A Painful and Proud History

It was an Honor to design this a pendant for a diamond with such a powerful history. I'm so grateful to Karla for offering to share her incredible family story.

"My grandmother was born in Deer Park, MD, in the early 1880's. We don't know the actual year, as she changed the date in the family Bible. She was married, had her first child, and was abandoned by her husband by the age of 15. Her second husband was killed in a railway accident by the time she was in her early 20's. She now had 3 children. My grandfather was her 3rd husband, and he was a violent alcoholic; a gambler who repeatedly lost family property in poker games, who beat his wife for continually marching for voting rights.

One night he came home from one of those games too drunk to walk. He was dropped off on the porch, where he fell unconscious.

My grandmother carefully searched his pockets, finding large diamond earrings. Slipping back into the house, she hid the earrings carefully. When he awoke the next morning, he was enraged that he'd been robbed on his own front porch!

She saved the earrings for years, giving one to each daughter after they married. They made them into rings, claiming them as gifts from generous husbands, passing them along only upon their deaths.

When my mother asked her why she marched in spite of her husband's anger..she replied "I marched for you."

So, to honor a grandmother who endured violence to claim my right to vote, I vote..and I wear her diamond, now beautifully encased in one of her favorite flowers, along with gems from 3 succeeding generations of the women she marched and suffered for."

-Pictured are Karla's Grandmother, then Mother and Father