Women S Rights National Historical Park Seneca Falls New York

A National Park for Women's Rights chronicles a little-known story in American history: the establishment of the Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, New York; the first "idea park" in the National Park system. As told by Judy Hart, its visionary founder and first superintendent, the park's story is one of struggle and perseverance, opposition and solidarity. Hart narrates the uphill battle she fought to secure the park's location—on the site of the first women's rights convention in 1848—and to gain respect for the idea of a park dedicated to women's rights from 1978, when she first championed its creation to the triumphant moment in 1982 when the park opened its doors, and following years. Hart's journey highlights the prejudices and resistance that she faced, like other women who have advocated for themselves, their rights, and their place in America. Going behind the scenes of the park's planning and the negotiations, conflicts, and collaborations that shaped the final vision, A National Park for Women's Rights highlights the contributions of Park Service officials, politicians, and interested citizens in Seneca Falls, despite opposition from within and beyond the Park Service. An inspiration and rallying cry for women (and their male allies) to tell their stories and claim their place in American history, A National Park for Women's Rights also offers a model for public history activism. No matter how daunting the opposition to such acts of historical memory-making are, Hart's experiences remind citizen-activists to dream, organize, and persist.

Feminists from 1848 to the present have rightly viewed the Seneca Falls convention as the birth of the women's rights movement in the United States and beyond. In The Road To Seneca Falls, Judith Wellman offers the first well documented, full-length account of this historic meeting in its contemporary context. The convention succeeded by uniting powerful elements of the antislavery movement, radical Quakers, and the campaign for legal reform under a common cause. Wellman shows that these three strands converged not only in Seneca Falls, but also in the life of women's rights pioneer Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It is this convergence, she argues, that foments one of the greatest rebellions of modern times. Rather than working heavy-handedly downward from their official "Declaration of Sentiments," Wellman works upward from richly detailed documentary evidence to construct a complex tapestry of causes that lay behind the convention, bringing the struggle to life. Her approach results in a satisfying combination of social, community, and reform history with individual and collective biographical elements. The Road to Seneca Falls challenges all of us to reflect on what it means to be an American trying to implement the belief that "all men and women are created equal," both then and now. A fascinating story in its own right, it is also a seminal piece of scholarship for anyone interested in history, politics, or gender.