S01 E02 Alabama Part 1: Bringing to Fruit the Seeds of Democracy

In this episode, Anne Gass, independent historian and author, discusses the suffrage struggle at sites in Maine.We talk about the events and activists in the ME voting rights campaign:Florence Brooks Whitehouse was a suffrage leader who traveled to D.C. to picket at the White House.Mabel Derricks, Edith Johnson, and Blanche Dymond–members of the Black community in Bangor–signed a petition in 1917 advocating for women’s suffrage.Lucy Nicolar Poolaw of the Penobscot nation combined her musical career with activism for the rights for her community and was finally able to vote in 1967.Camille Lessard Bissonette who immigrated from Quebec to work in the Lewiston mills, became a journalist for the local French-Canadian newspaper and advocated for women’s suffrage.Augusta Hunt fought for women’s suffrage as well as other important rights including women’s rights for custody of their children. About our Guest:     Anne Gass is an independent historian and the author of the non-fiction book Voting Down the Rose: Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maine’s Fight for Woman Suffrage, published in 2014. Anne is Whitehouse’s great-granddaughter. Her most recent book is We Demand: The Suffrage Road Trip, a historical novel based on the true story of an epic cross-country road trip that took place in 1915. In 2015, a century later, Anne spent two months retracing the original route.  Anne describes herself as a "women's rights history activist" and speaks regularly on suffrage and women’s rights history. She recently led an effort to install seven roadside markers across Maine honoring women (and one man!) who fought for women’s voting rights. She serves as Chair of Maine’s Permanent Commission on the Status of Women. People, Places, Publications:Maine & the 19th Amendment (here)Maine Suffrage Trail (here)Francis Brooks Whitehouse Biographical Sketch (here)Francis Brooks Whitehouse marker (here)Black Matriarchs of Bangor Biographical Sketch and marker (here)Lucy Nicolar Poolaw Biographical Sketch and marker (here)Camille Lessard Bissonette Biographical Sketch (here)Camille Lessard Bissonette marker (here)Augusta Hunt Biographical Sketch (here)Augusta Hunt marker (here)CM Marihugh is a public history consultant and currently conducting independent research for a book on commemoration of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. She has an M.A. in Public History from State University of New York, and an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College.Learn more about: National Votes for Women Trail (here) National Votes for Women Trail - William G. Pomeroy historical markers (here) National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (here) Do you have a question, comment, or suggestion? Get in touch! Send an e-mail to [email protected]

In this episode, Paula Casey discusses the stories of the suffrage struggle in Tennessee.We talk about the activists in the TN campaign:Juno Frankie Pierce and Dr. Mattie Coleman aided 2,000 African American women to vote in Nashville after the state partial suffrage law passed in 1919.Joseph Hanover–a Polish Jewish immigrant–was key to organizing the final dramatic victory in the legislature. Lide Smith Meriwether wrote an 1895 petition demanding the women's vote and status as independent citizens. Anne Dallas Dudley organized suffrage leagues in the state as well as the largest suffrage parade in Nashville in 1916.The “Suffrage Day” baseball game in 1916 in Nashville hosted the suffragist governor and featured players with yellow sashes around their waists. ABOUT OUR GUESTPaula Casey has spent more than 30 years educating the public about Tennessee's role in ratifying the 19th Amendment. She has helped place suffragist public art across Tennessee and published the book, The Perfect 36: Tennessee Delivers Woman Suffrage. She co-founded the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Heritage Trail.Links to People, Places, PublicationsTennessee and the 19th Amendment (here)TN Woman Suffrage Heritage Trail (here)Lide Smith Meriwether Biosketch (here)Visit the Equality Trailblazers monument (here)Joseph Hanover Biosketch (here)Visit the Joseph Hanover marker (here)Lizzie Crozier French Biosketch (here)Visit the Lizzie Crozier French marker in Knoxville (here)Juno Frankie Pierce Biosketch (here)Dr. Mattie Coleman Biosketch (here)Visit the Dr. Mattie Coleman marker in Nashville (here)Anne Dallas Dudley Biosketch (here)Visit the TN Woman Suffrage Monument (here)CM Marihugh is a public history consultant and currently conducting independent research for a book on commemoration of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. She has an M.A. in Public History from State University of New York, and an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College.Learn more about: National Votes for Women Trail (here) National Votes for Women Trail - William G. Pomeroy historical markers (here) National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (here) Do you have a question, comment, or suggestion? Get in touch! Send an e-mail to [email protected]

