6-minute suffrage stories about the crucial yet forgotten role Ohio played in the fight for women’s right to vote

Named for "The Genius of Liberty," a feminist newspaper The theme music is Battle Hymn of the Republic medley, Launched in June 2019, episodes of The Genius of Liberty published in Cincinnati in the early 1850s, the podcast arranged and performed by Marisa Anderson. The original will be released through August 2020. You can listen to series is hosted by Hillary Copsey and produced by Chris words to the Battle Hymn were written by suffragist Julia The Genius of Liberty free online at SoundCloud or Messick of Cincinnati's Mercantile Library. Katherine Ward Howe, and the tune, with different words, later subscribe to The Genius of Liberty on Apple Podcasts and Durack, independent scholar, researches, writes, and became a suffrage anthem. Google Play. voices the stories.

Episode Title Description People Speeches, Publications, Other Works Events, Organizations, & Places

1 Woman with Book Cincinnati’s Mercantile Library once Elizabeth Aldrich, Otis Aldrich, Introduction to American Law (1837), Antioch College (Yellow Springs, OH) claimed to be one of the first organizations Henry Blackwell, Edward Legal Rights, Liabilities and Duties of Chamber of Commerce (Cincinnati, OH) west of the Alleghenies to support Mansfield, Gloria Steinem, Lucy Women (1845), “On Woman” (1853) Mercantile Library (Cincinnati, OH) women’s rights. Stone, Timothy Walker, Mary Wollstonecraft

2 The Genius of Liberty The Genius of Liberty was one of the very Elizabeth A. Aldrich, Mrs. Elizabeth Banner of the Union newspaper Woman’s Rights Convention (Mt. Gilead, OH) first feminist newspapers, published by Oakes Smith, T. S. (Thomas Smith) (Philadelphia, PA) 1852 National Woman’s Rights Convention Elizabeth A. Aldrich in Cincinnati, Ohio. Grimke Masonic Review (Cincinnati, OH) (Syracuse, NY)

3 Take Me Out to the Of course it was “the Cincinnati Girl,” Trixie Friganza (aka, Delia The Prince of Pilsen (play), Uncle Tom’s City Hall (New York City, NY Giants vs. Ball Game, Trixie! suffragist and vaudeville star Trixie O’Callahan), Jack Norworth Cabin (play), Cincinnati Reds (New York City), Pogue’s Friganza, who inspired the iconic song, Department Store (Cincinnati, OH), Vaudeville “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” Who show (Louisville, KY) knew a girl could keep score?

4 Fake News! The letter of support sent by Ohio activist Lucius A. Hine The Cincinnati Nonpareil newspaper 1850 National Woman’s Rights Convention Lucius A. Hine to the first national (Worcester, MA), woman’s rights convention made national headlines…and Hine objected.

5 Shorthand for Suffragist Margaret V. Longley Elias Longley, M. V. (Margaret The Phonetic Advocate 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, 1869 Annual Suffrage revolutionized office work and created new Vater) Longley Typewriter Lessons for Teachers and Meeting of the American Equal Rights Assn. opportunities for women in the workplace. Learners (New York City)

6 “A Greater Menace In February 1917 the Ohio legislature Mrs. O.F. Davisson The Akron Times, The Holden “Beer Capital of the World” (Cincinnati, OH), than War” passed — and the governor signed into Resolution, The Reynolds Act Cuyahoga County (OH), Mahoning County law — a bill that allowed Ohio women to (OH), Montgomery County (OH) Suffrage vote for President. Male voters repealed Association, Ohio State Senate (Columbus, the measure that fall. OH), Ohio Supreme Court (Columbus, OH), Scioto County (OH), Trumbull County (OH)

7 Equal Justice Under How building the United States Supreme Mrs. John Gordon Battelle, Mrs. Columbus (OH), Marine Band, National Law Court erased women’s history. O.H.P. Belmont, President Warren Woman’s Party (Washington, DC), “Old Brick G. Harding, Mrs. William Howard Capitol” (Washington, DC), United States Taft Supreme Court (Washington, DC)

8 “Woman Versus The Anna Julia Cooper confronted racism in Anna Julia Cooper A Voice From the South Xenia (OH) Indian” the women’s suffrage movement in her seminal work of black feminism, A Voice from the South, published in Xenia, Ohio, in 1892.

