LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2019 SHALL NOT BE DENIED WOMEN FIGHT FOR THE VOTE

Plus Band of Sisters Putting on the Map History, Carved in Stone FEATURES ▪ Artist George W. Maynard symbolically 12 16 23 depicted civilization as a in this detail of Capitol Women Shall Not Be Denied Suffrage Sisters a mural in the Library’s The growing power of Joined by a common Key figures in the decades- Jefferson Building. Carol women legislators has cause, women fought for long battle to win the ballot M. Highsmith Archive / changed Capitol Hill. their right to vote. for women.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE ▪ On the cover: Women workers, wearing suffrage sashes and carrying suffrage banners, picket near the in this February 1917 photograph colorized by Sanna Dullaway for Time magazine. Prints and Photographs Division / colorized image courtesy of Sanna Dullaway

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE DEPARTMENTS JULY / AUGUST 2019 VOL. 8 NO. 4 Mission of the 2 Library in History Library of Congress The Library’s mission is to engage, 3 Favorite Place inspire and inform Congress and the American people with a universal and enduring source of 4 Curator's Picks knowledge and creativity. 6 Online Offerings Library of Congress Magazine is issued bimonthly by the Office of 3 Communications of the Library 7 My Job of Congress and distributed free of charge to publicly 8 Page from the Past supported libraries and research institutions, donors, academic libraries, learned societies and 10 Extremes allied organizations in the . Research institutions and educational organizations in other 27 Trending countries may arrange to receive Library of Congress Magazine on an exchange basis by applying in 28 Around the Library writing to the Library’s Director for Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access, 101 Independence Ave. 29 News Briefs S.E., Washington DC 20540- 4100. LCM is also available on the web at loc.gov/lcm/. All 30 Shop the Library 8 other correspondence should be addressed to the Office of Communications, Library of 31 Support the Library Congress, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington DC 20540-1610. 32 Last Word [email protected] loc.gov/lcm ISSN 2169-0855 (print) ISSN 2169-0863 (online)

Carla Hayden Librarian of Congress William W. Ryan Executive Editor Mark Hartsell 10 Editor John H. Sayers Managing Editor Ashley Jones Designer Shawn Miller Photo Editor Contributors Hannah Freece Elizabeth Novara CONNECT ON Janice E. Ruth Neely Tucker loc.gov/connect Brett Zongker 32

JULY/AUGUST 2019 LOC.GOV/LCM 1 LIBRARY IN HISTORY

▪ Above: Sculptor on the marriage license to approximate that Adelaide Johnson sits of her husband, 11 years her junior. among her busts of HISTORY, CARVED important figures from The Library holds Johnson’s papers: letters, the suffrage movement. IN STONE diaries, speeches and notes that chronicle a lifetime of work — including an effort to In an adventurous life, this get her busts of suffrage pioneers Susan B. Anthony, and suffragist sculptor forged permanently displayed in her own legacy. the new Library of Congress building, then nearing completion. As the “sculptor of the suffrage movement,” Adelaide Johnson created likenesses of Johnson had produced the busts for the some of the movement’s greatest figures — 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in and carved out her own place in history. . Three years later, Anthony wrote to Johnson, expressing hope that Congress Johnson lived an adventurous, tumultuous would purchase them for installation at the life. As a young woman, she fell down an Library in what’s now called the Jefferson elevator shaft, suffered terrible injuries, Building. then used the money she received as compensation to study in and, “Those two women were the originators eventually, open a sculpture studio in of the woman suffrage movement as an Rome. An ardent feminist, she married organized force in this country and their British businessman Alexander Jenkins at a busts ought to stand in some of the niches ceremony witnessed by busts of prominent in that mammoth building,” Anthony wrote, suffragists — her “bridesmaids.” Jenkins took suggesting she might lobby Librarian of her last name and would be known variously Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford on the as Mr. Johnson and Mr. Jenkins Johnson. matter. Years later, broke and facing eviction, The Library eventually acquired Anthony’s Johnson refused to sell her sculptures to and Johnson’s papers, but none of the pay off debts, instead inviting the press to busts came to the Library, until now. The watch her destroy the pieces in protest. Anthony sculpture is on loan to the “Shall Desperate, she appeared on TV quiz shows Not Be Denied” exhibition for display in the in an attempt to raise money. When Johnson Jefferson Building — some 126 years after died at 96, newspapers reported her age as Johnson created it. 108 — she had, it turned out, falsified her age —Mark Hartsell

2 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE FAVORITE PLACE

SHAWN MILLER

U.S. CAPITOL ROTUNDA The historic rotunda (top left) of the U.S. Capitol is an ambitious, soaring structure that combines inspiring architecture and iconic artwork to remind of great events and figures in their shared past. Across the walls, paintings by Trumbull, Brumidi and others illustrate seminal scenes from U.S. history: The Pilgrims embark on the Mayflower, the Founders sign the Declaration of Independence, peace follows a terrible civil war. The dome is crowned with a depiction of George Washington ascending to heaven while, 180 feet below, statues of historic figures such as , Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King Jr. line the floor. Among those great men sits a monument (bottom left) dedicated to three great women: Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, pioneers of the women’s suffrage movement. The National Woman’s Party presented the monument, sculpted by Adelaide Johnson from an eight-ton block of marble, to the Capitol in 1921. The Joint Committee on the Library accepted it on behalf of Congress. The sculpture originally was unveiled in the rotunda but soon after was moved, amid controversy, to the Capitol’s crypt to be displayed alongside others. But, in accordance with a congressional resolution, the sculpture was moved back to the rotunda in 1997. Johnson’s great work remains on view there today, a tribute to the vision, determination and perseverance of this band of sisters. —Mark Hartsell

MORE INFORMATION Capitol suffragist monument go.usa.gov/xmDMX

JULY/AUGUST 2019 LOC.GOV/LCM 3

© 1993 FRED J. MAROON CURATOR'S PICKS

SEVEN DECADES OF STRUGGLE We choose favorite items from the Library’s new exhibition, “Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote.”

