Lexi+Woodman+Speech+09

Have you ever thought about the new pants that you are wearing today and how they were made? You have Amelia Bloomer to thank for that! I think she is a person who has touched many lives, especially the lives of women. So, I am going to talk about are the bloomers she designed. I am also going to tell you about the newspaper, The Lily.

The pants you ladies are wearing were once called Bloomers. They were loose trousers gathered at the ankles with a short dress or a skirt over them. Another name for the Bloomers were turkish pantaloons. Some ladies that wore Bloomers got rocks thrown at them because at that time men didn't think that bloomers were proper clothing for women to wear. Even before Amelia was born, women were wearing big, unhealthy, uncomfortable dresses, which were very long and heavy. Some women could not even get through doorways because the dresses were so wide. The skirt part of the dress took 20-30 yards of material to make. Now imagine 1 yard of material in your head. Now think of 30 of those! The dresses had layers and layers of petticoats that could weigh over 10 pounds. It sounds like a lot of weight to drag around doesn't it? Sometimes the corsets were so tight woman would faint because they couldn't get enough air. The floor length dresses dragged on unpaved and unswept streets. They became very dirty at the bottom. Amelia wanted to make a change in how a woman could dress because she felt the way they had to dress was unfair.
 * History of the bloomers**

Amelia Bloomer made a newspaper called The Lily. Surprisingly, Amelia did not like the name The Lily for the newspaper, but the Women's Rights Committee liked the name. The Lily would cover questions women had about Women's Rights. Some big topics she talked about in The Lily were fashion and education. The following is a quote by Amelia: " Our counsel to every woman is to wear what pleases you the best." Her newspaper helped some women to ensure that Women's Rights would happen. She wrote The Lily for 5 years.
 * Newspaper, The Lily**

Amelia was born in Homer, New York, May 27, 1818. Amelia was a small and serious woman, she also lacked a sence of humor. Amelia and her husband moved from Ohio to Council Bluffs, Iowa in 1855. They moved there, because Dexter sold his newspaper and thought it was a good place to live. She also sold her newspaper too, but kept writing along with her husband. Amelia took her final resting place here in Council Bluffs, Iowa on the last day of the year in 1894. She died at the age of 76.
 * Her Life**

Now she is a person who has touched many lives, but you may also ask how or why. By making the Bloomers or as we call them now pants, she touched the lives of many women. She saved us from those dreadful dresses. You know if it was not for her we could still be in those dresses. You boys should not be laughing because I think if the girls have to be proper, then the boys should have to be proper, too So all in all Amelia Bloomer was a woman who accomplished a lot for her time. She went after what she thought women should have. Now when I think of a person who has touched many lives I will always think of Amelia Bloomer.
 * Reason she should be "A Person Who Touched Many Lives"**