Edna Buckman Kearns was a grassroots suffrage organizer in New York City and Long Island, a Quaker writer and speaker best known for her “Spirit of 1776” suffrage campaign wagon, a symbol of the movement’s patriotic protest theme.

The “Spirit of 1776” suffrage wagon is now on exhibit at New York State Museum to bring attention to the November 4th opening of a large state women’s suffrage exhibition that will  be on display through May 13, 2018.

PHOTO OF “SPIRIT OF 1776” SUFFRAGE WAGON UNCOVERED IN 2015: Special program on Suffrage Wagon Cafe.

Overview of the life of suffrage activist Edna Buckman Kearns (1882-1934).  PDF  Marguerite Kearns, editor of Suffrage Wagon News Channel, is the granddaughter of Edna Kearns. Public radio features Marguerite speaking about Edna and Inez Milholland, America’s suffrage martyr.

Edna Kearns (1882-1934) was a grassroots suffrage organizer for votes for women in New York City and Long Island, a Quaker writer and speaker on equality and suffrage. She learned newspaper reporting and editing on the fly, wrote and edited suffrage news for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and other New York City metropolitan papers. Edna developed close relationships with news editors who published her many columns and reports. During the 1915 NYS suffrage referendum campaign, she submitted news to as many as 20 papers on Long Island and in New York City. Photo: from the 2015 book on suffrage postcards by Kenneth Florey (McFarland).

Follow Suffrage Wagon News Channel on Facebook and Twitter.

Quarterly newsletters just by signing up. Suffrage Wagon News Channel has a video platform on Vimeo.

Meet your friends at the Suffrage Wagon Cafe.

Follow SuffrageCentennials.com, our sister site, for news and views about upcoming suffrage centennials. 

“Choose it and Use it” is a video reminding us of how the past is linked to what we do today and its impact on the future.