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1. FIRST TO VOTE 2. DECLARATION OF Acts of the Council and General SENTIMENTS Assembly of the State of New-Jersey, In July 1848, more than 300 people published in 1784, allowed some assembled in Seneca Falls, New women in that state to vote in local York, for the first women’s rights and state . That right didn’t convention in U.S. history. At this last long, however: In 1807, a state meeting, Elizabeth Cady Stanton law restricted to “free, white, read her now-famous “Declaration male citizens” at least 21 years old and of Sentiments” protesting women’s worth 50 pounds. Law Library inferior legal status. Stanton’s of Congress original declaration is believed lost, but this rare printed version 1 survives in Library collections. Manuscript Division

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE 3. TAKING IT TO THE STREETS After weeks of controversy, the first national suffrage parade took place in the District of Columbia on March 3, 1913, the day before the inauguration of President . Bands, mounted brigades, floats and an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 costumed marchers assembled for a procession through a city brimming with visitors — a historic occasion captured in this illustrated souvenir program. Manuscript Division

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4. THE STOMACH TUBE 5. TRACKING Denied political prisoner status, Alice RATIFICATION Paul and Winslow began hunger In this notebook, strikes in District Jail on Nov. 5, 1917, tracked the progress of ratification of to protest their unjust imprisonment the 19th Amendment by the states. and disproportionate sentences. In Alabama, shown here, ratification Prison officials responded with failed twice in the state and “forcible feeding,” illustrated in this once in the House, despite President British poster, by which a solution of Wilson’s support and assurances from milk and eggs was poured into a tube white suffragists that existing poll taxes forcibly inserted in the nose or throat and literacy tests would limit black of a restrained prisoner. Prints and women’s votes. Manuscript Division 4 Photographs Division

MORE INFORMATION “Shall Not Be Denied” exhibition go.usa.gov/xmugZ

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JULY/AUGUST 2019 LOC.GOV/LCM ONLINE OFFERINGS

BAND OF SISTERS ▪ The Library’s The Library holds the papers suffrage-related collections include of the suffrage movement’s the diary of Susan B. Anthony (below) greatest figures. and Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s draft of Library collections thoroughly document the “The Woman’s .” decades-long fight for women’s suffrage: Manuscript Division Those collections contain the records of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and the National Woman’s Party as well as the personal papers of some of the movement’s greatest figures. The Library has placed online the papers of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Carrie Chapman Catt and — letters, diaries, writings, clippings and scrapbooks that shed light on the cause and the women behind it. Those papers contain a report on the historic 1848 convention for women’s rights in Seneca Falls; drafts of Terrell’s autobiography, “A Colored Woman in a White World”; and Stanton’s draft of her controversial “The Woman’s Bible.” Anthony’s diaries reveal her thoughts on historic events, such as Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, and track the mundane transactions of everyday life: $5 for stamps here, $1.50 for telegrams there. The papers also capture the frustrations of working for decades for a goal that, at times, must have seemed unattainable. “Could we resurrect from the archives of this Capitol all the petitions and speeches presented here by women for human freedom during this century, they would reach above this Dome,” Stanton told the Judiciary Committee in 1896. More than a decade after Stanton’s death, women finally got the right to vote, and the collections record the joy of so many who had worked for it so long. In early 1920, with final victory only months away, Catt addressed supporters in Chicago. “There will never come another day like this,” she said. “Let the joy be unconfined and let it speak so clearly that its echo will be heard around the world.”

MORE INFORMATION Digital collections loc.gov/collections

6 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE MY JOB

Janice E. Ruth oversees one of the world’s great repositories of historical personal papers. Describe your work at the Library. I have the great privilege of serving as assistant chief (currently acting chief) of the Manuscript Division, one of the largest repositories of personal papers and organizational records in the country. The division’s holdings, estimated at 68 million items, document all aspects of American history and culture and include some of the nation’s most treasured manuscripts, including, for example, presidential papers, SHAWN MILLER the records of the NAACP and the papers of numerous Supreme Court justices. of the Manuscript Division’s three sections, I oversee our efforts to acquire, arrange, along with a one-year detail to the American describe, preserve, secure, digitize, Folklife Center to help establish the Veterans promote and make available for research History Project, prepared me well for the and exhibition use these unique resources. responsibilities of my current job. Though often absorbed with writing reports What experiences have been the most and handling myriad personnel, budget and memorable? facilities responsibilities, I am fortunate that I am never far removed from our amazing That’s a hard question — there have collections and the researchers who use been so many. I was part of the national them. committee that developed the Encoded Archival Description (EAD) standard for How did you prepare for your position? finding aids. That group was great fun. It I joined the Library a few months after also has been gratifying to see EAD’s impact graduating from college. Previous part-time on the discovery of archival collections jobs at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the everywhere. Helping launch the Veterans State Archives and the Maryland History Project was equally rewarding, as Historical Society helped me land a position have been the many American Memory as an archives technician in the Manuscript and Project One digitization projects that Division’s Preparation Section. Though only followed that first optical disk effort. a temporary job, it got me in the door and In terms of both my appreciation for the before it ended 20 months later, I latched subject content and the lasting friendships onto an accessioning position in the Motion I formed, being part of the teams that Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound produced the American Women guide, Division, where I had previously been organized the Resourceful Women detailed to prepare collections for the symposium, wrote the “Women Who Dare” Library’s optical disk project. books and launched the women’s history While there, I applied to the HILS graduate discussion group also rank among my most program at the of Maryland, and memorable experiences. before classes began, I had rejoined the What are your favorite women’s history Manuscript Division as a reference librarian, collection items? working full-time the next five years while earning my master’s in history and master’s There are far too many to name! I will say in library science degrees part time. The that a number of my all-time favorites reference librarian job led to subsequent have made it into the Library’s new positions, first as the division’s writer- exhibition,“Shall Not Be Denied: Women editor and later as the division’s specialist Fight for the Vote,” on which I have greatly in American women’s history. These enjoyed working with exhibition director progressively responsible positions in each Carroll Johnson-Welsh.

