Women’s Suffrage Centennial
Enss, who has written dozens of books on the Old West, traces the history of the vote
along the frontier. In 1869, women in the Wyoming Territory gained the right to
vote, and the following year, Louisa Swain of Laramie, Wyo., was the first woman in
the U.S. to cast a ballot. When Wyoming was admitted to the Union in 1890, it
became the first state where women had voting rights; Colorado, Utah, and other
Western states followed.
Votes for Women, which University of Nebraska Press released in August, looks at the
suffrage movement in that state and the lead-up to ratifying the 19th Amendment;
it was the 14th state to do so. The book, edited by David L. Bristow of History
Nebraska, the state historical society, showcases previously published articles related
to suffrage efforts in the state, and archival photos from the historical society’s
collection.
“The national story is going to get a lot of attention,” Bristow says, “so we wanted
to make sure that we gave our readers a regional connection.”
Exploring Women’s Suffrage Through 50 Historic Treasures by Jessica D. Jenkins (Feb.
2020), which launches a series copublished by Rowman & Littlefield and the American
Association for State and Local History, also aims to help readers draw a deeper con-
nection to the suffrage story. “Today, people, and especially younger people, are more
visual,” says Charles Harmon, executive editor at the publisher. “It’s one thing to
describe a pamphlet of a suffrage rally, and another thing to see it.”
The earliest artifact shown in the book is Susan B. Anthony’s copy of A Vindication
of the Rights of Woman by English philosopher and novelist Mary Wollstonecraft, origi-
nally published in 1792; Anthony donated it to the Library of Congress in 1903. Other
personal items include a pair of shoes worn by Jeannette Rankin, who fought for suf-
frage in Washington State, which granted women’s voting rights in 1910, and in
Montana, which followed suit in 1914; she became the first woman sworn into the
U.S. Congress in 1917. The newest is a pink knitted pussyhat, from the January 2017
global women’s marches.
The Next 100 Years
Several new books delve into the decades that followed the amendment’s ratifica-
tion—the 1965 passage of the Voting Rights Act, which safeguarded every American’s
constitutional right to vote, and women’s role in American political life today.
University of Houston history professor Leandra Zarnow says that when she first
heard talk of the anniversary, she was surprised by the focus on 1920 as an end point.
“We want to celebrate the centennial, but also want to have a sober conversation
about where women are today and how difficult it has been for women to make
inroads.” She and historian Stacie Taranto, of Ramapo College of New Jersey, edited
the essay collection Suffrage at 100: Women’s Uneven Road in American Politics Since
1920 , which John Hopkins University Press will publish in July 2020.
Also that month, Library of America will release American Women’s Suffrage by Susan
Ware, whose previous book, Why They Marched, profiled 19 lesser-known suffrage
activists. Her new title is an 800-page anthology of writings from 1776 to 1965 that
“recovers the voices of the women and men who embodied the contest for civil rights
for all,” according to the publisher, including “the black, Chinese, and American
Indian women and men who were not only essential to the movement but expanded
its directions and aims, as well as the antisuffragists who worried about where the
country would head if suffrage were universal.”
Political scientists Christina Wolbrecht and J. Kevin Corder began working on A
Century of Votes for Women (Mar. 2020) several years ago, without having today’s context
of the Women’s March or #MeToo, says their editor, Sara Doskow of Cambridge
University Press. “But we are at a time when gender is becoming more salient.” The
book’s biggest takeaway, she adds: “There is no such thing as the ‘woman’ voter.”
Celebrate the Upcoming
100
th
Anniversaryof the Passage of the
19
th
Amendment!The Voice That Won the Vote
commemorates this historic centennial,
and the little-known story of Febb,
her son Harry, and the letter that
gave American women a voice.Harry Burn from the state of Tennessee
had already voted against women’s
suffrage in the fi rst round, but in a
tiebreaker he cast his vote supporting
women’s voting rights. What changed
his mind? His mother, Febb!Coming
Spring 2020!
The Voice That Won the Vote:
How One Woman’s
Words Made History
978-1-53411-049-6 | $16.99sleepingbearpress.com
866-918-3956TMcontinued from p. 23