9 Leading the Nation After President Carrie Chapman Catt Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth J. The History of Woman Suffrage National American Woman Suffrage from Warren, Ohio suffered a serious illness, the headquarters Hauser, Harriet Taylor Upton Association (New York City; Warren, OH) for the National American Woman Suffrage Association moved to Warren, Ohio, under the leadership of Harriet Taylor Upton from 1903-1910.

10 The Death of Susan In March 1906, Harriet Taylor Upton shared Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth J. The Woman’s Journal Equal suffrage states (CO, ID, UT, WY), Mt. B. Anthony the news of Susan B. Anthony’s death with Hauser, Harriet Taylor Upton, Anna Hope Cemetery (Rochester, NY) National readers of The Woman’s Journal. Howard Shaw American Woman Suffrage Association (Warren, OH), Susan B. Anthony’s home (Rochester, NY), Utah, Wyoming

11 One March More Hallie Quinn Brown of Wilberforce, Ohio, Hallie Quinn Brown, Lucretia Mott, The New York Age; The Portrait International Council of Women (London, and the members of the National Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Queen Monument England), National Association of Colored Association of Colored Women fought for Victoria, Lester A. Walton, Susan Women’s Clubs (Washington, DC), US Capitol civil rights and woman suffrage both B. Anthony Rotunda (Washington, DC), Wilberforce (OH) before and after adoption of the 19th amendment.

12 Legally Responsible In December 1877, the Toledo Woman “Ladies of the Toledo Woman “The Legal Condition of Women” in The Board of Trustees of the Toledo Public Library Women Suffrage Association took on a new cause: Suffrage Association” included Western Law Journal (1849) (Toledo, OH) the right of responsible women to secure a Anna C. Mott, secretary, and Rosa library card. L. Segur, President; William H. Scott, Timothy Walker

13 Beer Kegs, Baby As delegates from across Ohio gathered to Harriet Taylor Upton, Wayne B. The Constitution of the State of Ohio The Elyria, Ohio, courthouse; Coshocton Buggies, and Ballots review the state constitution, the powerful Wheeler, D.F. Anderson, Allen M. County, Hamilton County, Knox County, Anti-Saloon League threw its weight Marshall, Raymond G. McClelland, Mahoning County behind woman suffrage, kicking off a Stanley E. Bowdle battle of behemoths as a “Liquor Trust” formed to fight back. [October 23 Pod Discovery Podcast Festival]

1 Episode Title Description People Speeches, Publications, Other Works Events, Organizations, & Places

14 How to Celebrate the As the nation prepared to celebrate its Abigail Adams, Susan B. Anthony, Minor v. Happersett; The Ballot Box Toledo Woman Suffrage Association; 1876 Centennial centennial in 1876, the Toledo Woman Frederick Douglass, Virginia L. Centennial Exhibition and Independence Hall Suffrage Association launched The Ballot Minor, Rosa L. Segur (Philadelphia, PA) Box newspaper, which advised readers not to celebrate, but to declare independence.

15 Mailing Indecent Ohioan Stanley Bowdle sexualized females Robert L. Black, Stanley E. The New Republic Cincinnati; US House of Representatives; US Matter to rally opposition in Congress and defeat Bowdle, Postmaster General Justice Department a federal amendment for woman suffrage Albert S. Burleson in 1915.

16 Womanly Women Although the New York Daily Tribune was Horace Greeley; editor of the Anti- The Constitution of the State of Ohio; Salem, Ohio Won’t Vote generous in its coverage of the first Slavery Bugle [Marius Robinson] The Anti-Slavery Bugle; The New York statewide woman’s rights convention in Daily Tribune Salem, Ohio, editor Horace Greeley nevertheless advanced a compelling reason women should not be granted suffrage: nice ladies won’t vote.

17 Who Speaks for “Ain’t I A Woman?” Sojourner Truth Frances Dana Gage, Marius The Anti-Slavery Bugle Akron, Ohio Truth? reportedly asked at the 1851 woman’s Robinson, Sojourner Truth rights convention in Akron, but the words Frances Dana Gage popularized scarcely resemble the most accurate account of her speech.