JULY/AUGUST 2019 LOC.GOV/LCM 7 PAGE FROM THE PAST

NO FAVORS, JUST JUSTICE

▪ Right: Suffragists Suffragists crashed the interrupted a celebration of the Declaration 1876 centennial celebration of Independence’s centennial to pass out to assert their own rights. copies of their own The Centennial International Exhibition, Declaration of Rights the first world’s fair ever held in the United (opposite). Prints and Photographs Division, States, showcased the energy, ambition and Manuscript Division creativity of a young nation. Over six months in 1876, millions flocked to for the exhibition, which displayed, among other things, the just- completed arm and torch of the Statue of , recent inventions such as the guests, military officers and civil officials telephone and new consumer products stationed in front of the speaker’s stand such as Heinz ketchup and Hires root beer. made way and Anthony, after offering some fitting words, presented the declaration to The exhibition had another purpose, as Ferr y. well: To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. That “Mr. Ferry’s face paled, as bowing low, with July 4, organizers staged a special program no word, he received the declaration, which in Independence Square, presided over thus became part of the day’s proceedings,” by Sen. Thomas W. Ferry and attended the “History of Woman Suffrage” recorded. by dignitaries from around the world. A “The ladies turned, scattering printed group of suffragists, denied a spot in the copies, as they deliberately walked down program, nevertheless determined to make the platform.” a declaration of their own. The group made its way to a platform Susan B. Anthony, , Sara outside of Independence Hall, where Andrews Spencer, and Anthony, to applause, read the declaration Phoebe W. Couzins planned to interrupt aloud to a crowd. “We ask of our rulers, the ceremony and present Ferry with their at this hour, no special favors, no special Declaration of Rights of the Women of the privileges, no special legislation,” the United States, a document they drafted as declaration concludes. “We ask justice, we a demand for equal rights and the right to ask equality, we ask that all the civil and vote. political rights that belong to citizens of the United States be guaranteed to us and our With the program underway, the group made daughters forever.” its way toward the platform, unsure of how their approach might be met. The foreign —Mark Hartsell

8 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE

EXTREMES

10 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE populist third party that represented the ▪ Henry Mayer economic interests of farmers, assumed depicted the A TIDE power. hopeful idea of women’s suffrage ROLLING EAST There were setbacks, to be sure: spreading eastward initially failed in Washington, across the country Early successes in Western South Dakota and . But progressive in this illustration politics eventually led to victories, and by 1915 for Puck magazine states helped women across in 1915. Prints women had full voting rights in 11 Western and Photographs the nation gain voting rights. states — victories that fueled momentum Division toward a federal amendment. The suffrage movement’s first big successes took place out West, far removed from the “It is to the strong, courageous, and halls of Congress and the organizing efforts progressive men of the Western States carried out in Eastern cities and towns. that the women of this whole country are looking for deliverance,” author, journalist In places such as Utah, Idaho, and and suffragist wrote in the Wyoming, small territorial legislatures, the Women’s Tribune in 1905. “It is these men statehood process and state constitutional who must start this movement and give it conventions operated with a spirit of political such momentum that it will roll irresistibly on experimentalism that activists used to win the to the very shores of the Atlantic Ocean.” right to vote. Wyoming’s territorial legislature enfranchised women in 1869, supported by Henry Mayer illustrated that hopeful idea politicians who wished to raise the territory’s in a 1915 issue of Puck magazine with “The profile and encourage women settlers. Awakening,” which depicted a torch-bearing figure striding from the Western states Women gained voting rights in Utah Territory across the map to the darkened void of the in 1870, only for Congress to disenfranchise East, filled with women, arms reaching out, them 17 years later in an attempt to clamoring for their right to vote. discourage the practice of polygamy. After the church disavowed the custom in 1890 “Bonds may endure for a night,” the map’s and Utah became a state in 1896, they text reads in part, “but freedom comes with finally regained the vote. Suffragists won the day.”Just a few years later, it was so. victories by referendums in Colorado (1893) and Idaho (1896) after the People’s Party, a —Adapted from “Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote,” published by Rutgers University Press in association with the Library of Congress.

JULY/AUGUST 2019 LOC.GOV/LCM 11 CAPITOL WOMEN

▪ The 116th Congress included a record The suffrage movement opened the number of women as members, dozens of voting booth to millions of women whom posed together in white before the and, in the following decades, 2019 State of the fundamentally changed Capitol Hill. Union address. Eric Connolly / official House photographer BY NEELY TUCKER

12 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE ’s came to Capitol Hill as the first woman elected to Congress in the spring of 1917. She was 36, single, a trailblazing suffragist and lobbyist. Nearly 7,000 representatives had served in the House’s 128 years, all of them men. When she was sworn in on April 2, she got an enthusiastic round of applause from the gentlemen in the chamber, but she soon found Congress to be not particularly honest and beset by troublesome reporters. “No doubt you have read in the papers about my ‘red hair’ and ‘sending the fathers to war’ and other inventions of the eastern press,” she wrote in a letter to constituents on June 1, 1917. “I wish you were here to see Congress working and to know the true facts.” Some 102 years later, congressional complaints about D.C. dishonesty and problematic reporters remain pretty much the same. Otherwise, a century after the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote nationally and altered American society, the political descendants of Rankin and other suffragists operate in a landscape their forebears could not have envisioned. The essential push of the suffrage movement was toward , of opening the voting booth to millions of Americans, and that increased access to the ballot, over time, has fundamentally changed Capitol Hill. A record number of women were sworn in as members of the 116th Congress — 102 in the House, 25 in the Senate. Nancy Pelosi resides as the speaker of the House. A woman won the popular vote for president in the 2016 . Four female senators and one representative have so far announced they are running for the Oval Office in 2020. Many of the incoming class wore white to their swearing-in ceremony, in homage to the suffragists who wore the color, often head to toe, to symbolize their purity and virtue. But the national suffrage organizations were led almost entirely by white Christian women ( was a ▪ Republican Rep. consistent problem for the movement). Jeannette Rankin of Today, the women in Congress are as Montana wrote to diverse as the nation they represent: President Woodrow staunchly conservative, fiercely liberal, Wilson, imploring him to support women’s moderates, black, brown, straight, lesbian, suffrage. Prints and Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Native American Photographs Division, and so on. In 1989, when the youngest Manuscript Division

