2020 marks only the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote nationwide. As in many other states, the women of Connecticut worked tirelessly and seemingly endlessly to achieve this goal. Ilene Frank, Chief Curator of the Connecticut Historical Society, will use items from the Society's collection including photographs, letters, pamphlets, and newspaper headlines to understand one of the most hard-fought political battles of American history. Frank was formerly Executive Director of the Rensselaer County Historical Society. She oversees exhibitions, education, collections, state-wide folk life program and marketing for the museum and library.
In this presentation, she discusses suffragists like Katharine Houghton Hepburn and Isabella Beecher Hooker, as well as some Connecticut women who fought tooth-and-nail against women getting the vote. New research has uncovered the significant role that African-American women played in the movement including that of notable African American reformer and political activist, Mary Townsend Seymour, who said “The work must be done,” Rose Payton, Minnie Glover, Daisy Daniels, and others.
The Connecticut Historical Society, Connecticut’s official historical society, is a private, nonprofit, educational organization established in 1825. Its collection includes more than 4 million manuscripts, graphics, books, artifacts, and other materials. The program is co-sponsored by the Scoville Memorial Library and the Salisbury Association Historical Society and will be presented live on Zoom on Saturday November 21 at 4:00 p.m.
Registration is required. Visit the events page at scovillelibrary.org or call 860-435-2838.
Photo by Scholastic
