Women’s Suffrage: One Event, Many Perspectives was presented on May 16th by the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum in partnership with the League of Women Voters of Vermont, Vermont Commission on Women, and Vermont Suffrage Centennial Alliance.
The four video presentations set historical context, telling the story of the suffrage movement and its impact for African American women, Indigenous women in federally recognized tribes, Abenaki women in Vermont, and in the role of education for women and girls.
Melody Walker: Navigating Freedom in Two Worlds
Educator, activist, artist, and citizen of the Elnu Abenaki Band of Ndakinna
Melody examines political agency and the importance of women, children, and all living creatures having that agency in society, and in being noticed and heard when exercising it.
Beverly Little Thunder: On the Shoulders of our Ancestors and Mother Earth
Enrolled member of the Standing Rock Lakota Band from North Dakota, Sundancer and Inipi Ceremony Water Pourer
Beverly discusses how Indigenous women have been marginalized and their voices removed through colonization, violence, and misogyny. She emphasizes the dire need for women to exercise leadership on our planet.
Kathryn Dungy: …the courage of their convictions: African American Women in the Fight for Women’s Suffrage
Professor of social and cultural history of Latin America and Caribbean; gender and race identity; Atlantic World, and Antebellum U.S. at Saint Michael’s College
Kathryn discusses the role African-American women played in the struggle for women’s suffrage, though they would not realize these benefits until many years later, and in many places still struggle for them.
Susan Ouellette: Emma Willard, Women’s Education, and the Campaign for Women’s Suffrage
Professor of History at Saint Michael’s College
Susan’s looks at Emma Willard’s trailblazing work, and how education played a major role in women expressing their political voice and advocacy.