JULY/AUGUST 2019 LOC.GOV/LCM 13 ▪ Wearing white, women member, 29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio- interviewees pointed out, women brought members of Congress Cortez, was born in , the oldest their perspectives that in many cases gather on the House member, 86-year-old Dianne Feinstein, had the men had never even considered,” floor for the State of already served as mayor of , Wasniewski says. the Union address. Phi 3,000 miles away, for a decade. Nguyen / official House The fight to get women the vote — the photographer Still, these women compose just 25 percent longest in American of the House and Senate – half of their history — is chronicled in “Shall Not Be percentage in the population. And of the 365 Denied: Women Fight for the Vote,” a women who have served in Congress, 131 yearlong exhibition by the Library (along with are current members, showing how recently a companion book published by the Library the path to power has been developed. in association with Rutgers University Press) that opened June 4, the 100th anniversary “Not until the 1990s were there enough of Senate passage of the 19th Amendment. women so that they could drive a legislative The exhibit and book draw heavily on the agenda,” says Matt Wasniewski, historian Library’s records from icons such as Susan of the House of Representatives and editor B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Carrie of “Women in Congress 1917–2006.” “About Chapman Catt, the National Woman’s Party four-fifths of all women who have served in and the National American Woman Suffrage Congress were elected after 1970.” Association. Why that matters in such a fundamental way The suffragists, it has to be recalled, were became apparent in a series of oral histories not just battling for a ballot; they were Wasniewski and his staff conducted with also taking on deeply entrenched views of former female legislators and staffers. To a religion, social order and human genetics. woman, they all recalled the frustrations of being the only woman at one committee “First and foremost, what you see in the meeting or another. “Having a seat at the objections to suffrage is that it wasn’t God’s table mattered because, as so many of our will,” says Aimee Hess, managing editor of

14 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE the Library’s Publishing Office and an editor eschewed symbolic leadership. Alice of “Shall Not Be Denied.” “Motherhood was Mary Robertson, a stern missionary from to be a woman’s most important duty, and Oklahoma, was the second woman elected that was wrapped up in traditional and often to Congress, in 1921. She didn’t care for the religious ideals.” suffrage movement or most of the women in it. “I came here to Congress to represent my When Rankin arrived in 1917, there was district,” she said, “not women.” no concept of women holding serious political power, particularly on a national That turned out to be a common refrain, level. Nearly a dozen states allowed women as newly elected women in the 1920s to vote (including Montana), but the 19th and 1930s did not present a united front Amendment wasn’t certified until 1920, on legislative issues or interests. In 1940, when Rankin was already out of office. won a special election to complete her late husband’s term in the She was such a novelty that, when she was House. She served four terms there and elected, the Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne, then won a Senate seat in 1948, becoming , described her as “a grey-eyed, the first woman to serve in both. She stayed slender girl with the enthusiasm of a zealot, in office until 1973. the simplicity of a child and the energy and fire of a race horse.” Reporters tracked her By then, a groundswell of female politicians every movement. She got endorsement in local and state offices began campaigning deals, a column in a prominent paper in for federal elections, building their Chicago and a $500-per-gig speaking fee. numbers on Capitol Hill. The 1990s showed The limelight, she later recalled, was “a great unparalleled gains for women in Congress, shock.” laying the groundwork for today’s legislature. But the handful of women elected to Neely Tucker is a writer-editor in the Office Congress over the next three decades of Communications. mostly downplayed their gender and

JULY/AUGUST 2019 LOC.GOV/LCM 15 16 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE Separated by decades but joined by a common cause, women fought ▪ Suffragists for their right to vote. demonstrate against President Woodrow Wilson on the streets of Chicago in 1916. BY HANNAH FREECE Manuscript Division

JULY/AUGUST 2019 LOC.GOV/LCM 17 ▪ Suffrage pioneers Susan B. Anthony and Ratified in 1920, the and husked and chopped and mowed, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton; 19th Amendment to the U.S. can any man do more than that?” the envelope that enshrined in law that the right to vote “shall contained the report of not be denied or abridged by the United After the Civil War, reformers divided over the first women’s rights States or by any State on account of sex.” whether to eliminate race- or gender-based convention, in Seneca The controversial campaign for women’s voting restrictions first. Addressing the Falls in 1848; and a sash American Equal Rights Association in 1866, promoting voting rights suffrage had lasted more than seven decades, fueled by the labor and sacrifice African American poet Frances Ellen Watkins for women. Manuscript Harper cautioned, “I do not believe that Division of thousands of individuals. Sharing a cause, but often divided over tactics, women fought giving the woman the ballot is immediately for their right to vote, ultimately prevailing going to cure all the ills of life. I do not over , indifference and outright believe that white women are dewdrops just antagonism. Here are a few of their stories: exhaled from the skies. I think that like men they may be divided into three classes, the In 1846, two years before the famous good, the bad and the indifferent.” Harper meeting in Seneca Falls, a group of six described her experiences of , women in Jefferson County, , demanding that white suffragists petitioned the state’s constitutional acknowledge the harmful effects of racism. convention, arguing that by denying women the vote the legislature had “widely departed Though many suffragists traced their roots from the true democratic principles upon as activists to the abolition movement, some which all just governments must be based.” white leaders relied on racist Unlike Seneca Falls organizers Elizabeth Cady to make their case for women’s votes — Stanton and Lucretia Mott, the petition’s particularly after the introduction of the 15th signers — Eleanor Vincent, Lydia A. Williams, Amendment, which enfranchised African Lydia Osborn, Susan Ormsby, Amy Ormsby American men. In 1869, Stanton used racist and Anna Bishop — are little known today. language to argue for “educated suffrage” Historian Lori D. Ginzberg calls them “virtually rather than universal male voting rights, invisible and impressively resistant to efforts declaring, “Think of Patrick and Sambo to uncover their stories.” and Hans and Yung Tung, who do not know the difference between a monarchy and As the 19th century progressed, the fight for republic … making laws for Lydia Maria women’s suffrage emerged as a national Child, Lucretia Mott or Fanny Kemble.” movement: Local gatherings grew into The split over whether to support the 15th conventions, and speakers successful Amendment divided the suffrage movement on the abolition circuit added women’s for two decades. rights to their repertoires. Former slave spoke powerfully on both SUFFRAGISTS AND ‘SALOON WRECKERS’ causes, drawing on the authority of her own experience. A contemporary account of Abolition was not the only Truth’s speech at the Woman’s Rights to share adherents with those of women’s Convention in 1851 recorded her declaration: suffrage. The to “I am a woman’s rights. I have as much ban alcohol had many women leaders, muscle as any man, and can do as much who viewed the cause as a moral one work as any man. I have plowed and reaped appropriate for feminine influence. Women and children disproportionately suffered the DECADES OF STRUGGLE

1848 1851 1866 1868 1869 The first women’s Former slave Sojourner Elizabeth Cady The 14th Amendment is The suffrage movement rights convention in Truth delivers her “Ain’t Stanton and Susan ratified, extending to all splinters over the 14th the United States is I a Woman?” speech B. Anthony form citizens constitutional and 15th amendments. held in Seneca Falls, before an audience the American Equal protections against Stanton and Anthony New York, July 19 and at a women’s rights Rights Association, an unjust state laws. form the more radical 20. Many participants convention in Akron, organization for white However, the National Woman sign a “Declaration Ohio. and black women amendment's second Suffrage Association. of Sentiments and and men dedicated to section for the first , Henry Resolutions” that . time introduced the Blackwell and Julia Ward outlines the goals for word “male” into the Howe organize the more the emerging women’s Constitution. conservative American movement. Woman Suffrage Association.