18 The Slave Mother Forecasting the legal wrangling that would Margaret Garner, Frances Ellen The Fugitive Slave Act, “The Slave 6th National Woman’s Rights Convention; rivet national attention on the trial of Watkins Harper, Judge Humphrey Mother” [poem] Cincinnati, Ohio runaway Margaret Garner, Adeline Swift Leavitt, US Marshal H. H. denounced laws governing enslaved Robinson, Lucy Stone, Adeline people and married women at the 6th Swift national woman’s rights convention in Cincinnati.

19 Strong-minded She- In their coverage of the 1853 National William Lloyd Garrison, Abby Kelly, Cleveland Plain Dealer; Brooklyn Daily 4th National Woman’s Rights Convention; Rowdies Woman’s Rights Convention in Cleveland, Reverend Nevin, Ernestine Rose Eagle Cleveland, Ohio Ohio, most newspapers focused on sensation rather than substance, but The Cleveland Plain Dealer shone as the exception, giving space to the words of Ernestine Rose, “the master spirit of the Convention.”

20 Bombshell While Victoria Woodhull of Homer, Ohio, Susan B. Anthony, Luther C. Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly; Comstock Homer, Ohio; combined Judiciary Committee made news when she became the first Challis, Anthony Comstock, Henry laws of Congress; Wall Street woman to run for President of the United Ward Beecher, Tennie C. States, that story was eclipsed in [Tennessee] Claflin, Mrs. Theodore November 1872 when she dropped a Tilton, Victoria Woodhull “bombshell” that rocked the nation: the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, “Shakespeare of the pulpit,” had had sex with his best friend’s wife.

21 A League of Our Own In April 1921, the National American Susan B. Anthony, Carrie “The Nation Calls,” address by Carrie The National American Woman Suffrage Woman Suffrage Association held its last Chapman Catt, Netti Rogers Chapman Catt at the National American Association; The League of Women Voters; national conference in Cleveland, Ohio, Shuler Woman Suffrage Association Cleveland, Ohio; St. Louis, Missouri; Munsey and handed the reins to its successor, the Convention (1919); Proceedings of the Building (Washington, DC); the Philippines, League of Women Voters. National American Woman Suffrage Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Jamaica, Newfoundland; Association Convention held at Seneca Falls, NY: Wyoming Cleveland, Ohio, April 13, 1921

22 Saving Suffrage for Cincinnatians George S. Hawke, John John Druffel, Assistant Attorney The Chicago Daily Tribune, The Cincinnati, Ohio; The National American the Nation Druffel, and Lawrence Maxwell waged an General William L. Frierson, Washington Post, The Woman Patriot Woman Suffrage Association; The Ohio eleventh-hour legal battle regarding Ohio's George S. Hawke, Lawrence General Assembly; Ohio Anti-Woman June 1919 ratification of the 19th Maxwell, Tennessee Governor Suffrage League; Ohio Supreme Court; US amendment. The decision by the US Albert H. Roberts, Ohio Secretary Supreme Court; Tennessee Supreme Court a year later sided with of State Harvey C. Smith, Hawke, clearing legal hurdles that made it President Woodrow Wilson possible for Tennessee to ratify the 19th amendment, making it the law of the land.

23 “God Gives Rights, Elizabeth Wilson of Cadiz, Ohio, published William Lloyd Garrison, Angelina The Anti-Slavery Bugle, The King James Cadiz, Ohio; 1st National Woman’s Rights Demands Duties” her bold vision of faithful feminism in A Grimke, Theodore Weld, Elizabeth Bible, The Liberator, The Philadelphia Convention (Worcester, MA) Scriptural View of Woman's Rights and Wilson Saturday Evening Post Duties in 1849, blazing the path followed decades later by Matilda Joslyn Gage's Woman, Church, and State and Elizabeth Cady Stanton's Woman's Bible.

24 The Power of an Idea Cincinnati's Reverend Herbert S. Bigelow Reverend Herbert S. Bigelow, “The Power of An Idea” (speech), Ohio Oberlin College, 1906 NAWSA national included a stop at the National American George Shipley state constitution, US constitution convention, Vine Street Congregational Woman Suffrage Association's annual Church (Cincinnati), 1912 Ohio Constitutional convention as part of his 1906 campaign Convention for initiative and referendum, which he believed would empower citizens to enact progressive reforms.

2