Dr. Mary Edwards Walker
1832-1919
Dress Reformer, Doctor, and Suffragist
Written and Performed By: Devin Glasier
Setting: Oswego, NY, 1882

Dr. Mary Walker and Margaret, fellow dress reformer and friend, are tending to their garden when a group of men walk by and begin to harass them for their clothing. Margaret is new to the movement and not quite used to this form of mockery, Mary attempts to console her with a story of her ownÊjourney.

(At someone walking by)
We can think for ourselves thank you very much, and you can inform your friends that if they have an issue with the way we dress they may be in danger of their lives if they tried to approach me.

(Turning to her friend Margaret, whom is staying in her home)

Listen Margaret; you must not let them get under your skin, I have heard it all and though those people, have gotten more creative my parents taught me well. They said Òlive your life for yourself no matter what others have to say.Ó

My parents taught me to think for myself, and how to dress myself. When I would help my mother with the heavier farm work, I wore trousers, because they were easier to move in. When I joined the Union Army as a civilian, surgeon I wore trousers, how could I have possibly done my job in a dress, all those skirts kicking up dust? I once crossed enemy lines to help a Confederate surgeon and was taken as a prisoner of war. And I refused to wear the clothes they tried to force on me even then. If I was going to be a prisoner of war I was going to do it in the comfort of my own clothing.

That's precisely what they are, I don't wear men's clothes, I wear my own clothes. I received a medal of honor for all that, not the clothes, but for sticking my neck out for those civilians. I did my best to save, as many lives as I could, it didnÕt matter what side they were on, innocent people deserve someone who cares. Once the war was over I went about my business, my practice, and still I was arrested and mocked for wearing "men's clothes". If I do see the day the legislature finally acknowledges our constitutional right of suffrage, I shall cast my vote wearing trousers. And if I don't live to see that day well, (Laughing) just bury me in my best black suit would you?