In this episode on Oregon, Janice Dilg, consulting historian and principal of HistoryBuilt, talks about the struggle for votes for women on the NVWT. We talk about the events and fighters in OR suffrage campaign:Dr. Pesie Chan, a Chinese immigrant, met with a collegiate suffrage group in 1912 at the Portland Hotel and gave a speech supporting women's suffrage.Esther Pohl Lovejoy created Everybody’s Equal Suffrage League that offered a lifetime membership for 25 cents.Hattie Redmond served as president of the Colored Women’s Equal Suffrage Association which spread “equal suffrage ideas among those of the race.”Katherine and Edith Gray–an African American mother-daughter team– organized voter registration and political education drives for Black voters.Sara Bard Field Ehrgott joined Frances Jolliffe in 1915 on a cross-country car trek to deliver a petition demanding a federal suffrage amendment to President Wilson.The annual Pendleton Round-up rodeo was on the suffragist speaking tour where they were regularly cheered by crowds. ABOUT OUR GUESTJanice Dilg is principal and consulting historian of HistoryBuilt. She is a founding member of the Oregon Women’s History Consortium and was part of the 19th Amendment centennial celebration in 2020. She is the State Coordinator for the NVWT.Links to People, Places, PublicationsOregon and the 19th Amendment (here)Women’s Suffrage in Oregon (here)Visit the State Capitol and the Votes for Women Trail marker (here)Abigail Scott Duniway Biographical Sketch (here)Esther Pohl Lovejoy Biographical Sketch (here)Chinese American Woman Suffrage in 1912 Portland (here)Harriet “Hattie” Redmond Biographical Sketch (here)Katherine Gray Biographical Sketch (here)Edith Gray Biographical Sketch (here)Sara Bard Field Biographical Sketch (here)Sylvia Thompson Biographical Sketch (here</CM Marihugh is a public history consultant and currently conducting independent research for a book on commemoration of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. She has an M.A. in Public History from State University of New York, and an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College.Learn more about: National Votes for Women Trail (here) National Votes for Women Trail - William G. Pomeroy historical markers (here) National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (here) Do you have a question, comment, or suggestion? Get in touch! Send an e-mail to [email protected]

In this episode, Marsha Weinstein, past president of the NCWHS, discusses the struggle for the women’s vote at sites on the NVWT.We talk about the activists in KY votes for women campaigns:Susan Look Avery was an inclusive voice in the suffrage movement by advocating for both Black and white women.Georgia and Alice Nugent played a pivotal role in advancing the African American suffrage movement and were later active in voter education.Josephine Henry fought for equality for women under the law as well as being the first woman to run for statewide office.Eugenia Farmer became a leader in the suffrage movement after befriending Susan B. Anthony.Dr. Mary E. Britton was a political activist and was the first African-American female doctor in the state of Kentucky.Madeline McDowell Breckinridge lectured on women’s suffrage extensively, even traveling while she suffered from tuberculosis.ABOUT OUR GUESTMarsha Weinstein is a past president of the NCWHS and has researched and spoken extensively on the women’s suffrage movement. She is the NVWT State Coordinator and was highly instrumental in the growth of the NVWT. Links to People, Places, PublicationsKentucky and the 19th Amendment (here)History of Women’s Suffrage in Kentucky (here)Susan Look Avery Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Susan Look Avery marker (here)Georgia Anne Nugent Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Nugent sisters’ marker (here)Josephine Henry Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Josephine Henry marker (here)Eugenia B. Farmer Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Eugenia B. Farmer marker (here)Dr. Mary E. Britton Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Dr. Mary E. Britton marker (here)Mary Barr Clay Biographical Sketch (hereCM Marihugh is a public history consultant and currently conducting independent research for a book on commemoration of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. She has an M.A. in Public History from State University of New York, and an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College.Learn more about: National Votes for Women Trail (here) National Votes for Women Trail - William G. Pomeroy historical markers (here) National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (here) Do you have a question, comment, or suggestion? Get in touch! Send an e-mail to [email protected]

