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| Eliza R. Snow |
I just read this insightful article by Andrea G. Radke-Moss written in response to her paper about women in the Mormon-Missouri War of 1838. In her presentation, she shared well-researched information that Eliza R. Snow was raped by mobbers in Missouri. Apparently, there has been quite a brouhaha about it all, which you can read about on the Juvenile Instructor blog.
My comment on the blog was "Thanks for filling in this gap in our history." I have always wondered what happened to the women during all the mobbings and persecutions. There has been silence about this particular type of violence. We have seen graphic depictions of the massacre at Haun's Mill with men, women, and children shot like fish in a barrel. Doesn't the sexual violence women like Eliza R. Snow suffer merit equal treatment? YES!
We need to get over our fears about discussing subjects that make us uncomfortable. Elder Ballard recently gave a CES presentation in which he said we must become familiar with our past and not hide our heads in the sand. We must especially help today's young people find answers.
The history of the LDS people is not just one story; it is many stories and those about violence need to be shared. By naming evil we reduce its power over us.
Andrea's last paragraph succinctly presents her purpose and argument.
"I hope that readers will consider the impact of knowing Eliza’s status as a rape victim. I worried, even agonized over revealing this brutal part of her past, that those who cherish her memory would consider her identity somehow changed by this. I am mindful of those who think I was wrong to reveal this at all, but I stand by what I did. If we seek to conceal this crime against her out of some kind of protective impulse, I believe that we are perpetuating the idea that rape brings shame to its victims. What are your thoughts on this, readers? I do think Eliza would want to be remembered for the wholeness of her amazing life, her poetry and hymns, her Relief Society leadership, her role in significant Restoration and pioneering events, and her contributions to Mormon women then and today. Her story humanizes and feminizes an event that has always been told as a story of male war, male imprisonment, and male victimhood. She unsilences the silenced. And yet, her victimhood does not and will not define her, but this new knowledge has the potential to bring hope and healing to other victims of sexual violence among our Church membership and others, for whom Eliza provides an emulative model of strength, hope, faith, and resilience. Whether as a historian or a Mormon woman, that is my main purpose in sharing Eliza’s story." (Emphasis added)
My respect for Eliza R. Snow has only grown from learning about her suffering. My own problems seem small in comparison to hers and yet I can identify. I, too, am childless. I, too, have been a victim of sexual violence. And I, too, will no longer be silent nor be a victim.
Image source: https://www.lds.org/media-library/images/eliza-r-snow-194842?lang=eng
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