Page 32 - The Hunt - Winter 2019/2020

“Women’s suffrage is at once a national and a local story in towns across the country.” —Amanda Burdan, Curator, Brandywine River Museum of Art
More Thoughts
on Women’s Suffrage
“Many doors that weren’t open when my mother was born were open for me. For this, I’m full of awe and gratitude. I’m also aware that civil rights, once won, must be defended. And understanding our history ensures that all Americans will be up to the task.”
—Susan C. DelPesco, retired Delaware Superior Court Judge
“Last year, there were no women
in the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation at all. Today, I now stand with my colleagues as one of four women in Congress from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The right to vote must be cherished and protected by and for all Americans, regardless of gender.
—U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, Pennsylvania’s 6th District
“As we commemorate the passage of the 19th Amendment, we not only celebrate the right to vote but also the significant contribution to our nation’s history made by Delta women.” —Beverly E. Smith, Delta Sigma Theta National President & CEO
“It seems to me that the centennial is a celebration that would both please and annoy Aunt Florence—please her because women do have the right to vote, annoy her because, in this centennial year, women’s rights are being undermined and diminished on a daily basis.”
—Jane Bayard Curley, great niece
of suffragist Florence Bayard Hilles
“I’m so thrilled that the generosity and the very hard and determined work of my great aunt is being recognized. She would be thrilled.” —Alexandra “Sandy” Tatnall,
great niece of suffragist Katherine Wentworth Ruschenberger
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Park Authority to raise funds for the site of the Occoquan Workhouse in Fairfax, Va., where detained suffragists endured hardships following public protests.
In Washington, D.C., the National Portrait Gallery hosts Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence through Jan. 5, 2020. It contrasts the successes of the women’s rights movement with examples of how black suffragists were ignored. At the Library of Congress, Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote collects the original letters and personal papers of Susan B. Anthony and other leaders for an exhibit running through September 2020. And Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote features the original 19th Amendment and 90 other historic documents. It runs through Jan. 5, 2021, at D.C.’s National Archives Museum.
In Philadelphia, Drexel University’s Vision 2020 has spearheaded Women 100, a yearlong series of programs and events that includes an interactive exhibition
at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, film screenings, and more. On
Aug. 25, 2020, the Justice Bell—a
Liberty Bell replica commissioned in 1915 by Philadelphia suffragist Katherine Wentworth Ruschenberger—will leave its home in Washington Memorial Chapel
on the grounds of Valley Forge National Historical Park and travel to Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia for a “Toast to Tenacity” celebration in conjunction with Vision 2020.
Even closer to home, the Brandywine River Museum of Art is mounting Votes for Women: A Visual History on Feb. 1, 2020. Running through June 7, the exhibition explores how the social justice movement got its message across through illustrations, pTolitical cartoons, flags, banners and film.
he spark that ignited the women’s rights movement in America actually began on foreign soil. In 1840, George
and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and James and Lucretia Mott attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. Sitting apart from their husbands behind curtains in the gallery, Elizabeth and Lucretia mused, “Here we are, fighting for the freedoms of the Negro, which include the right to vote, when we ourselves do not enjoy this privilege.”
Eight years later, the two women held
a convention at the Methodist Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls to discuss the social, civil and religious rights of women. During the hot and steamy days of July 19 and 20,
30 THE HUNT MAGAZINE winter 2019-20