Centennial Tool Kit
Here are some great resources and ideas to help you in planning your community celebrations around the Centennial of the 19th Amendment. Keep an eye on this page, as it will continue to evolve. Do you have a resource you think other Leagues could benefit from? Let us know about it!
From LWVMN
From LWVUS
Articles
Ueland, Jimmy. “Dedication to Serve.”
Fun fact: This historical paper was written by Clara Ueland’s great-great-grandson!
Walkup, Carolyn. “Work of early suffragists not yet finished.”
Stuhler, Barbara. “Organizing for the Vote: Leaders of Minnesota’s Woman Suffrage Movement.” Minnesota History 54, no. 7 (Fall 1995): 290-303.
Weber, Eric W. “Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association.” MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society.
Gilman, Rhoda. "Women in Minnesota: Weaving the Web of Society in the North Star State." MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society.
Peterson, Anna Marie. “Adding ‘A Little Suffrage Spice to the Melting Pot’: Minnesota’s Scandinavian Woman Suffrage Association,” Minnesota History 62, no. 8 (Winter 2011-12): 288–297.
Books
Bauer, Heidi, ed. The Privilege for Which We Struggled: Leaders of the Woman Suffrage Movement in Minnesota. With an Introduction by Barbara Stuhler. St. Paul: Upper Midwest Women's History Center, 1999.
Egge, Sara. Woman Suffrage and Citizenship in the Midwest, 1870-1920. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2018.
Jefferson-Jenkins, Carolyn. The Untold Story of Women of Color in the League of Women Voters. Westport: Praeger Publishing, 2020.
Stuhler, Barbara. Gentle Warriors: Clara Ueland and the Minnesota Struggle for Woman Suffrage. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1995.
Stuhler, Barbara. For the Public Record: A Documentary History of the League of Women Voters. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2000.
Stuhler, Barbara, and Gretchen Kreuter, eds. Women of Minnesota: Selected Biographical Essays. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1977.
Young, Billie, and Nancy Ankenny. Minnesota Women in Politics: Stories of the Journey. St. Cloud: North Star Press, 2000.
Weiss, Elaine. The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote. New York: Penguin Books, 2019.
Zahniser, J.D. Alice Paul: Claiming Power. Oxford University Press, 2014/2019.
Websites
Test Your Suffrage Knowledge! - Adults (2020 Women’s Vote Centennial Initiative)
Test Your Suffrage Knowledge! - Kids (2020 Women’s Vote Centennial Initiative)
Minnesota Woman’s Suffrage Quiz (2020 Women’s Vote Centennial Initiative)
Votes For Women: A Century of Suffrage (The Atlantic)
19th Amendment at 100: Sharing the Story (Smithsonian)
Videos
Performances
Jeannette Rankin: Champion of Persistence
Jeannette Rankin, anti-World War I & II activist, tireless women’s suffrage activist, Republican, twice elected to US House of Representatives (1917-18; 1940). She worked for National Consumer’s League (pure food and drug) and early advocate of ranked-choice voting and similar ideas. Written and performed by J. Emily Peabody.
Contact: J. Emily Peabody at 651-373-2527 (call or text) or jemilypeabody@yahoo.com
Jane Skinner Peck: Votes for Women, Ja!
Votes for Women, Ja! is a one-woman theatrical presentation and lecture tracing the pivotal contributions of Nordic immigrant suffragists to voting rights in Minnesota. Presenter Jane Peck is a choreographer, historian, writer, and professor. Her own female Norwegian ancestors were involved in the struggle. Through ragtime dance, acting, slides, and story, audiences are introduced to the development of feminine power and organizational skills in our Nordic grandmothers as they fought for Minnesota women’s suffrage and other social needs. These stories from a unique chapter of Minnesota history and lift the lid off the quiet Nordic grandma image! This is a solo show best done indoors. $200-$600 (depending on distance), open to negotiation. Roughly 30 minutes and discussion time extra.
Contact: Jane Peck at revels@janepeck.com
History Alive! Lanesboro: MN Suffragists Rally
Great for students or festivals! In advance of the show, our four MN suffragists, and director and playwright Jane Peck, train local students or attendees to participate in a recreated suffrage rally with placards and the most commonly used song. The show begins with the rally group marching through the crowd to the performance area where the four Minnesota suffragists are, then give speeches specific to their characters to rally and inform the audience to support suffrage. Includes four performers representing key women in Minnesota suffrage history: Nellie Griswold Francis (African-American), Clara Ueland (Norwegian-American and head of the movements), Berthe Moller (Swedish-American and one of the hunger strikers), Emily Bright (Yankee roots and involved in the more radical NWP). This group show is great as an outdoor event but it can be done in an auditorium or gym. Audience involvement. $500-$1,000 (depending on distance), open to negotiation. Roughly 30 minutes.
