WOMEN AND ADVERSITY: Saluting 23 Faithful Suffragists: Women And Adversity, #3

By Jo Ann A. Mathews

Women and Adversity, Saluting 23 Faithful Suffragists, is the third in my Women and Adversity series. They feature lesser-known suffragists, women who fought for equal rights, and the right of women to vote. As in Honoring 23 Black Women and Recognizing 23 Notable Mothers, these brief sketches are not biographies. The books can be study guides and references for students, prompts teachers use to help motivate students, and fascinating reading for book lovers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jo Ann A. Mathews
• Release date: Jul 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393978015

Book preview

Women And Adversity

Women And Adversity

Saluting 23 Faithful Suffragists

Jo Ann A. Mathews

Women and Adversity, Saluting 23 Faithful Suffragists

Women and Adversity, Saluting 23 Faithful Suffragists, is the third in my Women and Adversity series. They feature lesser-known suffragists, women who fought for equal rights, and the right of women to vote. As in Honoring 23 Black Women and Recognizing 23 Notable Mothers, these brief sketches are not biographies. The books can be study guides and references for students, prompts teachers use to help motivate students, and fascinating reading for book lovers.

WOMEN AND ADVERSITY

Saluting 23 Faithful Suffragists

by

Jo Ann A. Mathews

Copyright © 2020 by Jo Ann Mathews

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All rights reserved.

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No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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Formatting by: Bent Elbow Press

Contents

Introduction

Amendments

Abigail Adams (1744-1818)

Clara Barton (1821-1912)

Debra Boyce (1952-)

Luzelma Garza Canales, Ph.D. (1964 -)

Septima Poinsette Clark (1898-1987)

Wilhelmina Kekelaokalaninui Widemann Dowsett (1861-1929)

Marie Foster (1917-2003)

Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826-1898)

Sarah Jane S. T. Garnet (1831-1911)

Louisine Elder Havemeyer (1855-1929)

Isabella Beecher Hooker (1822-1907)

Dolores Huerta (1930-)

Helen Keller (1880-1968)

Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, Ph.D. (1896-1966)

Belva Ann Lockwood (1830-1917)

Amelia Boynton Robinson (1911-2015)

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (1842-1924)

Tye Leung Schulze (1887-1972)

Mary Burnett Talbert (1866-1923)

Sojourner Truth (c. 1797-1883)

Susan Ware, Ph.D. (1950-)

Fannie Barrier Williams (1855-1944)

Zitkála-Šá (1876-1938)

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by Jo Ann A. Mathews

Introduction

The first definition dictionary.com lists under suffrage is the right to vote, especially in a political election. The origin of the word comes from the Latin suffrāgium, which means voting tablet or vote.

A suffragette is defined as a woman advocate of woman suffrage.

A suffragist is defined as an advocate of the grant or extension of political suffrage, especially to women.

The early American suffragists chose to use suffragists to describe their mission instead of suffragettes for a few reasons. The French feminine suffix ette implies inferiority and, when applied to a person, trivializes that person. Also, suffragist is more inclusive. It doesn’t limit the meaning to women. British women adopted suffragettes to stand up to those who mocked them. They became more militant and used aggressive tactics to get their cause recognized.

Whatever the reason, I never questioned my right to vote. I watched my parents read newspapers, both the Joliet Herald and the Chicago Tribune, and listened as they discussed candidates running for office. It was a big event in 1960 when our community incorporated as Crest Hill, Illinois, rather than be annexed to Joliet. My parents were excited to know the candidates and discussed who were the best choices to run the new city.

As a young adult, before I could vote, I drove people to the polls when they had no other means of transportation. My parents never missed voting, so I knew how important all elections were, whether on the local, state, or national level—and how important they still are.

My husband and I read about candidates, discuss them, watch debates, and choose—independent of each other, of course—those we believe are best able to represent us in designated offices. What a privilege it is to vote!

The women who fought for equal rights, especially voting rights, must be recognized for their diligence in getting Amendment XIX to the United States Constitution passed. My aim in choosing the twenty-three women in this book was to highlight the women who are overlooked. The pioneers of the suffrage movement—Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and several others—deserve the praise they receive for being at the forefront. Unfortunately, not all of them believed in equal rights for all people, especially not for Black voters. They didn’t always invite Black women to attend gatherings. They didn’t allow them to march shoulder-to-shoulder with White women. Instead Black women had to have their own contingent at the end of the parade or at the end of the march.

Women who were marginalized by White suffragists because of race or culture played key roles in fighting for equal footing. Some of those women are featured here.

The League of Women Voters (LWV) was created to finish the fight, as Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, said when she proposed the formation of the organization. LWV was organized in Chicago, Illinois, on February 14, 1920, six months before Amendment XIX was ratified. There is now a