Teaching history in finding all the objects, we had about 124 objects, and which there are 63 portraits and i was hoping to commemorate the 19th amendment until the history of the 19th amendment and how women, lobbyist get this amendment passed and ratified, but also asked questions about it and ask what does it do, what doesnt not do and why 1965 in the Voting Rights act is considered another part two of the 19 the moment, so if you follow me ill take you through the exposition and show you a few of the objects the tell the history, lets go. Were in the first gallery of the exposition and i mentioned that we have portraits that drive the narrative but i also wanted to include pieces of art like the one that we are looking at which is titled the work at home and is by a female artist, she was acting in 1860 and i wanted to include this painting because it portrays young children, you have these four kids, one is a baby and they are celebrating in the mother and the surrogate or helper who is cleaning the dishes and what i liked about this painting is is from 1866 and it depicts the civil war, it is kind of looking back and spencer decided to portray this moment in time by looking at the lives of women and the women are very serious but the children are very much engaged in a celebration because they dont understand how severe and difficult that was answered during the battle they met on both sides of the Confederate Army in the union army started because the city was surrounded, why am i talking about the war in the suffrage exposition, thats a good question, what i wanted to do was demonstrate the divide between the north and the south as well as between the races africanamerican and whites, this plays a big part in saving the Suffrage Movement in the 14th amendment was passed and ratified in 1869, it included the work of male and this is the first time in the history of the constitution that gender was specified and it delivered a very severe blow to the Suffrage Movement where women were advocating the right to vote and they wanted to consider citizens and it grants us citizenship to anyone born in the United States in the 15th amendment enfranchised, american citizens enfranchised half the population, this is a huge divide, the Suffrage Movement disagrees on how to handle it and thats when they split between each other, given cady stanton wanted to advocate for suffrage by black women and where she was trying to advocate for universal suffrage. Africanamericans were suffered just and if you come with me now we will talk about one of the major africanamerican suffragist whose name was Francis Allen harper and she famously gave a speech at a Suffrage Convention in which she said were all bound up together, she was trying to explain to people that she is also an africanamerican and a woman combine, is exceptional until black women could not sit around and let people take away their life and not advocate for them, they became active in Church Groups and they really worked on learning how to speak in public, understanding their rights, understanding hundred those rights by their local communities of being involved in the local Community Church gro group, that is a really interesting topic that not a lot of people have gone into or understand as much so people do understand the Suffrage Movement but they dont understand that africanamericans remain very active, this is a different endeavor to make sure to include africanamericans and their stories like sarah parker who is on the far wall, she was an activist and Antislavery Society of massachusetts and she tricked her activism abroad, its an interesting story about how american suffragist were not only focused in the United States but they were also active upfront in europe and to talk about what is being referred to as seneca falls, this is Elizabeth Cady stanton in 1870 and is by napoleon and is pointed to a book in their very dignified, this would be a progressive shot today, they were using this portrait to represent them to a wider audience, they did not even meet until 1851 coast entrance of seneca falls as most of us recall from our history books and high school was a gathering with the National Convention in 1848 in seneca falls, Elizabeth Cady stanton and others with the declaration of sentiment which is the beginning document of one of the first documents important to writing but were advocating for the falls, what i hope this exposition explains by going back to 1832 is that women were getting together and talking and advocating for their rights in the Citizenship Rights well before 1848 and so suffrage did not appear out of thin air and actually have a long history others have argued and so thats a great influx that i encourage you to look into i thought 1869, now were going to move into the next hour in 1870s, when the second gallery and we start to include the representation of the union. And they would gather and meet in what was called chapters. In 1873 womens temperance endorsed the suffrage cause so all of a sudden suffrage expanded their membership by 150,000 members, incredible amount of people for that era. At the top, very active, energetic, theres a woman on a horse who is leaping over in these well marked spots of alcohol. Behind her are all of her compatriots with access and hatchets and so in the name of god and humanity is the banner, it was against alcohol and when women were married to alcoholics they became a vulnerable population. They were organizing among each other, and advocate for their rights but on the bottom you see the oratorical prize at the top, to include this little middle, to speak in public, you think of toastmasters of today that is what they are doing because they were alerting prizes to women who are having a contest in order to award them. And talking about christianity and temperance so that is an interesting object. The reason it was important for women to know how to speak in public, the suffrage cause, the word about it was being spread but a lot of women were going on the lecture circuit, were referred to as lyceum and Elizabeth Dickinson annually in 1873, mark twain, an interesting comparison because whose name do we remember today even though dickinson is more famous than mark twain at the time. Next we talk a little bit more about the scandals the suffragists got involved in. Victoria lynn hall was ahead of her time. She started her business as a wall street banker, advocated sex outside of marriage which was definitely outside of the norm for women in the 1870s and ran on a third party ticket, the third women to do so for asserting those. And the record for the vote. Illegal voting, illegal for women to vote and thousands across the country, to paint the system by going out, getting arrested, serving a sentence in jail, appeal through the court system to change that way but they fail. Another severe blow with efforts in 1873, against a woman in virginia who tried to vote, Supreme Court found that women should not vote legally in the United States. By placing a ballot in the ballot box, we have a different kind of ballot box made out of metal. The one victoria woodhall what i like about this ballot box is it explicitly says womens ballots on it. Very much in your face that women voted separately and most likely not on equal terms for equal suffrage so they could vote for mystical suffrage or some states before 1920 about 15 allowed women to vote in the president ial election and this is a spot in indiana. One of those states that allowed women to vote in the president ial election and made by barnard and company in st. Louis and made these boxes between 1860, and 1820 and it is an interesting piece on the table that illuminates what womens rights were like and what it felt like. We are