Category Archives: Blog

August 15, 2018 · 9:49 am

Get ready to celebrate 2020, the US suffrage centennial, PLUS news!

Women’s Suffrage Movement Photographs from the Library of Congress on Vimeo.

The woman’s suffrage photo collection at the Library of Congress is fascinating and is by no means the entire collection. Consider it a beginning or a refresher. And keep your eye on the prize: suffrage movement events and celebrations from now through 2020, the nation’s big celebration, the centennial of all centennials.

2020 marks the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage. In honor of the Centennial and the fight for women’s equality, the NWP is renewing its work to achieve full constitutional equality for women. It will change its name officially in the near future.

IN OTHER NEWS:

The National Woman’s Party hosted US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg on August 26th, Women’s Equality Day, at the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The event was moderated by Jill C. Morrison of Georgetown Law on why the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution is critically important.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Link for Library of Congress photo and prints collection. Terrific suffrage collections and educational programs are available from “American Memory,” under Women’s History, including: An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera; Words and Deeds in American History: Selected Documents Celebrating the Manuscript Division’s First 100 Years; Votes for Women: Selections from the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection, 1848-1921; Miller NAWSA Suffrage Scrapbooks, 1897-1911; and American Women: A Gateway to Library of Congress Resources for the Study of Women’s History and Culture in the United States.

Our sister women’s rights history sites offer different angles on the first wave of the women’s rights movement in the US. SuffrageCentennials.com focuses on events, celebrations and programs. LetsRockTheCradle.com specializes in feature articles, action campaigns, and news. Suffrage Wagon News Channel has been supporting the exhibit of the “Spirit of 1776” suffrage campaign wagon used by Edna Kearns in New York City and on Long Island. Marguerite Kearns is the granddaughter of Edna Kearns and a freelance writer on women’s history.

Suffrage CentennialsimagesFollow SuffrageCentennials.com on Facebook page, Twitter, email subscription, and the Quarterly Newsletter. Sign up for email on this web page. Stay up to date with postings, audio podcasts, and videos. Plan for your suffrage centennial event.

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August 13, 2018 · 6:22 pm

Lucy Stone turns 200 years old! Pioneer American suffragist and woman’s rights leader!!

Lucy Stone, who was born on August 13, 1818, became the first Massachusetts woman to earn a college degree. She taught and did housework while at Oberlin College, attracting the attention of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. He wrote, “She is a very superior young woman, and has a soul as free as the air.” Lucy married Henry Blackwell and became known for keeping her own name to protest restrictive marriage laws. They had two children but their son died after birth. Lucy bravely and on her own spoke out for the abolition of slavery and for women’s rights when few women did. She organized her own lectures, eloquent and sincere, and led in calling the first national woman’s rights convention at Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1850. She converted Susan B. Anthony and Julia Ward Howe to suffrage, refused to pay taxes to protest women’s lack of representation, and pressed for voting rights for both Black men and all women.

Lucy Stone was a founder of the American Woman Suffrage Association in 1869 and a leading spirit in New England for decades. She published and edited the influential weekly The Woman’s Journal with her husband and later her daughter Alice Stone Blackwell for 47 years. Lucy Stone’s dying words to her daughter on October 18, 1893, were “Make the world better.

SuffrageCentennials.com tracks events and related news of the first wave of the women’s rights movement in the United States. If you have an announcement, get in touch.

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August 12, 2018 · 6:44 pm

Why did women’s voting rights take so long?

Crandall Public Library, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary, presents “Votes for Women: Why Did it Take So Long?” a lecture by suffrage historian, Dr. Susan Goodier, in Glens Falls, NY on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. in the Christine L. McDonald Community Room at Crandall Public Library.

Women won the right to vote in New York State after an almost seven decades long battle. Why did a right that seems so simple take so long for women to acquire? Goodier will discuss the many social, cultural, and economic issues that complicated the movement for suffrage as black and white women sought full citizenship rights in the state and in the nation.

Susan Goodier studies US women’s activism, particularly woman suffrage activism, from 1840 to 1920. She earned a master’s degree in Gender History, a doctorate in Public Policy History, with subfields in International Gender and Culture and Black Women’s Studies, and a Women’s Studies master’s degree, all from SUNY Albany. At SUNY Oneonta, she teaches courses in Women’s History, New York State History, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and Progressivism.

