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CANCELLED:Next meeting at Lilly Library, Florence: Thursday, March 26, 2020, 6:30 – 8:00 pm. We will discuss The Daring Ladies of Lowell, by Kate Alcott.Book List
Book selection for November/December, 2019
Why They Marched: Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote, Susan Ware
Book selection for October/November, 2019
The LWV 100th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage Book Group met Thursday, November 7 at Lilly Library in Florence. We had a lively 2nd discussion of The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine Weiss. Although this well-researched book centered around the approval of the 19th Amendment by the final state, Tennessee, the author wove in the history of the entire suffrage movement from the 1840s through the 1920s. We found the book to be informative, interesting, and especially exciting in the final chapters.
Our group particularly noticed common threads between the experience in Tennessee and issues of today, for instance:
-factionalism
-competing groups who have the same goal but difficulty working together
-gerrymandering
-discrimination against people of color – particularly African Americans
-cultural restrictions for women in work and public life
-the intersection with history of the time, namely the Civil War, the Gold Rush, the Industrial Revolution, participation of women in World War I
We noted the dedication of those who joined the movement for women’s suffrage considering the difficulties of travel and communication at the time.
We wondered:
-Where did their funding come from?
-How did they convince the men who had the vote to include them in voting rights?
-What was it about the Suffrage Leaders that gave them the inspiration and will to continue the fight over generations?E