Features suffrage wagon at the Long Island Museum
Plays and dressups aren’t the big activity these days that they might have been in years past before film and TV took over the lion’s share of entertainment. I remember how much fun it was to write a script for a play, cast the performers (usually my sister and brothers), and invite my parents to…
Continue ReadingI’m still working out the details of my Susan B. Anthony speech for the party commemorating the June 19, 1873 presentation Susan gave in court at the Ontario County, NY courthouse for her trial for illegal voting. The occasion: her trial for illegal voting. The courthouse is located in what’s known as the “Cradle” of…
Continue ReadingThree years ago I produced my first skit about Susan B. Anthony’s trial. I didn’t feature it on the invitation I circulated, mainly because I wasn’t convinced I could pull it off. I did. And now I’m working on another production for June 19th, the actual day when Susan B. Anthony stood up to the…
Continue Reading“I’VE GONE AND DONE IT” This is what Susan B. Anthony told Elizabeth Cady Stanton in a letter after she voted illegally in Rochester, New York in November 1872. On Friday, I voted in a county election. When I got home, I thought about Susan’s comment (“I’ve gone and done it”). It’s the perfect time…
Continue ReadingDo you love dress ups like I do? Suffrage blogger Antonia Petrash spent an afternoon at a vintage clothes shop on Long Island and blogged about the experience. I dressed in my grandmother Edna’s dresses at about age ten. Here’s what I wrote about the experience: “Bonded from wearing Grandmother Edna Kearns’ dresses.” In recent news…
Continue ReadingOf all the events for fun and parties in the weeks ahead, June 19th offers a great opportunity. Tea and sweets. Possibly a fundraiser for your organization. Celebrate Susan B. Anthony’s trial for illegal voting. With not much effort and a few hams in your group, you can act out the trial in the spirit…
Continue ReadingNo one’s openly planning for New York’s 2017 suffrage centennial. Centennial awareness is out there, however, bubbling under the surface. What are the signs? How about a groundbreaking in Seneca Falls, New York for the National Women’s Hall of Fame that’s taking over the old Seneca Mill along the Cayuga-Seneca Canal, a historical location in…
Continue Readingby Marguerite Kearns When I was young, I was confused often when hearing jokes about women drivers. I wasn’t exactly sure why so much attention was showered on women who drove, though subconsciously it must have made an impact because I didn’t learn to drive myself until my early 20s. Perhaps it had to do with a…
Continue ReadingI stumbled on this great article while going through my grandmother Edna’s archives the other day. “Challenge Antis to Bake Bread” shows how far suffrage activists went in order to make their point. During the time my grandmother hit the streets for the cause, activists felt compelled to prove their skills in the kitchen. This…
Continue ReadingThe filming’s continuing for “Suffragette,” the UK film and already there’s speculation about whether or not Merly Streep will win an Oscar for her role as Mrs. Pankhurst in the production. Not only that, but there’s a powerful media machine handing the film’s photos and press releases. More than 30 photos have been released to whet the…
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