18 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE 1869 1870 1870–75 1874 1878 The Wyoming Territory The 15th Amendment Several women, The Woman’s Christian A women’s suffrage grants women the right enfranchises black including Temperance Union amendment is to vote. men. The National Louisa and is founded by Annie introduced in Congress. Woman Suffrage Susan B. Anthony, Wittenmyer and The amendment — with Association refuses to attempt to use the becomes an important its wording unchanged work for its ratification, 14th Amendment in force in the fight for — finally passes both arguing that it be the courts to secure suffrage. houses in 1919. scrapped in favor of an the vote. They are amendment providing unsuccessful. universal suffrage.

JULY/AUGUST 2019 LOC.GOV/LCM 19 consequences when drunken husbands From 1896 until 1910, no new states and fathers were violent or lost their extended women the right to vote. Returning jobs and income. One such wife, the to New York after two decades in , “saloon-wrecker” Carrie Nation, made where “” employed aggressively her name smashing Kansas bars with confrontational tactics, Harriot Stanton her signature hatchet, frequently Blatch (Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s daughter) landing in jail and redrawing the found that the American campaign “bored boundaries of women’s behavior in its adherents and repelled its opponents.” the public sphere. Blatch began organizing large public marches was a more genteel figure, but no in New York: A parade in 1912 drew 12,000 less effective: As president of the women, a number that nearly doubled three Woman’s Christian Temperance years later. As in England, the spectacle of Union, she adopted suffrage elegant women walking the streets, banners as part of the organization’s held aloft, generated press like nothing the platform, extending the cause movement had seen in decades. As one to the union’s membership of participant put it, “Women are no longer to nearly half a million, which, in be considered little tootsey wootseys who 1900, was 50 times larger than have nothing to do but look pretty. … They ▪ Above: Picketers that of the leading national are determined to take an active part in the stand watch outside suffrage organization. community and look pretty too.” the White House in 1917. Left: “Saloon wrecker” At the turn of the 20th century, Blatch sought to engage working class Carrie Nation. Prints and the suffrage movement women in the campaign, moving away from Photographs Division desperately needed new strategies. the image of her mother’s generation of elite

1890 1890 1896 1900 1911 The National Woman Wyoming is admitted Mary Church Terrell, Passing the suffrage The National Suffrage Association to the Union, becoming Ida B. Wells-Barnett, torch to a new Association Opposed and the American the first state to Margaret Murray generation, Susan to Woman Suffrage Woman Suffrage grant women full Washington, Fanny B. Anthony steps is organized. These Association reunite as enfranchisement. Jackson Coppin, down as president “antis” draw support the National American Frances Ellen Watkins of the National from urban political Woman Suffrage Harper, Charlotte American Woman machines, Southern Association under the Forten Grimké and Suffrage Association congressmen and leadership of Elizabeth and chooses Carrie corporate capitalists. Cady Stanton. form the National Chapman Catt to Association of Colored succeed her. Women.

20 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE ▪ Clockwise from top: Suffrage organizer Margaret Foley addresses a crowd; at the Occoquan workhouse; and National Association of Colored Women co-founder Harriet Tubman. Prints and Photographs Division

matrons and objecting to what she called “those little anti-republican things I hear so often here in America, this talk of the quality of votes.” Margaret Foley, a milliner in , found her calling as a labor and suffrage organizer. A member of the Hat Trimmers’ Union, the Women’s League and the Woman Suffrage Association, Foley embarked on speaking tours and became known for heckling politicians, another tactic borrowed from the British. In 1910, Foley rained down suffrage literature from a hot air balloon over Lawrence, Massachusetts. “She can easily manage seven feet, turn her brown hair to flame, descend like a mountain of bricks and extend her mellifluous accent to megaphonics,” the Boston Transcript wrote of Foley.

‘JAILED, TERRORIZED, SUPPRESSED’ If Foley’s antics grabbed attention, they paled in comparison to the undertakings of ’s National Woman’s Party, which in 1917 began daily pickets outside the White House. Paul, who had been jailed and force-fed while protesting for suffrage in England, initiated the pickets as a sustained, Paul and others undertook hunger strikes. peaceful demonstration to hold President Paul was force-fed a mixture of milk and Woodrow Wilson accountable for the lack eggs three times a day until her release, of action on a federal suffrage amendment. when she announced: “We are put out of These activities dismayed the more jail as we were put into jail, at the whim of conservative National American Woman the Government. They tried to terrorize and Suffrage Association, led by Carrie Chapman suppress us. They could not, and so freed Catt, who preferred nonpartisan lobbying to us.” shock tactics. Thanks to careful lobbying, Wilson’s eventual When police arrested picketers for endorsement and increasingly sympathetic “obstructing traffic” and incarcerated them, public opinion, the 19th Amendment was

1913 1913 1916 1917 1918 Alice Paul and Lucy Thousands of Jeannette Rankin of Picketing of the White After years of Burns organize the suffragists march Montana becomes the House begins in resistance, President Congressional Union for in Washington, D.C., first woman elected to January and carries Woodrow Wilson Woman Suffrage, later on March 3, the day Congress. on over the course in January publicly known as the National before President of the year, resulting declares his support Woman’s Party. Wilson’s inauguration. in the arrests and for a federal suffrage imprisonments of many amendment for protesters. women.