In this episode, Liz Almlie talks about the struggle of the suffrage movement in South Dakota by visiting sites along the National Votes for Women Trail. We visit sites of the events and activists in the SD votes for women campaign. Learn about the “Flying Squadron” suffrage rallies in the town of Lead where women gave street speeches and held rallies at the Homestake Opera Theater. Alice and John Pickler were a political power couple that fought doggedly for suffrage despite being frequently ridiculed. Mamie Shields Pyle, operating from her home in Huron, was a leader in the movement lobbying legislators and the public, including speaking year after year at the state fair. Zitkála-Šá was a Yankton Dakota writer, musician, educator, and political activist. She fought for rights of American Indians including for citizenship and for women’s suffrage, often speaking at the Capitol in Pierre.ABOUT OUR GUESTLiz Almlie is a Historic Preservation Specialist with the South Dakota State Historic Preservation Office and is NVWT State Coordinator. She has researched the suffrage movement in South Dakota extensively and has an M.A. in Public History.Links to People, Places, PublicationsSouth Dakota and the 19th Amendment (here)Alice and John Pickler, South Dakota Public Broadcasting (here)Pickler Suffrage Collection, South Dakota State Historical Society (here)Visit the historic Pickler Mansion in Faulkton (here)Mary Shields Pyle Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the historic Pyle House Museum in Huron (here)Zitkála-Šá Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre (here)Visit and see a play at the Grand Opera house in Pierre (here)Visit the former St. Charles Hotel in Pierre (here)“Flying Squadron” or “Suffrage Special” speaking tours (here)Visit the Homestake Opera House in Lead (here)CM Marihugh is a public history consultant and currently conducting independent research for a book on commemoration of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. She has an M.A. in Public History from State University of New York, and an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College.Learn more about: National Votes for Women Trail (here) National Votes for Women Trail - William G. Pomeroy historical markers (here) National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (here) Do you have a question, comment, or suggestion? Get in touch! Send an e-mail to [email protected]

In this episode on Illinois, Lori Osborne, Director of the Evanston Women’s History Project, discusses the struggle for the women’s vote at sites on the National Votes for Women Trail.We talk about stories of people and events of the IL campaign:Ida B. Wells-Barnett founded the Alpha Suffrage Club with Belle Squire in 1913, which was the first organization to promote suffrage for Black women in Chicago.Jane Addams advocated for women’s suffrage in order to enact laws that pertained to improved labor conditions, and legal equity for African Americans and immigrants.Catharine Waugh McCulloch was a lawyer who introduced a legislative bill in 1893 to give Illinois women the vote. She fought for its passage for 20 years and finally saw it succeed in 1913.Grace Wilbur Trout organized the first suffrage auto tour in 1910 using a neighbor's car. She traveled with three others to 16 towns in five days giving speeches for woman's suffrage.Elizabeth Boynton Harbert was a leader in the women's suffrage movement as an author, lecturer, and editor.ABOUT OUR GUESTLori Osborne is the Director of the Evanston Women’s History Project in Evanston and specializes in women's history research and historic sites. Lori is the State Coordinator for the NVWT and a past NCWHS board member.Links to People, Places, PublicationsIllinois and the 19th Amendment (here)Suffrage 2020 Illinois website (here)Ida B. Wells-Barnett Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Ida B. Wells-Barnett marker in Chicago (here)Visit the Ida B. Wells National Monument in Chicago (here)Jane Addams Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Jane Addams Hull House Museum in Chicago (here)Frances Willard Biographical Sketch (here)Catherine Waugh McCulloch Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Catherine Waugh McCulloch marker and park in Evanston (here)Grace Wilbur Trout Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Grace Wilbur Trout marker in Oak Park (here)CM Marihugh is a public history consultant and currently conducting independent research for a book on commemoration of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. She has an M.A. in Public History from State University of New York, and an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College.Learn more about: National Votes for Women Trail (here) National Votes for Women Trail - William G. Pomeroy historical markers (here) National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (here) Do you have a question, comment, or suggestion? Get in touch! Send an e-mail to [email protected]

