by Marguerite Kearns
I wrote the book, “An Unfinished Revolution” because if I didn’t, no one would have. I chose what I believed would be an “easy” book for starters. I found out quickly that women’s rights as a topic, even its history, isn’t easy. Even the fact that I waited to begin the documentation wasn’t a process I would ever call streamlined. Although I attempt to inspire others to also write about family members, there are complications in sharing a work such as mine.
I had to research the characters—my grandmother Edna, my grandfather Wilmer, and the various family members. The genealogy expressed in the family tree had already been completed by my mother and others years before.
WHY WRITING ABOUT ONE’S FAMILY MEMBERS ISN’T “EASY”
Finding out who qualifies can represent a long process, especially when recreating a world featuring private lives and priorities in a world that didn’t welcome their experiments with equality in their marriage, as well as the endless chores associated with raising two daughters, my aunt Serena and my mother Wilma. So many donated their lives, without their permission, for me to trace the pain and contradictions of being young at the turn of the 20th century.
That’s why I took a risk and waited, so I could have editorial freedom. Not that anyone cares, now or then. It was a different world they inhabited. And even though they might not recognize me today, they influenced me in a profound way. The road was long and complicated when searching for the pieces and lining up facts and character descriptions in consecutive order.
MY GRANDMOTHER EDNA KEARNS’S FIRST “PERIOD” IN 1895
My mother stood firm that I not mention my grandmother’s first menstrual period in 1895. It was too good of a tale to leave behind, although some anecdotes were spared the light of day. My family members deserved some degree of privacy after all. But the writing and editing waited for my return to it—all the boxes of research and notes I took on our many journeys into the unknown I took with my mother Wilma to tell the basics. We worked together for most of a decade, with the two of us visiting locations, attending events, gathering history, some of which resisted along the way. If I hadn’t persisted, the photos and interpretation would have been lost.
SPIRIT OF 1776 SUFFRAGE CAMPAIGN WAGON USED BY EDNA KEARNS TO GO ON PERMANENT EXHIBITION IN ALBANY, NY
“The completion of the process shows why you are the way you are,” remarked my friend Safiya, not long after the publication by SUNY Press (State University of New York). She views this work as the writing leading up to my opus about the years I lived in Woodstock, NY. The process culminated back then in shipping the Spirit of 1776 horse-drawn campaign wagon from the Philadelphia area back to New York State where it is now, in the permanent collection of the New York State Museum in Albany, New York.
That’s what we’re doing now. Sending support and appreciation to the state institution to prepare and place the historic artifact on permanent exhibition by 2024. Have you added your name to many others who have contacted the museum to go on the record with your support and thanks?
Suffrage Wagon News Channel has been publishing since 2009.
Find out about the ERA Coalition and its work to get an equal rights amendment passed to add to the US Constitution. The year, 2023, marks the 100th year that US women have been working to accomplish this goal. Check in with SuffrageCentennials.com for updates and overview. SuffrageCentennials.com is a partner in the ERA Coalition, along with about 300 partners.
Take your voting rights seriously by walking in your ancestors’ shoes! on Vimeo.
Our sister site, SuffrageCentennials.com, is working on getting an equal rights amendment passed that’s included in the US Constitution. During 2023, US women will have been working on an equal rights amendment to the US Constitution for 100 years. Our participation in the ERA Coalition has been expressed and our perspective about the 100 years this has taken speaks volumes. The ERA has about 300 partners. We’re all shouting: “It’s about time for the US to have an ERA. Here’s what the ERA Coalition has to say about the subject:
Suffrage Wagon News Channel has been publishing since 2009.
SuffrageCentennials.com has been publishing since 2013.
