Browse Items (11 total)

Black Memphis, white Memphis

Julia Hooks bought a ticket at a downtown Memphis theater. It was 1881 and "Hermann the Magician" was a hit. She was making her way to her seat when…

Dr. Walker, part I

The only woman ever awarded the Medal of Honor - the US military’s highest decoration - was a genderqueer Civil War surgeon named Dr. Mary Edwards…

Dr. Walker part II

PART II. In 1865 Pres. Andrew Johnson awarded Dr. Mary Walker the Medal of Honor. Dr. Walker wore the medal pinned to her suit coat every day for the…

American Moses

The original Moses didn’t get to the Promised Land, but at least he didn’t have to fight for his pension. His successor, Harriet Tubman, did. (Thread)…

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving's origin isn't glorification of colonialism. Rather: in 1863 Lincoln proclaimed a day of gratitude for the Union’s victories at…

A joint session of Congress, 1864

Initially popular as a curiosity, Anna Dickinson gradually established a reputation as a political thinker whose endorsement was in demand. She…

Eliza Jackson Eddy's $50,000 bequest

Daily Suffragist doesn’t usually go down a genealogy rabbit hole, but a good trusts & estates case is a dangerous trigger. Long thread... Francis…

NAWSA ❤️ the Confederacy

Annual conventions belong in the nation’s capital--at least as far as the National Woman Suffrage Assoc was concerned. But the American WSA had always…

Petition your government for a redress of grievances

400,000 signatures was 1.3% of the US population in 1864. The equivalent today would be 4.1 million hand-gathered Jane Hancocks. That’s how many…

Mother's Day/Mothers' Day/Mothers Day

Suffragist Julia Ward Howe popularized Mother's Day as a pacifist holiday after the carnage of the Civil War. Listen to her 1870 proclamation read by…