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Votes for Women!: American Suffragists and the Battle for the Ballot

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Votes for Women!: American Suffragists and the Battle for the Ballot

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Overview

“Lively . . . Defiant . . . Pulling back the curtain on 100 years of struggle . . . The women who shaped the American narrative come to life with refreshing attention to detail.”—The New York Times Book Review

For nearly 150 years, American women did not have the right to vote. On August 18, 1920, they won that right, when the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified at last. To achieve that victory, some of the fiercest, most passionate women in history marched, protested, and sometimes even broke the law—for more than eight decades.

From Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who founded the suffrage movement at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, to Sojourner Truth and her famous “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech, to Alice Paul, arrested and force-fed in prison, this is the story of the American women’s suffrage movement and the private lives that fueled its leaders’ dedication. Votes for Women! explores suffragists’ often powerful, sometimes difficult relationship with the intersecting temperance and abolition campaigns, and includes an unflinching look at some of the uglier moments in women’s fight for the vote.

By turns illuminating, harrowing, and empowering, Votes for Women! paints a vibrant picture of the women whose tireless battle still inspires political, human rights, and social justice activism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781616209889
Publisher:	Workman Publishing Company
Publication date:	01/07/2020
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	523,492
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Winifred Conkling is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction for young readers, including Passenger on the Pearl, Radioactive!, and the middle-grade novel Sylvia & Aki. You can find her online at winifredconkling.com.

Preface "Aye" 1

Chapter 1 "Oh, my daughter, I wish you were a boy!": Before Seneca Falls 6

Chapter 2 "All men and women are created equal": Seneca Falls Convention, 1848 30

Chapter 3 "The right is ours": Creating a National Suffrage Movement 43

Chapter 4 "In thought and sympathy we were one": A Feminist Friendship 62

Chapter 5 "You must be true alike to the women and the negroes": Division in the Suffrage Movement 80

Chapter 6 "Madam, you are not a citizen": Victoria Woodhull Speaks to Congress 107

Chapter 7 "I have been & gone & done it!!": Susan B. Anthony Votes for President 128

Chapter 8 "We ask justice, we ask equality": Forward, Step by Step 144

Chapter 9 "Failure is impossible!": The Next Generation 171

Chapter 10 "Votes for Women": The Second Wave of Suffragists 180

Chapter 11 "How long must women wait for liberty?": Parades and Protests 193

Chapter 12 "Power belongs to good": The Silent Sentinels 215

Chapter 13 "This ordeal was the most terrible torture": Hungering for Justice 239

Chapter 14 "Don't forget to be a good boy": The Battle for Ratification 258

In Her Own Words: Key Primary Sources 273

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792): Mary Wollstonecraft 273

Letters on the Equality of the Sexes, and the Condition of Woman (1838): Sarah Grimké 273

Declaration of Sentiments (1848): Elizabeth Cady Stanton 274

"Ain't I a Woman?" (1851): Sojourner Truth 274

Wedding Vows of Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell (1855) 275

"Are Women Persons?": Susan B. Anthony's Address after Her Arrest for Illegal Voting (1873) 275

Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1920) 275

The Suffrage Sisters: A Timeline 276

Bibliography 280

Books 280

Films 283

Manuscript Collections 283

Websites 284

Places of Interest 284

Notes 285

Acknowledgments 305

Index 307

From the B&N Reads Blog

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Editorial Reviews

Lively . . . Defiant . . . Pulling back the curtain on 100 years of struggle . . . The women who shaped the American narrative come to life with refreshing attention to detail.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Young readers will find fascinating, still-relevant lessons about power, persuasion and politics.”
—The Washington Post

“[Votes for Women] gives hope that, no matter how broken the system, no matter much our beliefs seem to divide us, change can happen.”
—Chicago Tribune

“This is an absorbing read for feminists, as well as readers who love learning about the history of women. I found it particularly fascinating how many other movements were happening at the same time as the suffrage movement — and certainly, it’s hard not to see those social movements as still relevant today.”
—Book Riot

“This is a fascinating account of the bumpy road to women’s suffrage in the U.S. . . . Well-chosen black-and-white archival reproductions and photographs ably support the text, which makes excellent use of primary sources, including excerpts from letters and writings to bring key personalities to life.”
—The Horn Book Magazine,starred review

"From the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls in 1848 to the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, this is a commanding and relevant account of sweeping, hard-won social reform and action."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Spanning multiple centuries, this work may be the most comprehensive account for young readers about the founders, leaders, organizers, and opponents of the American suffragist movement . . . Conkling delivers a tour de force."
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Looking for a comprehensive, well-written history of women’s fight for the right to vote? You’ve found it. Conkling draws readers in . . . this is great for research as well as a good read.”
—Booklist

