A Trove on the Womens Suffrage Struggle, Found in an Old Box

[boston bean]

It was 1874, a challenging year for Susan B. Anthony and the women’s suffrage movement. She had been convicted of illegally voting in Rochester, her hometown, and activists were split over the best way to push the movement forward.

On April 9, Anthony wrote to a fellow activist named Isabella Beecher Hooker, looking ahead to better days.

“Now wouldn’t it be splendid for us to be free & equal citizens, with the power of the ballot to back our hearts, heads & hands,” Anthony wrote, envisioning a time when women could also fight for “the poor, the insane, the criminal,” armed not just with moral suasion but “with power too.”

“I can hardly wait,” she continued. “The good fates though are working together to bring us into this freedom.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/arts/womens-suffrage-collection-susan-b-anthony.html

I have a tear in my eye... nearly 50 before getting the vote.. feminists thinking not only of themselves but how if they won the right, they could also fight for the poor, insane and the criminal with moral "suasion" and power.... wow!

Facsinating.. cannot wait to read them all!

[Zoonart]

1. Bad link.

[boston bean]

2. try it again... better????

[Zoonart]

3. Perfect, Thanks!

[Hortensis]

4. "50 years." In 2016 I wondered what Hillary Clinton would

have thought as a young feminist planning a life working for women and children if she could have known that it would be over 50 years before we finally elected our first woman president.

Of course, as it turned out, it's going to take longer still.

"Years dominated by men with dreams, men in the civil rights movement, the Peace Corps, the space program — so we arrived at Wellesley and we found, as all of us have found, that there was a gap between expectation and realities. But it wasn't a discouraging gap and it didn't turn us into cynical, bitter old women at the age of 18. It just inspired us to do something about that gap." -- From Hillary Diane Rodham's commencement speech at Wellesley

[smirkymonkey]

5. K&R

How inspiring!

[NurseJackie]

7. ...

[monmouth4]

6. They Persisted and won..n/t

[brer cat]

8. That is going to be very interesting reading!

Thanks, bb

[Cha]

9. Mahalo for this, boston.. Looking Forward

to reading more..

“Now wouldn’t it be splendid for us to be free & equal citizens, with the power of the ballot to back our hearts, heads & hands,”

[SunSeeker]

10. K & R

[mcar]

11. K&R

[kcr]

12. How fortunate is it those letters survived all this time in those conditions?

It's amazing how things like that turn up from time to time, these rare historical easter eggs.

[NastyRiffraff]

13. Wow, thanks boston

Bookmarking to read it all. It couldn't have come at a better, and more important, time.

Nevertheless, they persisted.

[Hekate]

14. KnR. How grand