The Importance of Friendships

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton once said about her friendship with Susan B. Anthony: "I forged the thunderbolts, she fired them."

The history of suffrage is full of friendships and partnerships and this year was made possible because of a handful of friends that have kept urging me on.  Linda is my oldest friend and has been my unofficial editor for over 40 years.  We've raised our kids together, grew up together, and I value her opinion more than can I relay.  Diana is my sweet and pragmatic friend who can remember everything that I always seemed to forget--even when I was young.

Saturday was Beth's birthday.  Beth Bacher is my secret weapon and professional partner and I don't speak of her often enough while writing this blog.  We have presented two very successful programs together, one on women during the Civil War and of course, our program on suffrage, By The Chimney No More.  We fill gaps.  She is the best quilter and seamstress I know.  Her interest in things like women in labor, the history of sewing, and her love of learning are integral to our work.  I love curious people and those who love to learn.  So does Beth.

One of the displays Beth created for our programs.

Beth often states that she doesn't feel as if she did enough during the five years we studied suffrage.  Instead she nursed her husband back from cancer, returned to work full-time, welcomed two grandchildren, and cared for her elderly mother.  In truth, I had the easy job.

In our chosen family of friends, it doesn't matter who forged the lightning bolts and who cast them.  What matters is the end product of a collective effort.  Thank you my dear friends and  my new friends--you who read the blog, comment and email.  Thank you for supporting our efforts during this crazy year.  I love you all and can't wait for the day when I can hug you personally.

Have a safe and happy day!

Love,

 Michele

Happy Ratification Day!

Happy Ratification Day!

Today we celebrate the ratification of the 19th Amendment and the great state of Tennessee!  In what was to be a bitter fight between "Suffs" and "Antis", the great "War of the Roses" commenced in Tennessee.  Those who favored suffrage wore yellow roses in their lapels and those opposed to women's suffrage wore red roses.  The vote came down to one young man, 24 year old Harry Burns and ultimately his mother, Febb Ensminger Burns.

Burns was a young freshman representative.  He had a red rose in his lapel, signaling the wishes of his constituents.  He was up for reelection in a few months and like all politicians, he wanted to remain in office.  What no one could have anticipated was the impact of his mother, in particular a letter from his mother.  In it she had written:

"Hurrah, and vote for suffrage!  Don't keep them in doubt.  I notice some of the speeches against.  They were bitter.  I have been watching to see how you stood, but have not noticed anything yet...  Don't forget to be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt with her 'Rata'."

The vote was tied and it came down to one young man.  Harry Burns voted in favor of the amendment and history in our country was made.

Febb Ensminger Burns (1873-1945)

Thank you Febb for raising a good boy who was strong enough to do what was right even if it was unpopular!

Burns' decision changed the course of women's history in this country.  We celebrate him and Mama Febb!

Libby from Tennessee has written me that there are a lot of celebrations going on in Tennessee this month.  Harry and Febb's legacy continues.  Just look at these strong and self-confident little girls!

Tennessee Ladies celebrate the ratification of the 19th Amendment at a local venue.

Alice Paul unfurls the suffrage banner with a perfect 36th state.

Thank you Tennessee!

And now, we announce the winners of the Suffrage Centennial Quilt Challenge!  Beth and I were so touched at the amount of research done by each of the participants that in an unprecedented move, we chose to honor each quilt as a winner.

Ladies, please email me your address (to allentownquilter@gmail.com)  so Beth and I can mail your $50 gift cards and thank you for your participation!  We know that it wasn't easy considering all the challenges during the pandemic and appreciate your efforts so much!

To all of you, I wish you the happiest Ratification Day!

Ratification Eve!

It's the day before the centennial of ratification of the 19th Amendment!   What position did your state take regarding ratification?  Here is the run down:

On June 4, 1919, the Senate finally passed the 19th Amendment.  The House had already passed it once in 1918 and again in 1919.   36 states were needed to ratify the 19th Amendment.  