“The intense drama of the 72-year battle for women’s suffrage springs vividly to life from the pages of this compulsively readable account.”
—School Library Journal

“Votes for Women! details the arduous struggle for women’s suffrage in America with compelling biographical profiles of some of the movement’s key figures . . . Through letters, journals, biographies, photographs, and newspaper accounts, the efforts of the known and unknown women who took up the cause of suffrage are vividly storied.”
—Foreword Reviews

“With a strong storytelling voice, Winifred Conkling offers readers a captivating account of the long-fought battle for women’s suffrage in the United States . . .Votes for Women! is an important, inspiring, and timely book.”
—International Literacy Association

From the Publisher

…Conkling has composed something…like a lively textbook…Votes for Women starts with the pivotal moment of success that came with Harry Burn's defining vote to ratify the 19th Amendment in 1920, then immediately zooms out. The fight for suffrage was won one day in the Tennessee statehouse, but it started nearly a century earlier, and that's where Votes for Women opts to begin, pulling back the curtain on 100 years of struggle.

The New York Times Book Review - Lauren Duca

★ 12/11/2017
This comprehensive history chronicles the almost-80-year battle for women’s suffrage. Conkling (Radioactive!) effectively sketches the complex personalities of the women who fought for women’s right to vote, beginning with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and including subsequent leaders Carrie Chapman Catt and the more radical Alice Paul. Throughout, the detailed narrative contextualizes the contributions of the many women (and men) involved, including how women’s rights intersected with the abolition movement and the impacts of the Civil War and WWI. Sidebar biographies and historical photographs help bring figures in the movement to life. Throughout, Conkling skillfully presents the women in their own words, such as Sojourner Truth’s famous speech advocating for women’s rights regardless of race, and Anthony’s rallying cry to the next generation, shortly before her death in 1906: “With such women consecrating their lives, failure is impossible!” From the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls in 1848 to the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, this is a commanding and relevant account of sweeping, hard-won social reform and action. Ages 13–up. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

01/01/2018
Gr 6–10—The intense drama of the 72-year battle for women's suffrage springs vividly to life from the pages of this compulsively readable account. Expertly balancing the human interest focus on individual suffragists with critical contextual information, Conkling gives readers an overview of the movement in all its complexity from the origins of the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. Influential leaders such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Victoria Claflin Woodhull, and Alice Paul are introduced as well-rounded human beings who each wrestled in their own ways with aligning their desire for women's suffrage with questions of morality and political strategy over abolition, temperance, and pacifism, among other issues. Covering a time period that included the Civil and First World Wars, not to mention a multitude of shifting alliances among suffragists themselves, could easily become dense or confusing; however, Conkling's character sketches and lucid explanations make the narrative easy to follow. She highlights the dual fight of racism and sexism that Black women faced and addresses the racism of white suffragists. Well-chosen black-and-white photographs enhance the text. A time line, annotated list of primary sources, bibliography, and index make this useful for research and reports, but the quality of the writing renders it appealing for leisure reading as well. VERDICT Timely and relevant, this is an essential purchase for all collections serving middle and high school students.—Laura Simeon, Open Window School, Bellevue, WA

School Library Journal

★ 2017-10-28
Spanning multiple centuries, this work may be the most comprehensive account for young readers about the founders, leaders, organizers, and opponents of the American suffragist movement.Conkling takes readers back to a time when giving birth to a girl elicited sighs of pity. Women did not have the right to own property, could not enter into contracts or sign legal documents, could not keep their wages, had limited options for work, and had few legal rights overall. Over half of this thorough account focuses on the first wave of the suffragist movement, exploring the lives—personal and activist—of key players; coverage of the second wave moves faster, as women protest nonviolently, march, picket in silence, and endure unjust prison sentences. From hunger strikes to cruel and deplorable jail conditions, women endured much to get Congress to consider their vote. History buffs won't be surprised when reading about the multiple occasions in which suffragists would put their needs before others', getting tangled in racial and class tensions with abolitionists and African-Americans who were fighting for similar rights. With black-and-white portraits, newspaper clippings, historical renderings, and photographs interspersed, the well-documented narrative is propelled by diary and autobiography accounts, speeches, newspaper articles, and conventions and court records.Almost a century after women's right to vote was secured, Conkling delivers a tour de force—fairly neutral, at times infuriating, occasionally graphic, and reminiscent of disturbing news today. (selected sources, timeline, bibliography, notes) (Nonfiction. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews

Votes for Women!: American Suffragists and the Battle for the Ballot

Votes for Women!: American Suffragists and the Battle for the Ballot

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