Women’s History

The July When Women Would Not Be Silenced
July was the month the world of women began to change forever. It is hard to believe that for centuries before July of 1848, women had been, with rare exception, treated as the property of the men in their lives, incapable of serious thinking, unworthy of...

May and June were the Miracle Months
Seventy-one years after the Seneca Falls Convention, on May 21, 1919, the House of Representatives finally approved the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. The Senate followed on June 4, 1919. Congress had finally approved the 19th Amendment and sent it to the states,...

The 1913 Suffrage Parade: A Major Turning Point in Winning the Vote
After the passage of woman suffrage amendments by western states, the national suffrage movement floundered. It was Alice Paul that gave the national suffrage movement a new burst of energy. By drawing attention to the inequality of American women with...

The Question of Ratification’s Legitimacy: The United States Supreme Court Decision in Lesser versus Garnett, February 27, 1922
In the traditional telling of the story of how Tennessee became “the Perfect 36”, the story ended when State Representative Harry S. Burn voted in support of ratification. Although bells rang out across the United States as word of Tennessee’s...

A Special Welcome to Our Official Historian
We are so pleased to announce that Dr. Carole Bucy has come on board as Official Historian of the Suffrage Coalition. Dr. Bucy has researched and written extensively on the Suffrage movement, especially in Tennessee. As a professor, a writer and community servant...

Madame Curie Treated like a floozie, not a brilliant scientist
Take a look at the photo above. – only one woman. Was she respected? Not even close: —– “I believe that there is no connection between my scientific work and the facts of private life . . . I cannot accept the idea in principle that the appreciation of the value of...

Ain’t I a Woman: Sojourner Truth
Isabella Baumfree, also known as Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), was born into slavery, sold at the age of nine and endured humilation, hardship and abuse for more than four decades. Her activism in women’s issues made her a hero. In 1851, she delivered her...

Equal Suffrage Day – February 28, 1909
See article referring to this newspaper article here

“Celebrating” Woman’s Day
Today is March 8th. Around the globe, the world is celebrating what has been designated as "International Women's Day," tying it back to labor protests for women around the globe. The actual "celebration" has been whitewashed an blurred from its beginnings, hoping...

For the love of children
Mary McLeod Bethune, (1875 – 1955), was born to Samuel and Patsy McLeod, emancipated slaves, in the summer of 1875 near Maysville, South Carolina. She was the fifteenth child of the 17 McLeod children. Her parents were able to obtain five acres of land where she...

Cady and Mott’s Declaration of Sentiments – 1848 Seneca Falls Convention
Can you imagine how Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott felt after they had worked so hard for the abolitionist movement, attended the World Anti-Slavery Conference in London in 1840, but were told they couldn’t be seated because the Anti-Slavery Society...

Are Women People?
Alice Duer Miller (1874-1942) wrote a woman suffrage column for the New York Tribune in 1915 and 1917 called “Are Women People?” She took on issues and men who criticize women for wanting to vote and work. Click on the link to read some of her columns....

We Believe Betsy Ross
In March 1870, William Canby, the grandson of seamstress Betsy Ross submitted a paper to the Pennsylvania Historical Society recounting a secret meeting by Continental Congress representatives – George Washington, Robert Morris...