I read the article by Susanna Rustin with interest (Dramatic deeds are remembered, but too many feminists of the past are forgotten, 21 July). In Manchester, the Pankhursts are indeed remembered for their deeds and their house has been restored as a museum and a place of commemoration. Emmeline is remembered with an iconic statue in the city centre. But, of course, the history of feminist resistance is much more complicated – with an often overlooked history of grassroots collective action.
A group of enthusiasts, calling themselves Trailblazers!, have been working to restore unseen women into Manchester’s “radical” past: profiling women such as the influential anti-racist campaigner Louise Da-Cocodia (1934-2008), Manchester’s first female councillor and pacifist Margaret Ashton (1856-1937), the Irish trade union activist Mary Quaile (1886-1958) and the early suffrage agitator and scientist Lydia Becker (1828‑1890). These “extraordinary” women sit alongside so many other suffragists, pacifists, union activists and workers in the city, whose apparently “ordinary” lives have been uncovered and celebrated here in Manchester with street art, banners and events.