In this episode on Nevada, Dr. Joanne Goodwin, discusses the struggle for the women’s vote at sites on the NVWT.We talk about the events and suffragists in the NV votes for women campaign:Three prominent men in business and politics organized the first women's suffrage convention in Nevada in 1870.Frances Slaven Williamson fully dedicated herself to fighting for women’s suffrage after losing her husband and five children. Sarah Winnemucca was a political activist for the rights of her Northern Paiute tribe and the other indigenous peoples. These focused first on survival rather than the vote.Anne Martin traveled to England where she learned about militant tactics of the suffrage movement. She traveled extensively in Nevada to mining sites, ranches, and small towns. She and fellow suffragists descended into mines to speak to working miners.Bird Wilson was a lawyer and suffragist who distributed 20,000 copies of her booklet, Women Under Nevada Laws.  She was an innovative marketer and fundraiser for suffrage.ABOUT OUR GUESTDr. Joanne Goodwin is Professor Emerita of History and Director Emerita of the Women’s Research Institute of Nevada at the Univ. of Nevada-Las Vegas and serves on the NCWHS board. Her interest is 20th century U.S. history with a specialization in women and gender history.Links to People, Places, PublicationsNevada and the 19th Amendment (here)Nevada Suffrage Centennial (here)Visit First Woman Suffrage Convention marker (here)Frances Slaven Williamson Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Frances Slaven Williamson marker(here)Anne Martin Biographical Sketch (here)Felice Cohn Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Felice Cohn historical marker (here)Bird Wilson Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the 1907 Esmeralda County Courthouse (here)Marjorie Moore Brown Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Marjorie Moore Brown marker (here)Delphine Squires Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Delphine Squires and the Mesquite Club marker (here)Sarah Winnemucca Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Sarah Winnemucca historical marker (here)CM Marihugh is a public history consultant and currently conducting independent research for a book on commemoration of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. She has an M.A. in Public History from State University of New York, and an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College.Learn more about: National Votes for Women Trail (here) National Votes for Women Trail - William G. Pomeroy historical markers (here) National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (here) Do you have a question, comment, or suggestion? Get in touch! Send an e-mail to [email protected]

In this episode, Dr. Anne Boylan, Professor Emerita of History and Women & Gender Studies at the University of Delaware, discusses the suffrage struggle at sites on the NVWT.We talk about the events and activists in the DE voting rights campaign:Mabel Lloyd Ridgely employed lobbying techniques including buttonholing legislators–made easier given her Dover house was a stone’s throw from the State House.Florence Bayard Hilles and Mabel Vernon were members of National Woman’s Party which supported militant tactics.Emma Gibson Sykes publicly called out a Delaware house member for racist rhetoric in a letter to the editor to Delaware’s Sunday Morning Star.The Thomas Garrett Settlement House in Wilmington housed the Equal Suffrage Study Club for Black women and held collaborative meetings with white and Black suffragists.Munitions workers at Bethlehem Steel in Newcastle joined the National Women’s Party and made their argument for suffrage stating that their work contributed to the war effort, just as soldiers' did. ABOUT OUR GUESTDr. Anne Boylan is Professor Emerita of History and Women & Gender Studies at the University of Delaware and author of  Votes for Delaware Women (2021). She is Delaware coordinator for the online Biographical Dictionary of the Woman Suffrage Movement.Links to People, Places, Publications:Delaware & the 19th Amendment (here)Women’s Suffrage in Delaware (here)Visit the Delaware Women’s Suffrage memorial (here)Mabel Lloyd Ridgely Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Mabel Lloyd Ridgely marker (here)Florence Bayard Hilles Biographical Sketch (here)Mabel Vernon Biographical Sketch (here)Ethel Cuff Black Biographical Sketch (here)Emma Gibson Sykes Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the 1914 Suffrage parade marker (here)Alice Dunbar-Nelson Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Alice Dunbar-Nelson marker (here)Blanche Williams Stubbs Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Blanche Stubbs marker (here)Visit the African American Suffrage Club marker (here)Visit the Women Munitions Workers marker (here)CM Marihugh is a public history consultant and currently conducting independent research for a book on commemoration of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. She has an M.A. in Public History from State University of New York, and an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College.Learn more about: National Votes for Women Trail (here) National Votes for Women Trail - William G. Pomeroy historical markers (here) National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (here) Do you have a question, comment, or suggestion? Get in touch! Send an e-mail to [email protected]

