Suffrage And Beyond

The 1980s and 1990s have seen an unprecedented emphasis on global feminism, on the connectedness of women regardless of race, class, or geography. And yet, the status and position of women throughout the world remains enormously disparate. Even so fundamental an issue as a woman's right to vote has been--and in many countries continues to be--hotly contested. How then have suffrage movements evolved? What are the similarities and differences in the manner in which women, in a range of different economic, religious, and political contexts, have sought the vote? Bringing together such eminent scholars as Nancy Cott, Ellen Dubois, and Carole Pateman, Suffrage and Beyond offers a comprehensive look at the political history of suffrage on a global scale.

Profiles women who achieved positions of national leadership in the 1930s under Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal administration.

The 1980s and 1990s have seen an unprecedented emphasis on global feminism, on the connectedness of women regardless of race, class, or geography. And yet, the status and position of women throughout the world remains enormously disparate. Even so fundamental an issue as a woman's right to vote has been--and in many countries continues to be--hotly contested. How then have suffrage movements evolved? What are the similarities and differences in the manner in which women, in a range of different economic, religious, and political contexts, have sought the vote? Bringing together such eminent scholars as Nancy Cott, Ellen Dubois, and Carole Pateman, Suffrage and Beyond offers a comprehensive look at the political history of suffrage on a global scale.

We think we know the story of women's suffrage in the United States: women met at Seneca Falls, marched in Washington, D.C., and demanded the vote until they won it with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. But the fight for women's voting rights extended far beyond these familiar scenes. From social clubs in New York's Chinatown to conferences for Native American rights, and in African American newspapers and pamphlets demanding equality for Spanish-speaking New Mexicans, a diverse cadre of extraordinary women struggled to build a movement that would truly include all women, regardless of race or national origin. In Recasting the Vote, Cathleen D. Cahill tells the powerful stories of a multiracial group of activists who propelled the national suffrage movement toward a more inclusive vision of equal rights. Cahill reveals a new cast of heroines largely ignored in earlier suffrage histories: Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (Zitkala-Ša), Laura Cornelius Kellogg, Carrie Williams Clifford, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, and Adelina "Nina" Luna Otero-Warren. With these feminists of color in the foreground, Cahill recasts the suffrage movement as an unfinished struggle that extended beyond the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. As we celebrate the centennial of a great triumph for the women's movement, Cahill's powerful history reminds us of the work that remains.

Buecheler explains why women's movements arise, the forms of organization they adopt, the diversity of ideologies they espouse, and the class and racial composition of women's movements. He also helps us to understand the roots of countermovements, as well as the mixture of successes and failures that has characterized both past and present women's movements. While recognizing both the setbacks and the victories of the contemporary movement, Buecheler identifies grounds for relative optimism about the lasting consequences of this ongoing mobilization.

Looking beyond the national leadership of the suffrage movement, Susan Ware tells the inspiring story of nineteen dedicated women who carried the banner for the vote into communities across the nation, out of the spotlight, protesting, petitioning, and demonstrating for women's right to become full citizens.

The author explores the experience of fourteen women from 1914 to 1928, the year when the enfranchisement of women in Britain was completed. These women were active suffragists before 1918 and their political activities continued after the war. Similar in social background, they formed a network of friendship from which they drew strength; yet they were different in their perspectives on feminism and in the extent, nature and direction of their commitment to the women's movement.

The epic history of African American women's pursuit of political power -- and how it transformed America. In the standard story, the suffrage crusade began in Seneca Falls in 1848 and ended with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. But this overwhelmingly white women's movement did not win the vote for most black women. Securing their rights required a movement of their own. In Vanguard, acclaimed historian Martha S. Jones offers a new history of African American women's political lives in America. She recounts how they defied both racism and sexism to fight for the ballot, and how they wielded political power to secure the equality and dignity of all persons. From the earliest days of the republic to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and beyond, Jones excavates the lives and work of black women -- Maria Stewart, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Fannie Lou Hamer, and more -- who were the vanguard of women's rights, calling on America to realize its best ideals.