JULY/AUGUST 2019 LOC.GOV/LCM 21 ▪ Bottom: Civil rights and suffrage activist Mary Church Terrell. Top: Cartoons such as this one by W.S. Warren urged women to exercise their newly won right to vote. Prints and Photographs Division, Manuscript Division

shepherded through Congress and ratified by 36 states by August 1920. But for many, the battle was not over. Two months later, African American educator Mary Church Terrell was threatened with arrest at a train station for “disorderly conduct” after she inquired about a black organizer for the Republican Party. Terrell asserted in a letter to the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, “I consider myself the first woman victim after the Ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment north of the Mason & Dixon Line. … The colored women of the South will be shamefully treated, and will not be allowed to vote, I am sure. … We are so helpless without the right of in that section of the country where we need it most.” Though Terrell had been active in the suffrage movement for three decades, she and other continued to face barriers to voting throughout the South until the successfully pressed for reforms in the 1960s. The history of the fight for women’s voting rights in the United States is one of conflict, compromise and sacrifice. Activists who challenged restrictive social mores transformed the American political landscape, and individuals who fight for equal rights today carry on their legacy, heeding Terrell’s cry in 1920: “If we do not use the franchise we shall give our enemies a stick with which to break our heads, and we shall not be able to live down the reproach of our indifference for one hundred years. I am sure you are eager to discharge the duties and obligations of citizenship. Hold meetings! Every time you meet a woman, talk to her about going to the polls to vote.” HANNAH FREECE IS THE CO-EDITOR OF “SHALL NOT BE DENIED: WOMEN FIGHT FOR THE VOTE.” SHE IS AN EDITORIAL ASSISTANT IN THE PUBLISHING OFFICE.

1919 1920 1920 1920 1920 The 19th Amendment Its victory The League of Women Following ratification Women across the passes both the accomplished, National Voters is founded as by the necessary entire United States House and Senate and American Woman a “mighty political 36 states, the 19th are allowed to vote for goes to the states for Suffrage Association experiment” designed Amendment is adopted the first time, casting ratification. ceases to exist. to help women on Aug. 26. ballots in the Nov. 2 carry out their new presidential election. responsibilities as voters.

22 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE h Cady S a Woo etia M et ta ri dh r o ab nt to u c t iz o c l u t l n i l L E V

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WOMEN OF SUFFRAGE

JULY/AUGUST 2019 LOC.GOV/LCM 23 Sept. 23, 1838 — June 9, 1927 Nov. 12, 1815 — Oct. 26, 1902 Jan. 3, 1793 — Nov. 11, 1880

Charismatic activist Victoria With Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Early feminist Lucretia Mott Woodhull championed women’s Cady Stanton organized helped organize the seminal suffrage as well as such the 1848 Seneca Falls in unconventional causes as free convention and authored the 1848 to “discuss the social, love and mystical . “Declaration of Sentiments,” civil, and religious rights of In 1870, millionaire Cornelius which called for equal rights women” — a gathering that Vanderbilt set up Woodhull for women. Her later, long- fueled the emerging women’s with her own stock brokerage. term collaboration with suffrage movement. From She became quite successful Susan B. Anthony dominated there, Mott devoted most and used her profits to publish the suffrage movement for of her time to the causes of a women’s rights magazine. decades. In 1869, they founded suffrage and abolition, writing Woodhull gave ardent the National Woman Suffrage articles and giving powerful speeches on suffrage and, in Association, and Stanton was speeches. In 1866, she was 1872, ran for U.S. president as named its first president. She elected the first president of a member of the Equal Rights later was elected president of the American Equal Rights Party — the first woman to run the National American Woman Association, an organization for the nation’s highest office. Suffrage Association, a position dedicated to promoting she held until 1892. universal suffrage.

Jan. 11, 1885 — July 9, 1977 Feb. 15, 1820 — March 13, 1906 circa 1797 — Nov. 26, 1883

Reared as a Quaker, Alice Susan B. Anthony, along with Born into , African Paul advocated militant Elizabeth Cady Stanton, fought American evangelist Sojourner tactics to achieve a federal for women’s rights for over Truth eventually gained suffrage amendment. In 1913, five decades. Together, they her freedom and became she and Lucy Burns formed traveled the country, gave a powerful advocate for the Congressional Union for speeches, published their abolition, temperance and Woman Suffrage, later the writings, plotted strategy women’s rights. A charismatic National Woman’s Party, and and, in 1869, founded the itinerant preacher, Truth spoke organized marches, protests National Woman Suffrage out against the evils of slavery and pickets. Paul was jailed for Association to press for a and by the 1850s also had picketing the White House and suffrage amendment to the taken up the cause of women’s organized a hunger strike in constitution. Anthony later rights. In 1851, she delivered protest. In 1923, she drafted an helped merge the two largest one of the most famous , which suffrage organizations and led women’s rights speeches in was introduced in Congress the new entity until 1900. history, “Ain’t I a Woman?” but never adopted. which confronted ideas about racial and gender inferiority.

24 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE elm Bur hurch Te a B o cy n C rr v n u s ry e l t L a ll A M

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WOMEN OF SUFFRAGE

JULY/AUGUST 2019 LOC.GOV/LCM 25 Sept. 23, 1863 — July 24, 1954 July 28, 1879 — Dec. 22, 1966 Jan. 17, 1853 — Jan. 26, 1933

Mary Church Terrell fought for With Alice Paul, Lucy Burns Born in Alabama, Alva racial equality and women’s formed the Congressional Belmont married into one of suffrage — an educator, Union for Woman Suffrage, America’s wealthiest and most author and lecturer who used helping reenergize the socially prominent families, her position in the rising decades-long crusade for the Vanderbilts. Following black middle class to combat women’s rights. In 1913, a divorce and remarriage, discrimination. Terrell was Burns and Paul organized a Belmont became interested an active member of the massive suffrage parade in in women’s rights and used National American Woman the nation’s capital, held the her influence and financial Suffrage Association and later day before Woodrow Wilson’s resources to help Alice Paul co-founded and directed the inauguration as president. and other militant suffragists. National Association of Colored Like Paul, she was arrested for In 1921, she was elected Women. In 1909, she became a picketing the White House and president of the National charter member of the NAACP. staged a hunger strike while in Woman’s Party. Belmont liked prison. to offer listeners this advice: “Pray to God. She will help you.”

Sept. 24, 1825 — Feb. 22, 1911 Jan. 9, 1859 — March 9, 1947 Aug. 13, 1818 — Oct. 18, 1893

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, As president of the National Lucy Stone devoted most of along with Mary Church Terrell, American Woman Suffrage her life to pioneering equality helped organize the National Association (NAWSA), Carrie for women. She was the first Association of Colored Women Chapman Catt masterminded woman in Massachusetts to in 1894. She also was a the “Winning Plan,” a massive earn a college degree. When published poet and a powerful drive that ensured passage of Stone got married, she kept speaker and activist — she a constitutional amendment her own name as a protest refused to give up her seat on that secured women the right against inequality. Stone a trolley car, 100 years before to vote. After the amendment lectured, wrote, organized did likewise. At a was adopted in 1920, Catt conventions and campaigned women’s rights convention in reorganized NAWSA into the for suffrage amendments 1866, Harper demanded equal National League of Women in Kansas and New York. rights for all, including black Voters to educate women on She later helped found the women: “You white women political issues. She spent the American Woman Suffrage speak here of rights,” she said. rest of her life chiefly devoted Association and launched and “I speak of wrongs.” to the international peace edited the association’s weekly movement. publication, the Woman’s Journal.