In the second of two episodes on Alabama, Dr. Alex Colvin, Public Programs Curator at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, talks about the struggle for voting rights in the decades after 1920.We talk about the events and foot soldiers in AL voting rights campaigns after 1920:Hattie Hooker Wilkins of Selma was the first woman to be elected to serve in the state legislature.Mrs. Indiana Little led a group of African Americans to register to vote in 1926 in Birmingham. They were all denied by the registrar, and Indiana Little was arrested.Amelia Boynton Robinson was a central figure in the voting rights movement and in 1958, she testified in front of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in Montgomery, outlining the ways Black citizens were disenfranchised through legal and extralegal means.Betty Anderson was 15 when she marched from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 and kept going even though she had worn holes in her Converse sneakers.ABOUT OUR GUESTDr. Alex Colvin is the Public Programs Curator at Alabama Department of Archives and History and the State Coordinator for the National Votes for Women Trail. She has a PhD in early American history with a focus on Creek history at the turn of the 19th Century.Links to People, Places, PublicationsAlabama and the 19th Amendment (here)Suffrage–The Alabama Story (here)How Women Got the Vote in Alabama (here)Hattie Hooker Wilkins Biographical Sketch (here)Indiana T. Little Biographical Sketch (here)The Birmingham Reporter, Jan. 23, 1926, article on Mrs. Little (here)“’I Will Not Move’: The Story of Alabama Suffragist Indiana Little” video (here)Selma to Montgomery March, 1965 (here)Virtual tour of “Justice Not Favor” exhibit with Betty Anderson sneaker (here)CM Marihugh is a public history consultant and currently conducting independent research for a book on commemoration of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. She has an M.A. in Public History from State University of New York, and an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College.Learn more about: National Votes for Women Trail (here) National Votes for Women Trail - William G. Pomeroy historical markers (here) National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (here) Do you have a question, comment, or suggestion? Get in touch! Send an e-mail to [email protected]

In the first of two episodes on Alabama, Dr. Alex Colvin, Public Programs Curator at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, talks about the the suffrage struggle up until 1920 by visiting sites along the National Votes for Women Trail.We visit sites of the events and foot soldiers in the AL votes for women campaign:Susan B. Anthony’s visit to the Alabama Woman Suffrage Association in Decatur where newspapers commended Anthony for being “as good a lecturer as a good man lecturer.”Adella Hunt Logan was a prominent Black suffragist who was renowned nationally for her oratory and writing skills. She taught at Tuskegee University and was of African American, Cherokee, and white descent. Francis Griffin was the first woman to speak to an Alabama lawmaking body in Montgomery in 1901. Even though some members tried to silence her, she advocated for a women’s suffrage provision in the new constitution.The Selma Equal Suffrage Association with suffragist Hattie Hooker Wilkins’ found inventive ways to spread information in Selma and statewide.The Alabama Equal Suffrage Association convention in February 1914 in Huntsville, where hundreds of women and men assembled to learn about suffrage.The “Suffrage Day” baseball game in Birmingham in 1915 where the Birmingham Barons team wore yellow sashes and local women’s teams played exhibition innings.ABOUT OUR GUESTDr. Alex Colvin is the Public Programs Curator at Alabama Department of Archives and History and State Coordinator for the National Votes for Women Trail. Her PhD is in early American history with a focus on Creek history at the turn of the 19th Century.Links to People, Places, PublicationsAlabama and the 19th Amendment (here)Suffrage–The Alabama Story (here)How Women Got the Vote in Alabama (here)Visit the Votes for Women historical marker in Decatur (here)Adella Hunt Logan Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Votes for Women historical marker in Tuskegee (here)Frances Griffin Biographical Sketch (here)Visit Bicentennial Park at the Capitol in Montgomery (here)Hattie Hooker Wilkins Biographical Sketch (here)Visit the Votes for Women historical marker in Selma (here)“Suffrage Day” and the Birmingham Barons baseball game (here)Visit the Votes for Women marker at Rickwood Field in Birmingham (here)CM Marihugh is a public history consultant and currently conducting independent research for a book on commemoration of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. She has an M.A. in Public History from State University of New York, and an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College.Learn more about: National Votes for Women Trail (here) National Votes for Women Trail - William G. Pomeroy historical markers (here) National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (here) Do you have a question, comment, or suggestion? Get in touch! Send an e-mail to [email protected]