Moses Harman (1830-1910)

The value of history is learning from it, dissecting and finding significance in past events that have shaped our present.  At a time now, in my opinion, where complacency has reined and a false, if not extraordinarily naive expectation that governing systems (which are rudderless) have it all worked out and exponential wealth driven societies (which is a myth) is our new nirvana  - the sobering aspects are the free thinkers of the past.  The ones that questioned the bullshit, saw it for what it is, challenged it intellectually - became antagonists of system of rule that is flawed in so many ways.  Moses Harman was one of those characters of history that has been somewhat forgotten.  Said to be one of the first 'male' feminists, at a time when women were seen as sub-humans, he also put himself on the line (he was incarcerated on several occasions) for questioning marriage, religion, church and state control, sexual stereotypes, gender and sexual inequity.

Excerpt from: http://www.kshs.org/

II. Career in Journalism
In June, 1879, Harman and his two children settled in Delaware township, Jefferson county, Kan., where he was again engaged in teaching by 1880. In this year he married Isabel Hiser, a native of Valley Falls. It was at this time that Harman began to discuss religion from an agnostic viewpoint. [6] He soon became involved in the activities of the Valley Falls Liberal League and was elected secretary of the local free-thought organization. In November, 1880, Harman and A. J. Searl of Valley Falls were elected editors of the Valley Falls Liberal, a publication of the Valley Falls Liberal League. [7]
The monthly four-page paper, edited by Harman and Searl, was designed to provoke controversy and to bring written comments from the subscribers. [8] The two editors ridiculed the agents of Christianity through numerous jokes and general verbal attacks on the clergy. [9] The paper, "free to all who desire communication on all subjects," had a yearly subscription rate of 50 cents. [10]
In September, 1881, the paper was renamed The Kansas Liberal and Moses Harman became its sole editor. The theme of the publication was "Total Separation of the State from Supernatural Theology. Perfect Equality before the Law for all Men and Women. No Privileged Classes or Orders -- No Monopolies." [11] Along with the controversial articles included in the paper, Harman advertised books and pamphlets that were anti-religious in nature. [12] The Kansas Liberal was published in Lawrence during a six-month period in 1882. The offices of publication were returned to Valley Falls in September, 1882. [13]

"Yes, I believe in Freedom -- equal freedom. I want no freedom for myself that all others may not equally enjoy. Freedom that is not equal is not freedom. It is, or may easily become, invasion, and invasion is the denial or the death of freedom. The Spencerian formula -- 'Each has the right to do as he pleases so long as he does not invade the equaal right of others,' tells what freedom means. It is equivalent to saying that liberty, wedded to responsibility for one's acts, is the true and only basis of good conduct, or of morality." -- From a "Free Man's Creed," by Moses Harman. The picture and quotation were copied from the Memorial of Moses Harman.



Moses Harman devised his own system of dating for the "Era of Man," beginning January 1, 1601. Thus the date December 6, E.M. 289, shown on this part-page reproduction of an issue of Lucifer, the Light Bearer corresponds to December 6, 1889.
[Select image to read transcription]
The publication changed title again in 1883. Harman maintained that subscribers objected to the term "Kansas" in the paper's title because the name was local in character. His subscribers also opposed the term "liberal" since so many newspapers and journals used the term in their titles. For these reasons he changed the publication's title to Lucifer the Light Bearer (hereafter called Lucifer). The title was selected, stated Harman, because it expressed the paper's mission. Lucifer, the name given the morning star by the people of the ancient world, served as the symbol of the publication and represented the ushering in of a new day. He declared that freethinkers had sought to redeem and glorify the name Lucifer while theologians cursed him as the prince of the fallen angels. Harman suggested that Lucifer would take on the role of an educator. "The god of the Bible doomed mankind to perpetual ignorance," wrote Harman, "and [people] would never have known Good from Evil if Lucifer had not told them how to become as wise as the gods themselves." [14]
Shortly after renaming the publication, Harman announced that Lucifer was no longer the mouthpiece for the Liberal League but represented only the editors and contributors speaking for themselves. [15] He later indicated that Lucifer's editors would use plain and scientific terms as the applied to the human body. Individuals expressing shock in Lucifer's terminology, stated Harman, would be better off if they cancelled their subscription to the publication. [16] Among the many objectives of Lucifer's editors was the abolition of paternalism as generated by the church and the state. [17]
Harman did not accept the orthodox calendar in dating the issues of Lucifer. Rather than use the method of determining a given year by dating from the birth of Christ, he marked the beginning of his dating system with the execution of the astronomer Giordano Bruno in 1601. The year 1601, stated Harman, marked the beginning of a great new age, the era of man (E. M.). He alleged that the years prior to 1601 were dominated by Bible teachings concerning the concepts of heaven and hell whereas the period after 1601 was highlighted by the advent of a new science spearheaded by the astronomical discoveries of Copernicus, Galileo, and Bruno. [18]

From ifeminists.com

"...Harman was indicted and tried in May 1905 for mailing two articles: "The Fatherhood Question", which argued in an inoffensive manner that every prospective mother had the right to select the best possible conditions for procreation; and, "More Thoughts on Sexology" by the seventy-year old Sara Crist Campbell, which argued that sexual ignorance inflicted needless pain upon women. The court refused to allow expert medical testimony on Harman's behalf, and the judge's instructions to the jury left little doubt as to his opinion that Harman was guilty. Thus, at the age of 75, Moses Harman was sentenced to one year at hard labor.

From Cook County jail in Chicago, Harman wrote a 'hail and farewell' letter to his friends, restating the object of Lucifer's publication, the object for which he was willing to endure yet another imprisonment. "...to help woman to break the chains that for ages have bound her to the rack of man-made law, spiritual, economic, industrial, social and especially sexual, believing that until woman is roused to a sense of her own responsibility on all lines of human endeavor, and especially on lines of her special field, that of reproduction of the race, there will be little if any real advancement toward a higher and truer civilization."