looking at a caricature of victoria woodhall in 1872 and this exemplifies the struggles women were going through at the time, this is a caricature, was known for wearing victory roles at the top of her head. And fit her with devil wings. She has become a demon, walking away from a woman looking over her shoulder, a little undecided to make the decision, going up this mountain and you can tell there were 1 to 3 children carrying as well as the alcoholic husband strapped to her back. This exemplifies the choices, either you throw in, advocating freelove at the time, very soft term for sex outside of marriage. Advocating that women outside of marriage, why get married, therefore. Why have this burden. Without any support. They were trying to promote choices that women have but at the time women werent supposed to be having sex or and certainly not supposed to be enjoying it. This is captured, looking at silva lockwood, the first woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court in 1880. An Expert Witness for native americans and subsequent trials, how dignified, hair bound up, has her lace card on and represents her as a respectable woman because she was a suffragist, outside the bounds of femininity. She was the first to campaign for the presidency. I mentioned victoria woodhall, the first woman to name herself as a candidate for the presidency, she was serving a jail sentence, the equal rights party, like the rest the republican party, a third party ticket. The suffragists were running for president on a third party ticket. Victoria woodhall, able to run in 1884 and again in 1838, really good example of what women could do. A lawyer advocating for rights and running for president. Over here we have apprehended gail scott dunaway, and oregon suffragist, trying to persuade male legislators to paint the laws of these western states, based in oregon, the new northwest, a newspaper in 1871 that advocated womens rights so a lot of people think suffrage was only based in the northeast but in fact it was very active, lots of mormon women advocating suffrage in utah and wyoming famously became the first state to endorse suffrage for women in 1869 or 1870. There is a nationwide approach to this movement. One of the longest reform movements in the United States in american history, and we are in the third gallery, in 1892 going up to 1912. A new woman was educated, out and about, not in the home, physically active, as you can see this depiction of the farmer, his wife and probably his daughter. The new woman in her writing habit, ask them for a glass of water, but strengthening the glass of water, who is this person . Is she what is she doing . Why is she outside of the home . The confusion a lot of americans have, but also enact their rights and freedom to move around in society and go to school and get educated. Magazines were picking up on this, owned by Miriam Leslie who married frequently and then died, mrs. Frank leslie, assuming the authority that it took, the color, women riding open aired carriages so carrying the banner for women. It speaks to the privilege behind the movement so a lot of wealthy white women were the ones out there advocating in part because of excluded africanamericans but they are doing well in getting the word out so Miriam Leslie, her magazine included illustrations like this. If you study where she took over you can see the trajectory to the feminist causes. Kind of interesting. Finally, looking at another example, from 1894, new york tried to paint its state referendum including womens right to vote but failed. Despite 600,000 signatures into changing the state legislation the referendum fails, this exemplifies what is happening in sarah, a statebystate approach, no longer going for the amendment page proposed in 1870. A full court press, statebystate but wasnt going very well and not supporting womens cars here, how can she vote when fashions are so ride and movement is so narrow. Not serious, cant even figure out how to dress themselves much less fit in a voting booth. How could women see themselves in the role of having a political voice. Theres a lot of antisuffrage accompanying the whole movement, in exhibition, highlighting some of those examples but not focus on it too much because more interested in how africanamericans were involved and what the strategies were in the movement. We are looking at examples that speak to the history of colorado and i wanted to highlight colorado because it is the first state, for legislators the state constitution. In wyoming being a territory, grandfather is in, women, to lobby wyoming legislators after it became a state, and when you come in close, in the bottom of the ballot, what they voted with, equal suffrage approved or equal suffrage not approved. With female legislators, this is a portrait of three, within the arrow from the 18931894, and two democrats and one republican, with three portraits of african americans, cooper in the middle and Mary Church Terrel on the right. These are portraits that were made when they were students at Oberlin College which was founded by abolitionists in the first liberal arts school in the United States to accept africanamerican students. What i love is how young they are. They went on to activists, women advocating for Citizenship Rights, all people in the United States but particularly africanamericans. And in washington dc, the Dunbar High School, living the life of someone who truly believed in giving liberal Arts Education to africanamericans, in 1893, was also teaching at the college school, Dunbar High School in washington dc. They were especially taking on the responsibility for africanamericans, in a way that would give them a whitecollar access, and other teachers, nurses and they embody that argument of w e b du bois and booker washington how these men during the construction. W e b du bois advocated liberal arts training. And less recognized than the men. They are strategizing, to make life better for africanamericans during a difficult time. In this exhibition, they were not advocating only suffrage but other things outside the parameters of the single issue focus. Africanamerican women doing lots of activism even though the National American womens Suffrage Association with two fractions we were talking about in the beginning when in 1870, they came back to gather. With great force and strategies, the statebystate strategy, also excluding africanamericans the whole time and my point is these women were not just sitting around, they were being very active in and of themselves within their own group and their own society and local community, and a banner that was carried in 1911. Writing is an excerpt called the glorious 1871 by the british dean of canterbury. What i learned about this banner is how that sense of spirituality that is so important to the suffragists during the up through the 19 teens. It is emerging and onward and making progress. I wanted to include a couple banners for the National Womens party because they speaks to a lot of the thinking behind movement and that activism. This concludes the first half of the exhibition. We covered the movement through 1912 and from this point on we are going to discover suffragists dont achieve the right to vote in the United States but trace how they switch tactics and achieve progress in comparatively small amount of time and talk about the changes from 1965. This was the first of a 2part tour of the National Portrait gallerys vote for women exhibit. We can watch this and other american artifacts programs by visiting our website, cspan. Org history. Next a visit to the smithsonians National Portrait gallery. The second of a 2part program, historian kate clark kate
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