Dr. Goodier is the coordinator for the Upstate New York Women’s History Organization (UNYWHO). She is also an editor for the New York History journal; last fall she edited a double issue on woman suffrage. The University of Illinois published her first book, No Votes for Women: The New York State Anti-Suffrage Movement, in 2013. Her second book, coauthored with Karen Pastorello, is Women Will Vote: Winning Suffrage in New York State (Cornell University Press, 2017), marking the centennial of women voting in New York State. One of Goodier’s current projects is a biography of Louisa M. Jacobs, the daughter of Harriet Jacobs, author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Tisha Dolton at (518) 792-6508 x256. Crandall Public Library, celebrating its 125th anniversary, is located at 251 Glen Street in Glens Falls, New York. crandalllibrary.org

IN OTHER NEWS—FIRST WAVE DESCENDANTS ARE HOT:

Friends and descendants of Ida B. Wells, activist and bold newspaper writer, have been working over the past decade to bring the work and legacy of Wells out into the public. Their recent project, building a statue of Wells in Chicago, has been successful in raising money and building anticipation for 2020, the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

A recent episode of the audio podcast, “A New York Minute in History,” focuses on the women’s suffrage movement with an interview with Coline jenkins, the great great granddaughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Coline Jenkins’ family tree touches on nearly every major women’s rights milestone in the 19th century and beyond. Subscription by way of iTunes, SoundCloud, and Google Play.

Celebrate August 26th (Women’s Equality Day). The National Women’s History Project has announced an initiative to make August 26th a federal holiday. September 17th is Constitution Day, a terrific opportunity to recognize the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution.

Follow SuffrageCentennials.com Publishing since 2013.

SuffrageWagon.org and LetsRockTheCradle.com are sister sites to SuffrageCentennials.

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August 10, 2018 · 2:35 pm

NEWS and reminder about August 26th—Women’s Equality Day!

Women’s Equality Day has its own entry on Wikipedia. It tells anyone who visits the internet that the day of August 26th is to commemorate the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution guaranteeing women’s right to vote and the long and lonely decades dedicated to its passage.

Women’s Equality Day was first celebrated in 1973, and every year the US President announces the observance. But don’t be fooled. It is not a national holiday although many people are advocating for this. The National Women’s History Project (nwhp.org) has put out a call for supporters of making August 26th a national holiday. Membership is free.

NATIONAL EQUALITY PLEDGE

Kamala Lopez, filmmaker of “Equal Means Equal,” is working on distributing a national equality pledge to identify elected officials with their stand on the Equal Rights Amendment. Many grassroots and supporting organizations are using “Equal Means Equal” and other contemporary films and videos for fundraising. “Iron Jawed Angels” remains a popular choice.

INEZ MILHOLLAND IS STILL IN THE PUBLIC EYE

The New  York Times has identified Inez Milholland as number three on a list of ten women who would be good choices for a statue in NYC. Milholland gave her life for women’s right to vote. She died when on the lecture trail in 1916 from pernicious anemia. In 2016, the National Women’s History Project sponsored a year to bring Inez Milholland’s story out of the background and to the attention of the nation. Marguerite Kearns and Robert P.J. Cooney directed the effort. Martha Wheelock produced a film, “Forward into Light,” a 15 minute film about Inez. Thousands of films were distributed free throughout the nation. Follow the Inez Milholland centennial blog for news and views about this continuing effort:

InezMilholland.wordpress.com

IN OTHER NEWS—Tennessee and Washington, DC:

The Tennessee Woman Suffrage Board has sent out invitations to a celebration on Saturday, August 25, 2018 at 11 a.m. at the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument
 Centennial Park in Nashville. Completed suffrage monuments, now part of the landscape in Tennessee, include Jackson, Knoxville and Nashville. Three more are in progress: 
Chattanooga, Clarksville, and Memphis. Open to the public. A lawn chair and umbrella for rain or shade from the sun is recommended for the August 25th event.

The National Women’s History Museum is promoting tours, starting today, that follow the 1913 woman suffrage parade through DC. The tour starts at the Capitol Reflecting Pool by the Grant Memorial. The tour covers 1.5 miles, lasts about two hours, and ends in Lafayette Square across from the White House. Dates include August 11, 17, 18, 24 and 31, 2018. Contact the Museum web site for more information and cost.

UPDATE ON TURNING POINT SUFFRAGIST MEMORIAL:

 

SuffrageCentennials.com continues to work toward 2020, the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Follow us on the blog, Twitter, Facebook, and email subscription.