26 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE TRENDING

• “Votes for Women: A Portrait of ▪ Marchers pose in Persistence” is open at the National Portrait front of the U.S. Capitol CELEBRATING Gallery through Jan. 5, 2020. Visitors will during the historic learn about the radical women who fought suffrage parade through SUFFRAGE Washington, D.C., on slavery and pushed for suffrage through March 3, 1913. Prints and Cultural sites across D.C. portraits, artifacts and biographies. Photographs Division • “Rightfully Hers: American Women and mark the centennial of the Vote,” at the National Archives through women’s right to vote. Jan. 3, 2021, will feature more than 90 items centered on the 19th Amendment and the In the more than 70-year fight for women’s complex story of suffragists who secured voting rights, Washington was an epicenter voting rights. of action. In 1913, thousands marched for women’s suffrage, parading on • The Capitol Visitor Center will offer special Avenue, with bands, mounted brigades and guided tours exploring the stories, people floats the day before Woodrow Wilson’s and events that shaped the suffrage inauguration. Crowds of men jeered and movement. blocked the route. • The conducts tours Still, it was a pivotal moment and an infusion of the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality of energy in the fight for women’s suffrage National Monument on Capitol Hill that has that would finally be won in 1920 with the been at the center of the fight for women’s ratification of the 19th Amendment. rights as the National Woman’s Party headquarters. Now 100 years later, Washington is an epicenter for celebrating the centennial of • “American Democracy: A Great Leap of women’s suffrage with major exhibitions and Faith” at the Smithsonian’s National Museum programs across the city. Here are some of of American History features Susan B. the must-see exhibits and tours: Anthony’s shawl, a suffrage wagon and the table on which Elizabeth Cady Stanton • “Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the drafted the Declaration of Sentiments for Vote,” a new exhibition at the Library of the Seneca Falls convention. Congress through September 2020, draws from the collections of Susan B. Anthony, —Brett Zongker is a public affairs specialist in Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mary Church Terrell the Office of Communications. and other suffragists and national suffrage organizations that changed America. Visitors can retrace the largest reform movement MORE INFORMATION in American history through photos, film D.C.-area suffrage events footage, artifacts and rare manuscripts. Washington.org/Suffrage

JULY/AUGUST 2019 LOC.GOV/LCM 27 AROUND THE LIBRARY

1. Rep. Brenda Lawrence (left) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn participate in a special opening program for the Library’s new exhibition, “Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote,” on June 4. 1. 2. 2. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi offers remarks during the June 4 opening program for the Library’s new suffrage exhibition. 3. Susan Billington Harper speaks at a May 8 memorial service in the Coolidge Auditorium for her father, former Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, who passed away in November 2018. 4. Singaporean American novelist Kevin Kwan (left) discusses his books with the Library’s chief communications officer, 3. 4. Roswell Encina, on May 22 in the Coolidge Auditorium. 5. Opera star Jessye Norman appears onstage in the Coolidge Auditorium on May 16 to discuss her life and career and to announce the donation of her papers to the Library. 6. On June 3, visitors explore a special collections display commemorating the bicentennial of poet Walt Whitman’s birth.

ALL PHOTOS BY SHAWN MILLER 5. 6.

28 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE NEWS BRIEFS

Library Acquires O’Keeffe, AAPB to Preserve Decades of Stieglitz Letters ‘Sesame Street’ The Library recently acquired a trove of letters The American Archive of Public Broadcasting from artist O’Keeffe and her husband, (AAPB), a collaboration between the Library photographer and art promoter Alfred Stieglitz, and the WGBH Educational Foundation, that shed new light on art history. announced the donation by Sesame Workshop of digitized episodes of “Sesame Street” to be The collection consists mostly of handwritten preserved for posterity. letters dating from 1929 to 1947, totaling 157 items. O’Keeffe and Stieglitz wrote the letters Nearly 4,500 episodes from the first 49 separately to filmmaker Henwar Rodakiewicz, seasons of the iconic children’s television their friend and colleague. program will be incorporated into the extensive AAPB archive of public media from across the The letters were preserved in private hands for United States. decades, never seen by the public. The Library is making them available to the public for the Among the indelible scenes preserved in the first time. collection are “Farewell, Mr. Hooper,” in which Big Bird learns to cope with death; Ernie’s O’Keeffe’s letters make up the bulk of the “Rubber Duckie, You’re the One,” which made materials. She writes in her distinctive it to No. 16 on the Billboard singles chart in calligraphy, penning notes from trains, her New 1970; Cookie Monster’s turn as “Alistair Cookie,” York City apartment, the Stieglitz property at the cookie and classics-obsessed host of Lake George in New York and Ghost Ranch Monsterpiece Theater; and Kermit the Frog’s in New , where she kept a home and “It’s Not Easy Being Green,” a tune promoting studio. self-acceptance. MORE: loc.gov/item/prn-19-032 MORE: loc.gov/item/prn-19-019 Dale Appointed Head of CRS’ Jefferson Elected to Lead Library Services American Library Association Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden in April Julius C. Jefferson Jr., a section head in the appointed Robin L. Dale to the position of Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Division of associate librarian for Library Services. the Congressional Research Service at the As head of Library Services, Dale oversees Library of Congress, recently was elected efforts to develop the universal collections at president-elect of the American Library the Library and to organize, provide access Association (ALA). to, maintain, secure and preserve those He will serve as president-elect for one year collections. before stepping into the role of president at the Dale previously worked as deputy director of 2020 ALA annual conference in Chicago. the Office of Library Services at the Institute “It is an immense honor to be elected 2020–21 of Museum and Library Services. She also president of the American Library Association,” served as the senior director for digital Jefferson said. “I am both humbled and services at LYRASIS, where she developed appreciative of the confidence in my ability to and implemented organizational strategy for lead ALA in the service of libraries and library digital programs, services, grant funding and workers.” partnerships. Jefferson holds a bachelor’s degree in history She holds a master’s degree in library and from and a master’s information science from the University of in library and information science from California, Berkeley, and received a Bachelor of the University of Maryland. He joined the Arts cum laude from the University of California, Congressional Research Service in 2006. Riverside. MORE: https://bit.ly/2DkTPB8 MORE: loc.gov/item/prn-19-026

JULY/AUGUST 2019 LOC.GOV/LCM 29 SHOP

19th Amendment Tote ‘Shall Not Be Denied’ Suffrage Journal Product #21301596 Product #21107172 Product #21408838 Price: $20 Price: $24.95 Price: $16

Pay tribute to suffragists who This companion volume to the This journal bears an image from fought for the right to vote with Library exhibition of the same the official program of the suffrage this tote bearing names of the name tells the story of the long march held in Washington, D.C., in movement’s key figures. campaign for women’s suffrage. 1913.