Alice Paul sewed a star on a banner each time a state ratified.

Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan were the first states to ratify on June 10, 1919.  Michigan had already granted women full suffrage while Illinois and Wisconsin allowed women to vote for President.

Seneca Falls Convention in New York, 1848 

A few days later,  New York, Ohio, and Kansas followed in voting in favor of women's suffrage.  Kansas and Ohio had already approved women's suffrage in their states and Ohio allowed women to vote for President.

June 24, 1919 marked the entrance of Pennsylvania to states favoring ratification; Massachussetts followed the following day.

Texas was the first southern states to ratify on June 28.

In early July, Iowa joined the states in favor of ratification on July 2; Missouri approved the amendment the following day.

Georgia voted against ratification on July 24, 1919.  Four days later, Arkansas voted to approve ratification.

Both Montana and Nebraska approved the vote on August 2, 1919.  Montana had given women full suffrage in 1914 and in Nebraska, women could vote for president.

Minnesota women could also vote for president.  On September 8, 1919  the amendment passed the there.

Two days later New Hampshire voted in favor of the women.

September 22, 1919 marked another rejection of the amendment as Alabama would not ratify women's right to vote.

Utah approved the amendment on September 30, 1919.  As you remember from previous posts, Utah had already granted women full suffrage in 1896.

California approved the amendment on November 1, 1919.  Four days later, Maine did as well!

Women received special Christmas presents in December of 1919 as North Dakota (December 1), South Dakota (December 4) and Colorado (December 14) voted YES! 

 Colorado and South Dakota were states where women already had suffrage.  North Dakota allowed women to vote for president.

In January of 1920, five states voted in favor: Kentucky and Rhode Island (January 9), Oregon (January 13), Indiana (January 16) and Wyoming, the first suffrage state approved on January 27.

In that same month, the amendment was rejected by South Carolina.

February is the month of Valentines Day.  Many states said to women, will you be my valentine and my equal voting partner?

Nevada, long a suffrage state, ratified on February 7.  New Jersey followed two days later.  Other states that ratified included Arizona (February 12), New Mexico (February 21), and Oklahoma (February 28).

No valentines for Maryland and Virginia who both rejected the amendment that month.

West Virginia voted in favor on March 10!  March 22, marked the 35th state to pass the amendment and Washington gave the women two thumbs up! 

Unfortunately, Mississippi opposed on March 31 and Delaware rejected the amendment on June 2.

The states remaining to vote included Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina,Tennessee, and Vermont.

Stay tuned!  

Have a safe and happy day!

Emeline Smith Hicks: A quilt for Susan B. Anthony

One of the great honors of this past year has been getting to know each of you.  On Friday I was surprised to get an amazing email from a woman named Jen!

Hello. I'm reading your blogs on suffrage quilting with great interest. My 3x great grandmother made a quilt in 1896 to support the movement, and an article describes it. I'm attaching the article and have a question:

Is it possible this quilt could still exist in a museum somewhere? Or a photo of it could exist in a book? I have no idea how many of these quilts survived.

Thanks for any insight you can offer.

Well first of all Jen, thank you so much for emailing me!  It's an honor to hear from a bonafide descendent of a suffragist.  Even more thrilling to learn that she made a quilt for the cause!!!

Although I searched my usual sources for more information, I couldn't find a photograph of the quilt.  I did however find that Emeline is honored by the Lansingburgh Historical Society here.  And that Susan B. Anthony had mentioned her when a letter she sent to her had been returned:

June 13, 1903
Matron of the Home for the Friendless, Lansingburg, N.Y.
Dear Friend,–
I had a letter addressed to Mrs. Emeline S. Hicks returned to me today saying she was dead. I send it to you that you may see that I always thought a great deal of her. She was faithful to the cause of Woman Suffrage. She frequently wrote me letters, and a few years ago made a quilt that was struck off for $60 or $70, to help the cause.
If you would write a word with regard to her I would be greatly obliged to you.
Sincerely Yours,
Susan B. Anthony

Additionally I found that some of Emeline's letters are included in a collection of the John Barber family and held in the New York State Library.  Jen-if I were you, I would definately want to research the letters there!  See here.