Contact: Jane Peck at revels@janepeck.com
Votes for Women! Rally 1920
The video, Votes for Women! Rally 1920, will make you feel the passion of early Minnesota feminists! Imagine watching this outdoors at a rally! Meet some key Minnesota suffragists who are Scandinavian immigrants and an African-American feminist. Hear of the arrest and hunger strike by firebrand Swedish –Minnesotan Berthe Moller! Leaders Emily Bright and Clara Ueland (Norwegian –Minnesotan) move the crowd with descriptions of the long struggle. Nanny Mattson Jaeger (Swedish-Minnesotan) describes how she and many Scandinavian immigrants renewed the MN movement. Nellie Griswold Francis (African-Minnesotan) tells of her leadership with the Rondo community in St. Paul.
Writer and director Jane Peck was first inspired by stories of family suffragists. The video is produced by History Alive Lanesboro. It was performed live for the MN Capitol Women’s Suffrage Day celebration Sept. 8, 2019, sponsored by League of Women Voters of MN. The 25-minute video can be viewed through this website. There is a follow-up video available as well.
Samantha 'Rastles' the Woman Question
This one-woman show is based on the humorous writings of 19th-century author, Marietta Holley, whose character Samantha appeared in over twenty books between 1874-1914. A farm wife, rustic philosopher, Samantha uses horse sense humor to tackle issues of suffrage, rights denied by the church, differential intelligence, affiliative status, gender assumptions of the culture, and much more.
Email: JCurry@USFamily.net; Call: 612-729-6457; Write: Jane Curry, 5048 37th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55417; Website: www.janecurry.com
Nashville Ballet – “72 Steps”
A spoonful of sugar helps the history go down
This play is an hour long and includes most of the high points of the struggle for woman’s suffrage. Honor is given to the part England’s women played in this struggle. There are 15 roles. Each actor holds an easily readable sign to identify role. The only actor who does not hold a name sign is Alice Paul.
The story tells of a 21-year-old girl who is too lazy to get up and go vote. Alice Paul comes in a dream to wake her up, along with a Narrator and a Historian, who give her the story of why she should be grateful she can vote, concluding with the piece de resistance: Humphrey Bogart’s mother had a part in it!
Lines can be read or memorized. Costumes consist of long skirts, blouses or jackets, and modish hats. The only props needed are a bed with a blanket (and the bed can be three chairs) and name signs. Feel free to make this suit your community.
Contact: Marla Kennedy at kenne402@umn.edu or 651-645-3303 for more information.
WE’VE COME A LONG WAY, LADIES! – A CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 19TH AMENDMENT THROUGH SONG
Classically trained opera singer Audrey Johnson presents this educational, entertaining, and interactive concert performance supported by live piano accompaniment that celebrates the 100th anniversary of American Women’s right to vote, recognizing the struggle and sacrifices of the Women’s Suffrage Movement’s most important figures. This performance is far from the typical classical recital, as it incorporates an engaging narrative, authentic costuming, original footage, and audience participation, all of which guide the audience through the amazing story of the Women’s Suffrage Movement.
Featured music will include songs from the time period which were sung at rallies and in theaters, relevant pieces from the American folk and operatic traditions, and four brand new commissions by female composers set to some of the most significant texts of the Movement.
Through the course of this program, audience members will learn about:
The connection between the Women's Suffrage Movement and Prohibition, and why the liquor industry was one of the biggest opponents of women's voting rights
The importance of bicycles in women's liberation and the scandals this caused in both transportation and attire
Songs that furthered the Women's Suffrage cause--whether or not this was their composers' original intention!
The changes made to the 14th amendment in oppositional response to the Women's Suffrage Movement.
…and much more!
This program is available in multiple durations from 30-90 minutes with versions to suit a wide variety of audience and venue types. Presented through Audrey’s solo touring company, Of Thee I Sing: American Heritage Through Song.
Contact: Audrey Johnson at audrey@oftheeising.com or 651-202-6219
Website: https://www.oftheeising.com/women-s-suffrage-concert
Watch Video
Speakers
April Bennett
Motivational speaker, feminist activist and author of the book, Ask a Suffragist: Stories and Wisdom from America's First Feminists.
Contact: april@aprilyoungb.com, (801) 253-2895
Kristin Mapel Bloomberg
Current position: Professor of Women's Studies and Hamline University Endowed Chair in the Humanities. Guest editor, suffrage anniversary issue of Minnesota History for fall 2020.