Votes for Women Puzzle Shall Not Be Denied Pin 19th Amendment Scarf Product #21504384 Product #21509805 Product #21302940 Price: $20 Price: $11.95 Price: $55

This 500-piece puzzle celebrates Honor the sacrifices of the This scarf emblazoned with the text women — and one man, Frederick suffragists by wearing this purple, of the 19th Amendment is sure to Douglass — important in the white and gold pin — the chosen inspire your day. suffrage movement. colors of the U.S. movement.

▪ Order online: loc.gov/shop ▪ Order by phone: 888.682.3557

30 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE SUPPORT

not only inspire visitors through their support ▪ A visitor examines of exhibitions like “Shall Not Be Denied” but items in the Library’s EXHIBITIONS also have contributed to signature new exhibition, “Shall like the Library of Congress National Book Not Be Denied: Women FOR ALL Fight for the Vote.” Festival. Shawn Miller Generous donors help make In addition to its support for “Shall Not Be Denied,” HISTORY also will distribute Library exhibits like ‘Shall Not a companion “idea book” that features Be Denied’ possible. ideas for classroom activities using primary sources. HISTORY also created idea books Library of Congress exhibitions come to life, for the landmark exhibitions exploring the in part, thanks to donors who help cultivate and I. First a nation of learners. time supporters 1st Financial Bank USA and Exhibitions and their related programs the Family Foundation Fund at are one way the Library engages, with an the Boston Foundation join this philanthropic ever-growing audience of nearly 2 million group, which seeks to inspire and engage visitors to its Capitol Hill campus each year lifelong learners from around the world. and millions more online. The in-person If a Library of Congress exhibition inspires and online exhibition experiences inspire you, consider supporting one of its exploration and discovery, connecting the exhibitions highlighting unique collections, American people with the Library’s history, such as the upcoming “Rosa Parks: In Her collections, research centers and experts. Own Words” exhibition, which will feature The Library’s newest exhibition, “Shall Not Parks’ personal correspondence and family Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote,” is photographs, letters from presidents and made possible through major support from more. the James Madison Council, the Library’s Every gift makes a difference and helps the private-sector support group. The Madison Library share its unparalleled resources with Council has given more than $230 million the nation and the world. to the Library since its inception, including funding for more than 40 exhibitions and programs. Madison Council members Thomas V. Girardi and Roger and Julie MORE INFORMATION Baskes generously provided additional Make a gift support for the “Shall Not Be Denied” loc.gov/donate exhibition. Library of Congress exhibitions Supporters like Democracy Fund and AARP loc.gov/exhibits

JULY/AUGUST 2019 LOC.GOV/LCM 31 LAST WORD

SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI One hundred and seventy-one years ago, 300 women and men gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, and shook the world with a simple proclamation: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men and women are created equal.” With those words, the women of Seneca Falls ignited a relentless, generations-long struggle by America’s women to secure what is rightfully ours: the sacred right to vote. Yet, for more than 70 years after, the full promise of equality would be denied to America’s women. During that time, women did not wait for change — they demanded change. For decades, in the face of overwhelming challenges, courageous women protested and picketed, marched and mobilized, were beaten and jailed and finally won the right to vote. The first woman elected to Congress in 1916, Jeannette Rankin of Montana, led the fight Our women members made history — and to pass the 19th Amendment, asking, “How now, they are making a difference. Just like shall we explain the meaning of democracy the suffragists of the past, these women if the same Congress that voted for war to are fighting to ensure that every freedom, make the world safe for democracy refuses to every liberty and every right belongs to every give this small measure of democracy to the American — including the right to be heard women of our country?” It would be another at the ballot box, which is the mainstay two years before the 19th Amendment was of our democracy. The suffragists’ noble finally ratified, but Rankin and countless cause continues in our fight against blatantly other suffragists never wavered in their fierce partisan, morally wrong determination to secure the right to vote. efforts that target communities of color. When the amendment was ratified, headlines As we prepare to celebrate the 100th described this milestone as women being anniversary of the 19th Amendment, we must “given” the right to vote. Nothing was given; channel the same pioneering spirit of the women fought for their rights. suffragists and rededicate ourselves to the important work left to be done to bring our Generations after women won the right to nation closer to its founding promise of full vote, we would have to fight for another right: fairness and equality. the right to take our seat at the decision- making table. When I came to Congress, The Library of Congress' exhibition, “Shall Not there were only 25 women in Congress. Back Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote,” plays then, women weren’t considered a threat an important role in this mission. This special to the established, male-dominated power not only celebrates the suffragists of in Washington. Yet, we refused to sit on the the past, it informs and inspires the change- sidelines. We knew our purpose and we knew makers of our future. It is my hope that all who our power — and we used it to make progress, experience this exhibition will be empowered demanding not only a seat at the table, but a to stand on the suffragists' shoulders, to seat at the head of the table. speak out and make their voices for change heard, particularly young women and girls. Today, how incredible it is that, in the same As we say: When women succeed, America Congress that will mark 100 years since succeeds! women won the right to vote, we serve with more than 100 women members – and, of —Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the course, with a woman Speaker! U.S. House of Representatives.

32 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE ▪ Visitors explore the “Shall Not Be Denied” exhibition following an opening celebration on June 4. Shawn Miller PRESORTED STANDARD POSTAGE & FEES PAID LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WASHINGTON, DC PERMIT No. G-103 OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS 101 INDEPENDENCE AVE. S.E. WASHINGTON, DC 20540-1610

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SHALL NOT BE DENIED: WOMEN FIGHT FOR THE VOTE Through Sept. 2020

ART IN ACTION Through Aug. 17

CLOSING SOON: BASEBALL AMERICANA Through July 27

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