Who are the new suffragists today?
Women throughout the world who are struggling for recognition, participation in the political process –and freedom in general– they are the new suffragists. Someone to be acknowledged in this area is Ida Lichter, a psychiatrist who lives in Sydney, Australia. Her recent book, Muslim Women Reformers: Inspiring Voices Against Oppression, is a carefully researched and…
Continue ReadingWhy Did The Story About Votes for Women Get Lost?
Check out this three-minute podcast that’s a selection from an interview with performer Gerri Gribi in the “Votes for Women Salon” series. She believes that history is taught in the context of war, not movements for peaceful nonviolent social change, which is one reason why the story of the 19th amendment hasn’t been given its…
Continue ReadingA Special Suffrage Christmas Tree!
My grandmother Edna May Buckman was born Christmas day in 1882, the daughter of Charles Harper Buckman and May Phipps Begley. I found a 1910 article about a Christmas suffrage tree and holiday party that shows how the holiday festivities were tied to the suffrage organizing in New York City and it’s precisely the kind…
Continue ReadingDid the Suffragettes Sing When They Marched In Parades?
You bet they did, says performer Gerri Gribi. Listen to a two-minute segment of a longer audio interview with Gerri where she discusses the role of music in suffrage activism. Gerri performs suffrage songs for audiences across the country during special programs and celebrations highlighting the suffrage movement and other occasions related to women’s social…
Continue ReadingThe Film “Mary Poppins” and History
The song “Sister Suffragette” in a clip from the 1964 Disney film Mary Poppins represents an introduction to women’s history for many. It has been used in lesson plans, as well as to refer to the English suffrage movement. It’s worth revisiting the scene through YouTube: “Sister Suffragete Sing Along,” the written lyrics, or a more…
Continue ReadingMy Mother Would Be 90 years Old This Year
My mother –Wilma Buckman Kearns– was born within a week of that historic day in November 1920 when ALL American women voted for the first time. Wilma’s mother, Edna Buckman Kearns, was a New York State suffragist who had spent more than a decade of her life, working full time on Votes for Women. And…
Continue ReadingWhat Was a Popular and Amusing Suffrage Song?
Do you have three minutes free to listen? A three-minute selection from an interview with performer Gerri Gribi highlights a song that could have you singing along within minutes. It sums up some of the arguments Votes for Women advocates had thrown at them. If you have a little more time, check in with the longer…
Continue ReadingWhat if They Held a Parade and No one Showed Up?
This “Sixty-Second History Lesson” highlights how suffragist Alice Paul took up the challenge of organizing a Votes for Women parade in 1913 in the nation’s capitol. It was a delicate, and some would say an impossible task–to organize a successful parade as the city geared up for the inauguration of a U.S. president, Woodrow Wilson….
Continue ReadingPartnership Requires “Whole People”
The performer Gerri Gribi tells the story behind the song “Whole People” that goes to the heart of what’s needed if we’re going to heal the earth. Gerri’s the featured interview in the “Votes for Women Salon” audio series. It’s worth sitting down and listening to the 40 minutes of the entire interview with Gerri…
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