Browse Items (16 total)

Jessie Ashley, valiant rebel

If you were born rich and you know that’s not fair, what can you do? Jessie Ashley tried to use her advantages to make the world more just. Socialist,…

Funding, and the class politics of activism

Activism needs resources. Wealthier women provided funding that working class suffragists needed: to print leaflets & posters, rent meeting halls,…

Suffrage v. Socialism

In Dec 1909, Socialist suffragists convened a party conference to debate whether they should work with the mainstream suffrage groups. Rose…

Serving two Gods

Rose Schneiderman and Leonora O’Reilly were featured speakers at NAWSA conventions as early as 1907. The leaders of the suffrage mainstream warmed to…

Factory women

“The manufacturer has a vote; the bosses have votes; the foremen have votes, the inspectors have votes. The working girl has no vote.” - Clara…

Working women

Work. Throughout the 19th century, even suffragists saw paid work as something poor women _had_ to do, not something women would _want_ to do. Most of…

South Dakota

South Dakota became a state in 1899. Its motto: “Under God the People Rule.” National suffrage leaders converged on the state immediately to campaign…

Scale of atrocity * caliber of organizing

Why do some tragedies generate change and others don’t? 109 years ago today the Triangle Shirtwaist fire killed 146 people - mostly Jewish &…

Leonora O'Reilly

Leonora O’Reilly had a hand in umpteen important organizations of the Progressive Era. She was a founder of the Consumers League, the Women’s Trade…

The other Meriwether sister

Remember Elizabeth Meriwether, the suffragist who helped start the Memphis chapter of the Ku Klux Klan? She shared her home with her brother- &…