It took seven decades of steady, often brutal, campaigning to get United States women the right to vote. The activism began in 1848 when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and friends shocked the local patriarchy by getting together in a church to tell their menfolk what they expected out of life. At that point, men should have […]
Alice Paul
Historic women’s landmarks, yes
Statues of famous American women, not so much If you haven’t heard the controversy over the statue of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony proposed for Central Park, let me go on record saying it is a step up. Until now, the female ranks depended on images of Mother Goose, Alice in Wonderland and […]
Alice Paul Institute focuses on girls’ leadership
Alice Paul is my second favorite women’s rights hero after Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Still it is only today I learned about the Alice Paul Institute in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Founded in 1984 to commemorate the centennial of Paul’s 1885 birth and to further her legacy, the organization was operated by volunteers for more than […]
Collins pens a winner on American women
“Amazing” is often overused, but author and New York Times columnist Gail Collins uses it powerfully in her book title, When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present. An enlightening and energizing read, Collins opens with the tale of 28-year-old Lois Rabinowitz who in 1960 was thrown out of […]
Outrageous behavior led to 19th Amendment
Today is not simply another Women’s Equality Day. Aug. 26, 2010 marks the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to full citizenship, that is the privilege and responsibility to vote. I looked up the text of the 19th Amendment and found it to be two simple sentences of merely 39 words: […]
90 years voting by frailer sex
In 1920 it took only 39 words to give U.S. women the right to vote. In 1971 192 words were deemed necessary to proclaim Aug. 26 Women’s Equality Day. But, hey, we’re happy to have both. In July 1848, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton stood up in the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls and declared females […]
