Free Programs Celebrating Women's Suffrage

Past event
Oct 21, 2020, 7 to 9 PM

The Burlington Branch of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is partnering with the Vermont Suffrage Centennial Alliance and League of Women Voters of Vermont to host free, virtual presentations on women's suffrage with Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner on October 21, 22, and 23. Zoom seating is limited and registration, encouraged.

Dr. Wagner is a nationally recognized lecturer, author and story-teller of women's rights history. One of the first women to receive a doctorate in the United States for work in women's studies and a founder of one of the country's first college women's studies programs, Dr. Wagner has taught women's history for 49 years. She served as historian in PBS's "One Woman, One Vote," and appeared as a "talking head" in Ken Burns' documentary, "Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Her Women's Suffrage Anthology, published by Penguin Classics last year, is an intersectional exploration of the 19th century women's rights movement.

Wednesday October 21: Women Voted Here—Before Columbus. 7-9 PM. Hosted by St. Michael's College

While white women were the property of their husbands and considered dead in the law, Haudenosaunee (traditional Iroquois) women had more authority and status before Columbus than United States women have today. Registration: http://bit.ly/before-columbus

Thursday October 22: Women's Suffrage: The Rest of the Story. 2-3:30 PM. Hosted by Community College of Vermont

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage believed the movement should concentrate on the larger issues, creating a system of cooperation, not competition; ensuring that every child born was wanted and women were the "absolute sovereigns" of their bodies; and rebalancing economic disparity while gaining equal pay for women and equality for all. Registration: http://bit.ly/rest-of-the-story

Thursday October 22: POWER, PRIVILEGE & THE VOTE: Focus on Women, Culture and Herstories of Suffrage. 5-6:30 PM .Hosted by University of Vermont Center for Cultural Pluralism

This presentation explores important influences in the US Women's Suffrage movement that are often forgotten. As we approach the 2020 election, how can the herstories of women's suffrage provide a lens through which to explore the ongoing creation of democracy in our country. Day of Link: https://bit.ly/35POSiO (Click Location/Format for Microsoft Team Meetings; then click "watch on web instead." You do not need to open or download the program.)

Friday October 23: A Woman Presidential Candidate - in 1872 and 1884. 5-6 PM. Hosted by Middlebury College Feminist Resource Center at Chellis House
Even though women had not achieved the right to vote, Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to set up a brokerage firm, declared her candidacy for President of the United States in 1872 and chose Frederick Douglass as her running mate. In 1884, Belva Lockwood, one of the first female lawyers in the U.S., was nominated by the Equal Rights Party. Lockwood intended to "get up a grand agitation on the woman question," thus advancing the cause for women's suffrage. Registration: http://bit.ly/middleburySRW

Singer and historian Linda Radtke will open and close all three programs with music which was essential to the movement: each state convention of suffragists began and ended with songs.

These programs are partially funded by WILPF US, Vermont Humanities Council, Anne Slade Frey Charitable Trust, Vermont Federal Credit Union, Walter Cerf Fund of the Vermont Community Foundation, Northfield Savings Bank, St. Michael's College, University of Vermont, and Community College of Vermont

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