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Suffragist of the Month - July

Suffragist of the Month – July

Sarah J. Smith Thompson Garnet, July 31, 1831 African-American Champion of Voting Rights for Women Sarah Garnet was born on Long Island July 31, 1831 to Sylvanus Smith and Ann Eliza Springsteel Smith.  Her parents were of mixed race, Native-American, black and white, and had lived for a time on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation on […]

Suffragist of the Month - June

Suffragist of the Month – June

Jeanette Rankin Jeanette Rankin is probably best known for being the first woman elected to the United States Congress, but few people know that she began her life of public service as a suffragist, a campaign that helped her hone skills that would carry her to the House of Representatives in Washington in 1916. There […]

The Well-Dressed Suffragist

The Well-Dressed Suffragist

The woman suffrage movement is alive and well on Long Island, at least when it comes to the clothes the women wore. I just spent a delightful afternoon with Nan Altman Guzzetta, owner of Nan’s Antique Costume and Prop Rental in Port Jefferson. Nan specializes in period clothing, from medieval to modern, and has some […]

Suffrage and the Pulitzer Prize

Suffrage and the Pulitzer Prize

Congratulations to Megan Marshall for winning the coveted 2014 Pulitzer Prize for her wonderful biography, Margaret Fuller, A New American Life. When the prizes were announced on April 14th those of us who study the suffrage movement were delighted to see such a wonderful accolade for a “a richly researched book that tells the remarkable story […]

Traveling for Suffrage Part 2

My good friend Marguerite Kearns has published a wonderful article on the New York History blog about three women who traveled around Long Island by wagon to spread the suffrage message. The three Wagon Women were Rosalie Gardiner Jones, Elisabeth Freeman and Marguerite’s grandmother, Edna Buckman Kearns. We are so grateful to Marguerite for keeping […]

Traveling for Suffrage

Traveling for Suffrage

For an insightful and exciting look at different transportation methods used by suffragists, log on to Traveling for Suffrage, at the American History blog of the Smithsonian. http://blog.americanhistory.si.edu. The series of four articles offers some wonderful photographs, as well as a small trove of information on how the suffragists spread their message using the transportation tools […]

Suffragist of The Month - April

Suffragist of The Month – April

Mary Louise Booth Mary Louise Booth was born in Millville, Long Island (later known as Yaphank) April 19, 1831. Her father, William  Booth was the local miller and schoolteacher who believed strongly in the value of education for girls. Through diligent study she became fluent in seven foreign languages and later, when her father became […]

Honors for the Suffrage Cause

Honors for the Suffrage Cause

I was honored Wednesday March 26 to receive a Citation from New York State Assemblyman Charles Levine of Glen Cove, delivered by his Chief of Staff, Tara Butler-Sahai for my work in recounting and remembering the woman suffrage movement. The award was made during my presentation at the Bryant Library in Roslyn, New York about […]

Rosalie Gardiner Jones – Film Clip shows her March to Washington, DC

Thanks to my friend, Natalie Naylor for telling me about this site where you can see a wonderful film clip of Rosalie Gardiner Jones leading a contingent of suffragists on a march to Washington DC, in late February of 1913. This march followed soon after the group’s march to Albany, which had taken them over […]

Suffragist of the Month  - March

Suffragist of the Month – March

Matilda Joslyn Gage Matilda Joslyn Gage was born on March 24, 1826 in Cicero, New York. Her father, a physician and scholar, educated her from her early years on legal and social issues, which resulted in her embracing progressive causes from a young age. She was an active abolitionist whose home was a stop on the Underground Railroad […]

February 15th – Happy Birthday Susan B. Anthony

While researching my book, Long Island and the Woman Suffrage Movement, I came across the memoirs of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eighty Years and More, and, much to my surprise I discovered that both she and Susan B. Anthony had vacationed quite often in my home town, about one mile from my home. She tells of […]

February 15th - Anniversary of Suffragist Monument, depicting Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott, sculpted by Adelaide Johnson, is dedicated at the U.S. Capitol

February 15th – Anniversary of Suffragist Monument, depicting Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott, sculpted by Adelaide Johnson, is dedicated at the U.S. Capitol

  This group portrait monument to the pioneers of the woman suffrage movement was sculpted by Adelaide Johnson (1859-1955) from an 8-ton block of marble in Carrara, Italy. Commissioned by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, the monument features portrait busts of three leaders of the woman suffrage movement: Elizabeth Cady Stanton (left), Susan B. Anthony (rear, right), […]

Suffragists of the Month, February

Suffragists of the Month, February

Susan B. Anthony   February 15, 1820 marks the birthday of one of the founders of the woman suffrage movement, Susan B. Anthony, and what better place to celebrate it than at the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace and Museum in Adams, Massachusetts. I was privileged to speak there last spring, and was gratified to find that the […]

Carrie Chapman Catt

Suffragist of the Month – January

Carrie Chapman Catt Today marks the birthday of one of the great leaders of the suffrage movement, Carrie Chapman Catt. Born January 9, 1859, Catt was devoted to the suffrage cause, and spent most of her life working towards the goal of political equality for all. Catt was not a contemporary of the founders of […]

Suffragists of the Month - December

Suffragists of the Month – December

Harriet Burton Laidlaw, December 16 Harriet Burton Laidlaw of Sands Point, Long Island, was married to banker James Lees Laidlaw, and could have enjoyed a carefree life of luxury and ease. She chose instead to work for suffrage, travelling across the Island and around the region, making speeches and organizing demonstrations and parades.(Photo at left […]