Features suffrage wagon at the Long Island Museum
Ninety-nine years ago in the first week of January, a hardy band of marchers under the direction of suffragist Rosalie Jones started out from from New York City on a march headed to Albany, NY to ask NYS Governor Martin Glynn to appoint poll watchers in the 1915 suffrage referendum. My grandparents Edna and Wilmer…
Continue Reading“Hey, people like history. Some love it. They read books, go to history-themed movies, visit museums and historic sites, preserve buildings, research their family genealogies, participate in re-enactments, support local historical societies, and hold never-ending debates about historical subjects that matter to them. History is fun, yes, and even entertaining. But it’s more than that….
Continue Reading“Why We Women Must Vote in November: An Inspirational Story from the California Suffragists” by filmmaker Martha Wheelock When we women vote for U.S. President this November, we mark the 100th anniversary of California women’s first vote for president, an election when 90 per cent of the rest of American women could NOT vote. While…
Continue ReadingGrandmother Edna’s suffrage campaign wagon is in line to become a teachable moment every time a school group spends time with the exhibit, “From Seneca Falls to the Supreme Court” that’s on display at the state Capitol in Albany, NY. And right now through October 11th, the state education department is accepting public input on…
Continue ReadingWho would have thought that a suffrage parade would attract mass attention in 2012? This happened in the UK recently when descendants of suffragettes and others marched at the Olympic opening ceremonies. It’s not the best video (see link below) possible, but it gives a feel for how it must have been for the suffrage…
Continue ReadingWhen people say they feel helpless in the face of overwhelming odds, an attitude or obstacle, it’s time for all of us to remember the serious resistance the British women were up against in their fight for the ballot. The movement required more than a stiff upper lip. In the process, the suffragettes’ tactics became known…
Continue ReadingIt’s one thing to read about the split between Alice Paul and the main suffrage organization at the time, NAWSA. It’s quite another to realize that Grandmother Edna Kearns witnessed it. An article in the New York Tribune in November following the big 1913 suffrage parade laid out how the New Yorkers headed to Washington,…
Continue ReadingThere came a time in the American, as well as the English woman’s suffrage campaigns, when it became obvious that without bolder action, progress couldn’t be made. A BBC audio recording of nine minutes made in 1946 features suffragette Ada Flatman speaking about risking arrest for the suffrage campaign in England. This first-person account by…
Continue ReadingThe Brits have come through royally with their recent media coverage of the English suffrage movement. Especially with the first broadcast of audio interviews of suffragettes recorded back in 1977 by prominent British historian Brian Harrison. This past weekend’s BBC radio special, “The Lost World of the Suffragettes,” reveals the character, political context, and personalities…
Continue ReadingI love it when examples pop up on the web where the suffrage legacy of our ancestors is cited. Kristi Rendahl says this in her Op Ed piece about her suffragist great-grandmother: “My great-grandmother is but one example of strength. I surround myself with pictures and memories of family members–men and women alike–who have shown…
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