Votes for U.S. Women: The 72 Year Struggle: A Presentation by Dr. Patricia Dougherty, OP

by Laurie Thompson and Shereen Ash

We invite you to join us for the inaugural presentation of the Marin County Free Library’s Voting Rights Celebration encompassing the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 to Voter Inclusion in 2020.

Illustration by Henry Mayer symbolizing the awakening of the nation’s women to the desire for suffrage. It also shows the first states in the West where women had gained the right to vote, including California which passed an amendment in 1911. Library of Congress.

On Tuesday, February 25, 2020 we are honored to host an illustrated talk by Dr. Patricia Dougherty, OP on Votes for U.S. Women: The 72 Year Struggle. The talk will be held at the Anne T. Kent California Room Map & Special Collections Annex. at 1600 Los Gamos , Suite 182, San Rafael. Join us at 6 pm for a reception followed by the presentation from 6:30 to 8 pm. Please see the attached map for directions.

It took 72 years from the first demand for the vote in the 1848 Declaration of Sentiments at Seneca Falls, New York until the 19th amendment was ratified by the 36th state, Tennessee, in August 1920. Three months later, over 9 million women voted in the 1920 presidential election (out of an eligible 26.9 million). This slide lecture looks at the origins of the suffrage movement in the abolition movement and the experience and activities of women who devoted their energy and lives to the struggle for the vote.

Illustration from the San Francisco Call newspaper documenting Susan B. Anthony’s visit to the summit of Mt. Tamalpais in 1896. Anthony gave a speech on Women’s Suffrage to the men constructing the railroad’s new Tavern atop the East Peak. San Francisco Call.

In 1872, Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting in a presidential election; she was tried, convicted, and fined for “knowingly voting without having a lawful right to vote.” Forty-five years later, Alice Paul and others were arrested for obstructing the sidewalk outside the White House and thrown into prison, beaten, force fed because they asked for the vote by picketing the White House. We will meet many people in the movement; some well-known such as Susan B Anthony (Aunt Susan) and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others who may be less famous such as Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul.

Dr. Patricia Dougherty, OP. Dominican University of California.

Dr. Patricia Dougherty, OP is Professor Emerita of History at Dominican University of California, Professor Dougherty has taught history for 35 years in Marin. She received her doctorate from Georgetown University in 1984. Her primary area of research is nineteenth century France, and she received a Fulbright Grant for her dissertation work in Paris, in 1981–82. Besides European history, she has taught a variety of classes on women’s history.

Originally published at https://annetkent.kontribune.com.