Lucy Stone

Last of the Suffragists Speak Free Poster Series and a reminder of why we must exercise the right that was fought for by all these women.

Download the series here: https://www.susangaylord.com/free-posters.html

Carrie Chapman Catt

This sounds so fresh to me but it was written in 1921 by one of the pivotal figures in the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Download the entire Suffragists Speak Free Poster Series (2 sizes: 8.5 x 11 and 11 x 17) here: https://www.susangaylord.com/free-posters.html
 

Susan B. Anthony

 

This is a hard one to share at a time when our rights are being taken away. But it is a tribute to the determination and strength of Susan B. Anthony and a reminder that we must never give up.

Mary Church Terrell

 

Mary Church Terrell was smart and determined and an indefatigable worker. Born in 1863, she was a key figure in both the suffrage movement in the early 20th century and later the integration of restaurants and public places in Washington D.C. in the early 1950s. The biography I read was Unceasing Militant: The Life of Mary Church Terrell by Alison M. Parker.

Alice Paul

Alice Paul studied social work in London and became part of the radical suffrage movement there which used hunger strikes and attacks on politicians as tactics.  She understood the power of symbols in word, images, and actions. Paul organized a 5,000 women march in Washington the day before Woodrow Wilson's Inauguration and formed the "Silent Sentinels" in 1917. Here is a description from wikipedia:

In January 1917, Paul and over 1,000 “Silent Sentinels” began eighteen months of picketing the White House, standing at the gates with such signs as, “Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?” They endured verbal and physical attacks from spectators, which increased after the US entered World War I. Instead of protecting the women’s right to free speech and peaceful assembly, the police arrested them on the flimsy charge of obstructing traffic. Paul was sentenced to jail for seven months, where she organized a hunger strike in protest. Doctors threatened to send Paul to an insane asylum and force-fed her, while newspaper accounts of her treatment garnered public sympathy and support for suffrage. By 1918, Wilson announced his support for suffrage. It took two more years for the Senate, House, and the required 36 states to approve the amendment.

 
 

Sarah Moore Grimké

 

This may sound familiar. Ruth Bader Ginsberg shared this quote in the documentary RBG by Betsey West and Julie Cohen.

Click here to download the Suffragists Speak Free Poster Series.

Suffragists Speak Book by Marie Oedel

 

I shared my Suffragists Speak Free Poster Series with the hope that it would be put to use. I was thrilled to get an email from Boston-based book artisan Marie Oedel with images of the book she made with a Japanese stab binding and handmade paper by Katie Macgregor beautifully protected in a simple case. Thanks for sharing Marie!

Angelina Grimké

 

Abolitionist speakers Angelina and Sarah shocked churches by speaking to "promiscuous" audiences which meant that women and men sat listening in the same room. 

All fourteen posters are available to print and share for free here.

Ernestine Rose

 

Number 3 of 14. Ernestine Rose was a Jewish immigrant from Poland who was active in woman's rights and abolition. Biography: The Rabbi's Atheist Daughter: Ernestine Rose by Bonnie S. Anderson. You might want to check out the Ernestine Rose Society at Brandeis: https://www.brandeis.edu/wsrc/ernestine-rose-society/

Print and share Suffragists Speak Free Posters here: https://www.susangaylord.com/free-posters.html

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

 

The best description I can come up with for Elizabeth Cady Stanton is that she was a piece of work. She was a brilliant mind, a gifted writer, and a supremely self-centered elitist. Her take on race and immigration was problematic to say the least. For a critical view, read Elizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life by Lori Ginzberg. Read about her life in her own words in Autobiography Eighty Years and More: Reminiscences 1815–1897. 

Abby Kelley Foster

 

I think Abby Kelley Foster may be my favorite. Raised a Quaker, she was unwavering in her support for abolition and women's rights. She went on lengthy solo speaking campaigns that required incredible organizational skills and stamina. She led a rich life with a husband, a daughter, and a farm. I recommend the biography, Ahead of Her Time: Abby Kelley and the Politics of Antislavery by Dorothy Sterling. I have Dorothy Sterling's autobiography, Close to My Heart on order.