55 - Georgia, Moina Belle Michael
A simple gesture and sentiment that grew to be a century long tradition helping disabled veterans in the world, Moina Michael created the silk poppy memorial pins and brought awareness, compassion, and therapy to people.
Georgia adopted the Nineteenth Amendment to their constitution on February 20, 1970.
While Ms. Moina Michael was vacationing in Germany in summer of 1914, World War 1 broke out, leaving many tourists stranded or frightened. She traveled to Rome to get return passage to America, and as working to get home assisted around 12,000 US tourists. As America entered the war in 1917, she took a leave of absence to volunteer with the overseas YWCA workers.
In 1918, she shared a poem “We Shall Keep the Faith” and vowed to wear a red poppy as a symbol of remembrance for all veterans of the war. To raise money to support disabled veterans in her classes after the war, she began to sell pins of silk poppies, and by 1921 the poppy was adopted as a symbol of remembrance for war veterans.
Through her life, people turned to remembering her. In 1944 a ship constructed in Georgia was named the SS Moina Michael, a 3-cent postage stamp honoring her life was issued in 1948, and section of US Highway 79 in Georgia is named in her honor. She entered the Georgia Women of Achievement Hall of Fame in 1999.
The American Legion Auxiliary Poppy instituted a program to protect the poppy from being commercialized. All poppies are made by disabled or hospitalized veterans and 100% of contributions are guaranteed to assist veterans and their families. The making of the poppies gives disabled veterans a rehabilitation project and some income. The making of them provides therapeutic benefits to them.
Why this woman?
To me, the poppies were a much more prevalent in Scotland while I was there, maybe just more self aware. The Great Wars were still a very palpable and real thing in their culture where in America, with our very short history, is ready to move on to the next issue with swift ease.
She wrote a poem inspiring the poppies, closing with the stanza:
And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.
One of the best museums is the Imperial War Museum in Manchester, England. Daniel Liebeskind designed both the building and the exhibition. It was a raw, loud, experiential museum that took you through the impact the war had on governments, officers, veterans, and the public. Wars like this were on everyone’s doorsteps. Researching Moina, I was impressed to learn that the poppies were originated in America because I envisioned being a British tradition.
The poppies make me really happy. The vibrant color and the fragile petal come to my mind. Similar to an Alder Grove, my favorite natural phenomenon, they are more appreciated in their mass than as a one off flower. You can love a single rose, but you can be overtaken by a field of poppies.
Georgia adopted the Nineteenth Amendment to their constitution on February 20, 1970.
While Ms. Moina Michael was vacationing in Germany in summer of 1914, World War 1 broke out, leaving many tourists stranded or frightened. She traveled to Rome to get return passage to America, and as working to get home assisted around 12,000 US tourists. As America entered the war in 1917, she took a leave of absence to volunteer with the overseas YWCA workers.
In 1918, she shared a poem “We Shall Keep the Faith” and vowed to wear a red poppy as a symbol of remembrance for all veterans of the war. To raise money to support disabled veterans in her classes after the war, she began to sell pins of silk poppies, and by 1921 the poppy was adopted as a symbol of remembrance for war veterans.
Through her life, people turned to remembering her. In 1944 a ship constructed in Georgia was named the SS Moina Michael, a 3-cent postage stamp honoring her life was issued in 1948, and section of US Highway 79 in Georgia is named in her honor. She entered the Georgia Women of Achievement Hall of Fame in 1999.
The American Legion Auxiliary Poppy instituted a program to protect the poppy from being commercialized. All poppies are made by disabled or hospitalized veterans and 100% of contributions are guaranteed to assist veterans and their families. The making of the poppies gives disabled veterans a rehabilitation project and some income. The making of them provides therapeutic benefits to them.
Why this woman?
To me, the poppies were a much more prevalent in Scotland while I was there, maybe just more self aware. The Great Wars were still a very palpable and real thing in their culture where in America, with our very short history, is ready to move on to the next issue with swift ease.
She wrote a poem inspiring the poppies, closing with the stanza:
And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.
One of the best museums is the Imperial War Museum in Manchester, England. Daniel Liebeskind designed both the building and the exhibition. It was a raw, loud, experiential museum that took you through the impact the war had on governments, officers, veterans, and the public. Wars like this were on everyone’s doorsteps. Researching Moina, I was impressed to learn that the poppies were originated in America because I envisioned being a British tradition.
The poppies make me really happy. The vibrant color and the fragile petal come to my mind. Similar to an Alder Grove, my favorite natural phenomenon, they are more appreciated in their mass than as a one off flower. You can love a single rose, but you can be overtaken by a field of poppies.
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