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August 8, 2018 · 2:16 pm

New Zealand celebrating 125 years of women voting!

New Zealand women have been voting for the past 125 years! This observance is being accompanied with planning to erect a plaque to commemorate 1893 to 2018 by the Walmate Edwardian Heritage Group. Records show that on a suffrage petition submitted to Parliament on July 28, 1893, the names and addresses of about 24,000 women aged over 21 were featured.

Honor Inez Milholland, the U.S. suffrage martyr! on Vimeo.

Be prepared for the reactions of some Americans who don’t want to be reminded that U.S. women will have been voting for 100 years in 2020.

Also, there are Americans who want to see August 26th designated as a national holiday.

It’s uncomfortable to many citizens that after almost 100 years of women voting, no women has been elected to serve in the Oval Office in Washington, DC.

Also—in 2023, U.S. women will have been working for 100 years to guarantee equal rights for women under the U.S. Constitution.

The above video was produced in 2016, the 100th anniversary of the death of Inez Milholland, the U.S. suffrage martyr. Many American women have no idea that Inez Milholland died in 1916 for women’s voting rights.

Follow the Inez Milholland centennial blog. Find out the larger context at SuffrageCentennials.com

Stop by Suffrage Wagon News Channel to find out about the “Spirit of 1776” suffrage wagon used by Edna Kearns and others that was on exhibit at the New  York State Museum from 2017 to 2018. The wagon is a symbol of the agitation around women’s voting rights. Support the New York State Museum in finding a way to put the wagon on permanent exhibit, for now and future generations.

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August 5, 2018 · 8:12 pm

You may be a suffrage activist descendant and not know it!

Dear Friends,

What? You may be a votes for women, first wave women’s rights descendant, and not know it.

If you are, you aren’t alone. Tens of thousands of women and their allies spent decades working for the right to vote from 1848 (and before) through 1920.

In 2020, US women will have been voting for 100 years. That you may be descended from the first wave of American voting rights activists shouldn’t be passed over lightly. Many families didn’t mention this association and organizing priority to their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and other descendants.

Even if you can’t make a direct family connection, the first wave of the women’s rights movement in the United States is an important and essential part of our national legacy and history…whether you’re a young person, woman, man, or wherever you find yourself on the gender continuum.

The chances are excellent that you are descended, either directly or by interest, to the tens of thousands of voting rights activists and their allies who worked and sweated for decades to win the right to vote. If you aren’t directly related, you may be a descendent in some other way—spiritual or because of your level of interest.

Our strong history will be celebrated during 2020, and we want to make sure you’re part of this turning point in time.

Sign up to receive the Suffrage Centennials quarterly newsletter. You can also choose to receive weekly posts by adding your email to the form on the SuffrageCentennials.com web page.

There is no cost…only benefits. _

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August 4, 2018 · 9:35 pm

2020 Suffrage Centennial News, plus VIDEO!

Support the “Spirit of 1776” suffrage wagon on permanent exhibit at NYS Museum! on Vimeo.

IN OTHER NEWS:

The Chicago City Council has renamed a historic downtown street after activist Ida B. Wells. Congress Parkway will be renamed Ida B. Wells Drive. Her descendants, friends, and supporters have been raising money to build a monument in her memory.

The Pomeroy Foundation has announced an expansion of the Historic Roadside Marker Grant Program. It is now open to all municipalities and 501.c3 organizations in New York State. The Pomeroy is also testing an expansion of the program on the national level. Stay tuned! As of March 2018, the Pomeroy Foundation has installed over 495 historic markers in 53 New York State counties.

The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) Women’s History Affinity Group is developing a 2020 Suffrage Value Statement, with best practices and principles for the upcoming centennial commemoration of the 19th Amendment. The group is surveying the field for comments to help develop the statement. The deadline to submit comments is August 15, 2018. You can participate here.

We can’t keep up with all the celebrations and special programs scheduled across the US to commemorate August 26th, Women’s Equality Day. One example is the Miami-Dade County Commission for Women, The Women’s Park, and the League of Women Voters who will host their sixth annual commemoration for women’s equality on Saturday, August 25, 10-1, at The Women’s Park in Maimi, FL.