Additionally there is a letter from Emeline that I found on the website, In Her Own Right.  See here.

I did find Emeline was mentioned in the book, History of Woman Suffrage, Volume 4.  In the book, the authors discuss the importance of New York suffragists and states "that it would be impossible to make personal mention of even a small fracture of those who have aided the movement."  However, there is an asterik behind this particular paragraph (found on page  847) and mentions that the supporters that appear the most often in reports included a list of people including Emeline Hicks.  You can read it on Google Books here.

Emeline appears to have been a dedicated suffragist and even served as the President of the Lansingburgh organization.  This is made mention in the Constitutional-Amendment Campaign Amendment report of 1894, see here and also on the Lansingburgh website previously posted.

Emeline was born in 1816 and she would have known well the legal restraints that women faced before the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 and the gradual progression of women's rights.

Jen had asked me if it is possible to find Emeline's quilt.  I could not personally find it but that doesn't mean it is lost forever.  However there are a few factors that need to be taken into account--mainly the condition of the quilt.

The quilt was made of silk.  My professional partner Beth Bacher knows lots about the problems with silk quilts as she has done quilt restoration.  Silk in the late 19th century often shattered or ended up in tattered.  Silk in the later part of the 19th century was often treated with metallic salts--with time the fabric became brittle and eventually "shattered."

Here's a quilt from my collection, circa 1890s--see how the silk under the ribbons is broken?  Now if you look to the lower left, you will see another problem that occurred with silk during this time,  Those tiny strings left behind and sandwiched between black fabric is another problem of silk that occurred during this time.

If Emeline were my grandmother, I would probably also contact the Susan B. Anthony museum (here) and make an inquiry there as well.

What's rare about Emeline's quilt is that we actually have a description of the quilt.  Too frequently, the quilt is mentioned without any further elaboration.   We know it was black and yellow and the layout.  We know that it had a border of yellow tea roses--I wonder if the roses were similar to three dimensional flowers we see on crazy quilts in the last quarter of the 19th century.  Here's an example I found online:

I've also been pondering if it was a quilt mentioned in Brooklyn in 1896.  The article stated that an elderly lady from New Hampshire made a quilt to raise money for the cause (similarly 25 cents donation); the quilt would then be given to Susan B. Anthony.  This could be a coincidence but it wouldn't be the first time a newspaper printed something wrong.  The fact that the article was printed during the same year the quilt was made is interesting.  We also know that Emeline corresponded to Mariana Chapman (see above letter)--who is mentioned below and eventually headed the state organization.  This all makes me pause.  As a historian, I know this does not make this fact.  But dang, I find it an interesting coincidence!  From the New York Tribune, May 21, 1896, page 13:

Another mention of the quilt indicates it was in suffrage colors.

From The World, New York, New York. May 20, 1896, page 10:

Thank you Jenn, for sharing your grandmother with us!  And thank you Emeline for your amazing service to women's equality!

Have a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday: August 14, 2020

Today we honor our suffrage foremothers by posting photos of yellow, purple, and white flowers!  

Kathie L. found a lot of lovelies at our local garden!  She noted that many of the plants were our colors! Thank you Kathie!

Betsy shared some selections from her garden including cleome and some lovely hydrangeas!

My own suffrage garden peaked in June and July.  We lost a lot of flowers to the heatwaves and lack of rain but here is what the garden looked like before the drought.  It has been such a neat experience for me.  Not only do I get to see so many of your lovely flowers, but I've had regular visitors to my garden.  They take photographs because of the signs I put up.  Even if the year has been a bust for the business, at least I found a way locally to share the centennial!

Thank you to all of you who participated in our suffrage themed Flower Fridays!

Have a safe and happy day!