake up like a sleeping giant. Like enslaved Africans of the colonial era, these women contemplated, imagined, and rehearsed their freedom beyond their condition. Perez also identified historical silencing at the site of memory — those who tried to plunge women’s memory into the sea of forgetfulness so that future generations could not remember the examples of courage and patriotism exemplified by revolutionary women like Marie Claire Heureuse, Marie-Jeanne Lamartinière, Henriette Saint-Marc, Sanite Bélair, Madame Chevalier, and Madame Pageot. As editor-in-chief, Perez ensured that La Voix des Femmes was a space to account for, store, and craft the historical memory of women in the nation.