Author Kenneth Florey is appealing for help in the identification of this image. His entire special message was published in a feature on SuffrageWagon.org (August 1, 2018). Contact him at KennethFlorey at gmail.com

AND DON’T FORGET:

There’s a special bus tour of Washington, DC leaving from the Belmont-Paul national historic site (National Park Service) on August 26, 2018. The 1913 parade route will be featured, along with other sites of interest.

The Suffolk County Historical Society in Riverhead, NY (on Long Island, NY) continues its membership drive. The Historical Society has a lively program of exhibits and special programs. Part of the popular suffrage exhibition of Long Island activists is still on display.

Here at SuffrageCentennials.com we loved sending friends and interested folks over to the New York State Museum in Albany, NY to see the “Votes for Women” exhibit that went up in November 2017 and came down in May of 2018. The display was thrilling to see. The “Spirit of 1776″suffrage wagon was part of the exhibition. Now we are on to the next phase of planning for the national suffrage centennial in 2020 when it’s anticipated that the wagon will be on exhibit again.

The celebration of the 2020 national suffrage centennial has opportunities to get involved. And this doesn’t just involve sending money. The initiative for 2020 has relied, so far, on many volunteers to spread the word and organize others to carry out the work. There are opportunities to research and add to a database of first wave activists. Organizers are scouting for locations to erect historic markers to celebrate votes for women, an initiative of the National Votes for Women Trail. And there is more. Stay tuned!

Have you made plans yet for August 26th—Women’s Equality Day?

The “Spirit of 1776” wagon on its first grassroots organizing campaign in the summer of 1913. Photo courtesy of Rose Gschwendtner.

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August 1, 2018 · 4:53 pm

Birthday for Suffrage Centennials in 2018—plus news of interest!

MARK YOUR CALENDAR:

The West Brookfield Historical Commission (in Massachusetts) proudly presents a bicentennial birthday celebration for activist Lucy Stone to celebrate her 200th birthday on Saturday, August 11 and Sunday, August 12, 2018. There will be a three-site tour, a suffragist tea, and a musical event by the Old Sturbridge Village Singers.

The New England Town of West Brookfield is located approximately 20 miles west of Worcester, Massachusetts. Situated on the Historic Boston Post Road, the town was the halfway stop on the stage route from Worcester to Springfield. The picturesque Common is the beginning of establishing the Center Historic District. Within walking distance is the Old Indian Cemetery and other locations of historical significance. For more information: Dan Hamilton 508 637-1329, or email: lucy@westbrookfield.org

A SPECIAL RESOURCE FROM DAVID DISMORE

Feminist history researcher David Dismore has a daily women’s history post that connects the present day with the past. Want to know what happened 100 years ago? Sign up for information that fills in the blanks. You get an instant blast from the past from facebook.com/Equalitarian

How is this for persistence? When we started publishing five years ago, few people even thought about 2020, the nation’s suffrage centennial observance when American women will have been voting for 100 years. Spread the word!  Follow the Suffrage Centennials blog. We’re also on Twitter and Facebook.

IN OTHER NEWS: 

The restoration of an old Quaker Meetinghouse in Farmington, NY needs matching funds to meet the requirements of a grant to assist in the building’s restoration. Visit the web site for more information.

The National Voter Registration Day is September 25, 2018. Find out how you can give a hand. NationalVoterRegistrationDay.org for trainings and other resources.

Follow our sister web platforms featuring the first wave of the women’s rights movement in the US—

LetsRockTheCradle.com    SuffrageCentennials.org    InezMilholland.wordpress.com

Suffrage Centennials covers news, views, events and highlights of upcoming suffrage centennial celebrations. With a straight face, there are those out there suggesting that 2020 isn’t worthy of emphasis. That’s why we persist in remembering that women’s freedom to vote was won after a long and difficult struggle.

The first wave of the women’s rights movement in the US was decentralized. Hundreds of organizations on the local, state, and national levels worked to win the franchise.Their very different practices and polices made headlines. This is important to note when commentators today suggest that the suffrage movement was monolithic and its leaders spoke for all women, their strategies, and tactics.

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July 28, 2018 · 4:50 pm

New York Times puts suffrage activist Inez Milholland on its statue list! Plus suffrage centennial news & events!

A book baking in the oven about suffrage activists Edna and Wilmer Kearns! from Marguerite Kearns on Vimeo.

