Votes for Women!

2017 marks the Centennial of Women’s Suffrage in New York State, and in 2020 the nation will celebrate 100 years of the 19th Amendment. The history of the women's suffrage movement in our state and nation spanned seventy years, from the 1848 meeting convened by Elizabeth Cady Stanton in Seneca Falls to the tactics wielded by Alice Paul, and includes overlooked stories and actors such as the African-American suffragists. Our book selections — which include history, biography, and fiction — provide a window into this chapter of American social progress and a springboard into ongoing discussions of women's — and by extension, our society's — past, present, and future.

Amended

Amended, a podcast series from Humanities New York, travels from the 1800s to the present day to show us a quest for women’s full equality that has always been as diverse, complex, and unfinished as the nation itself. Access the Amended podcast here.

A Woman’s Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot

Mary Walton

Alice Paul’s controversial and militant tactics in support of the women’s vote were instrumental in forcing the hand of public opinion and politicians in the years leading to the passage of the 19th Amendment.

Votes for Women: The Struggle for Suffrage Revisited

Jean H. Baker

This collection of essays asks us to re-examine, in the light of new historical evidence, dimensions of the women’s suffrage movement, thereby improving our view of this significant historical moment.

African American Women in the Struggle for the Vote, 1850–1920

Rosalyn Terborg-Penn

This book adds an important dimension to our understanding of the suffrage movement by focusing on the oft-overlooked efforts of African-American women to secure voting rights.

Sex Wars: A Novel of Gilded Age New York

Marge Piercy

Marge Piercy’s novel takes place in the last decades of the 19th century, as men and women of from myriad walks of life struggle with the newfound prominence of women in society.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life

Lori D. Ginzberg

This biography of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the heroines of the suffrage movement, depicts her lifetime of activism while not shying away from her more troublesome opinions.

Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women’s Rights Movement

Sally McMillen

Historian Sally McMillen examines the significance of the early decades of the women’s suffrage movement, demonstrating just how important the years leading to and following the Seneca Falls convention of 1848 were to women’s rights in the United States.

Votes for Women! was curated by Laura Free, Associate Professor of History at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

To host this Reading & Discussion program, please review the application guidelines, and follow the link to our online application.

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