Selected Publications: “Cora E. Smith Eaton and North Dakota Woman Suffrage 1888-1897,” in Lori Ann Lahlum and Molly Rozum, eds., Equality at the Ballot Box: Votes for Women on the Northern Great Plains, (South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2019); “Striving for Equal Rights For All,” in David L. Bristow, ed., Votes for Women: The 19th Amendment in Nebraska, (Nebraska Historical Society, 2019); “Women and Rural Social Reform in the 1870s and 1880s: Clara Bewick Colby’s ‘Farmers’ Wives,’” Agricultural History, 89.3 (2015): 402-425; “The Violet Study Club of Minneapolis,” Kristin Mapel Bloomberg and Johnanna Ganz. Hennepin History 70.1 (Winter 2011): 4-17; “Woman Suffrage in Nebraska 1855-1882,” Nebraska History Quarterly 90.2 (Summer 2009): 84-103; “Nineteenth Century Methodists and Coeducation: The Case of Hamline University,” Methodist History 47.1 (Oct. 2008): 48-62; “She will marvel that it should have been possible: The Political Equality Club of Minneapolis,” Kristin Mapel Bloomberg and Erin Parrish. Minnesota History 60.3 (Fall 2006): 113-122.
Email: kbloomberg@hamline.edu
Phone: 651-523-2091
Sara Egge
Assistant Professor of History, Centre College (Iowa)
Email: sara.egge@centre.edu
Phone: 859-238-5732
Research: gender, ethnicity, and rurality in the American Midwest
Publications: Woman Suffrage and Citizenship in the Midwest, 1870-1920 (University of Iowa Press, 2018); Woman Suffrage is a Midwestern Story: Gender, Region, and Nativism, 1880-1920 (Middle West Review, 4, no. 2, Spring 2018); Putting the Farm First: Feminism and Rural American Women’s Activism in the Twentieth Century (New York: Lexington Books, 2015); Strewn Knee Deep in Literature: The Material Analysis of Print Literature and Woman Suffrage (Agricultural History 88.3, Fall 2014).
Sara Evans
Professor Emerita of History, University of Minnesota
Email: s-evan@umn.edu
Research: American women’s history
Publications: Tidal Wave: How Women Changed America at Century's End (The Free Press, 2003); Personal Politics: The Roots of Women's Liberation in the Civil Rights Movement and the New Left (Vintage Paperback, 1980); Born for Liberty: A History of American Women (Free Press, 1989); Journeys That Opened Up the World: Women, Student Christian Movements, and Social Justice, 1955-1975 (Rutgers University Press, 2003).
Elaine Tyler May
Professor of History and American Studies, University of Minnesota
Email: mayxx002@umn.edu
Phone: 612-626-7847
Research: gender and politics in 20th century US history
Publications: America and the Pill: A History of Promise, Peril and Liberation (Basic Books, 2010); Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era (Basic Books, 2008); Tell Me True: Memoir, History, and Writing a Life (co-editor with Patricia Hampl; Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2008); Created Equal: A Social and Political History of the United States (co-Author with Jacqueline Jones, Peter Wood, Thomas Borstelmann, Vicki Ruiz; Longman Publishers, 2002); Barren in the Promised Land: Childless Americans and the Pursuit of Happiness (Harvard University Press, 1996); Pushing the Limits: American Women 1940-1961 (1994); Great Expectations: Marriage and Divorce in Post-Victorian America (University of Chicago Press, Author, 1980).
Ann Sharpsteen
I have a new lively talk I’ve rolled out for 2020 that celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the 19th amendment. The talk is a fun, rollicking look at the first woman who ran for President of the United States in 1872 (Victoria Woodhull) and makes for an interesting look at the first woman who publicly advocated for equal rights for women, worked tirelessly for women’s suffrage, and more. I would be thrilled to travel to give the talk and am offering a far-reduced speaking fee to help make it happen for groups who advocate on behalf of women and have limited budgets. Why am I so passionate about Victoria Woodhull? My maiden name is Woodhull, and researching her life has been a life-long passion of mine, since I was a young girl.
Website: annsharpsteen.com
Cell: 828-606-2141
Serena Zabin
Professor of History and Director of American Studies
Email: szabin@carleton.edu
Research: http://blogs.carleton.edu/lwv-ncf/
J.D. Zahniser
Independent Scholar, Ph.D. in American/Women's Studies from University of Iowa
Email: jdzahniser@gmail.com
Publications: Alice Paul: Claiming Power. Oxford University Press, 2014/2019. " 'How Long Must We Wait?' " [on 1917 suffrage pickets] American History December 2015. "Secular Saint Scorned," American History June 2018. "Making a Case" [trial of Susan B. Anthony], American History forthcoming.
From Other Organizations
Women’s Suffrage Centennial Resource Toolkit
Practical ways to celebrate the suffrage movement
Organization: National Association of Commissions for Women