NEW YORK TIMES HAS SUFFRAGE ACTIVIST, INEZ MILHOLLAND, ON ITS RECOMMENDED LIST FOR WOMEN’S STATUES

A New York Times article published on July 27, 2018 included suffrage activist Inez Milholland on a list of ten suggestions for New York City to add to its recommended “to do” list when the erection of statues are under consideration. The article, “More Women Deserve Statues in New York. Here are 10” A previous article asked newspaper readers to send in suggestions. Inez Milholland was number three on the published list.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE US: 

The news is coming in from around the nation. The year 2020 is on the planning agendas of numerous organizations. Take New England for example where events are popping up with 2020 in mind.

A new walking trail, a website, and mobile app were launched this month, with a program “Lighting the Way: Historic Women of the SouthCoast” next on the schedule that will be ongoing. The New Bedford (MA) Whaling Museum will be giving guided tours starting July 12 that will leave the whaling museum every 30 minutes between 5 and 7 p.m. See details at whalingmuseum.org

The documentary “Equal Means Equal” is one choice for organizations to present at fundraisers and special events, especially August 26th, Women’s Equality Day. See the film’s web site for information about arranging for a screening. The National Women’s History Project has a terrific publication highlighting how US women won the right to vote. It’s a great resource to hand out on August 26. See nwhp.org for ordering information.

A MEMOIR IN THE PIPELINE ABOUT BEING A SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT DESCENDANT

from Marguerite Kearns

Publishing the story about my grandparents, Edna and Wilmer Kearns, had to come some time, and it has been in the pipeline for a while. Of course there are distractions and side trips and research. But the goal has been 2020, and this is a message from the mountain about why it’s difficult on occasion to contact me. I’m running here and there, but sooner or later I’m back on track again.

Part of the reason for the diversions has to do with keeping up to date with suffrage centennials, news, events, conferences, and special occasions. A blog takes a lot of work, but it has grounded me in the grassroots.

Last year, 2017, had me stepping—the year of the 100th anniversary of women voting in New York State and very exciting for me with the exhibition of the “Spirit of 1776” suffrage wagon used in grassroots organizing campaigns in New York City and Long Island during 1913. The New York State Museum did a fabulous job in the exhibition, “Votes for Women,” that opened in November 2017 and closed in May 2018. What a thrill to walk into the state museum in Albany, NY and see the wagon there, up front in the museum lobby.

Stay in touch.

SuffrageCentennials.com is a multi-media platform and clearing house for information, announcements, and features about local, state, national, and international suffrage celebrations, programs, performances, events, news and views. Regular postings, plus video and audio highlights. The National Federation of Press Women honored SuffrageCentennials.com in 2015 with a national media award.

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July 25, 2018 · 8:25 pm

Get ready to celebrate Women’s Equality Day on August 26th, PLUS suffrage centennial news!

Are you and your organization ready to celebrate Women’s Equality Day on August 26th? Have you ever held an August 26th fundraiser? Or presented a special mention about August 26th at your organization’s meeting? This may already be late for deep planning, but it’s not too late to be thinking about it. Get started now and then see what happens. You may be surprised.

August 26th isn’t a national holiday even though it should be. Ask your friends if they are aware of why August 26th is significant. See how many know that it’s the commemoration of the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing American women the right to vote. Important? You bet. The 2020 election is coming up. Will the US finally have a woman candidate of a major U.S. American party who will bring women voters together? Start by some August 26th awareness.

Amelia Bowen reads the joint resolution of the US Congress in 1971, introduced in Congress by Rep. Bella Abzug. August 26th of each year has been designated as Women’s Equality Day. It celebrates the ratification of the 19th amendment to the US Constitution in 1920. The audio podcast was produced by Suffrage Wagon News Channel.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Lake Placid, New York is on the bandwagon with a suffrage centennial exhibit at The History Museum at the Lake Placid train station created by the Lake Placid-North Elba Historical Society that opened officially on June 27, 2018.

The Suffolk County Historical Society on Long Island (NY) continues with its membership drive. Please keep this in mind when looking to support suffrage-friendly organizations. The Suffolk County Historical Society created an excellent display featuring Long Island suffrage activists during 2017 when New York State celebrated its 100 years of its women voting. This exhibition attracted considerable interest, and now an edited version of the highlights can be seen in a display case in the Historical Society’s basement.

Don’t forget to contact the National Women’s History Project for copies of “How Women Won the Vote.” They’re great handouts for August 26th events and a valuable source of information about the importance of planning for 2020 now.

Follow SuffrageCentennials.com for more updates, news, views, trends, and special events.

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