Suffrage Scholar Susan Ware Speaks on "Voting Rights Activists of their Day"
Noted historian and author Susan Ware, one of the United States' leading scholars on the women's suffrage movement and the 19th Amendment, delivered Groton's fall Circle Talk on October 12.
In this centennial year marking when American women won the right to vote—a year in which women’s votes will likely have an enormous impact—the faculty-student Speakers Committee aimed to offer a program focused on this important aspect of United States history. As Dr. Ware pointed out, suffragettes were like the "voting rights activists of their day."
During the Circle Talk, a virtual webinar, Dr. Ware both summarized the history of the suffrage movement and dove deeply into certain aspects of it, especially the role of African American women and other women of color, whose stories were long suppressed while stories of white, privileged leaders became iconic.
The author of Why They Marched: Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote (2019) and other books, Dr. Ware has taught at Harvard University, MIT, New York University, and Tufts University. Given her expertise, she has been especially busy this year, appearing in documentaries and numerous television shows and speaking with audiences around the country about her work and the importance of ensuring that all Americans who are eligible are able to vote in elections.
Several students commented on how much they learned from the presentation. Fourth Former Henry Burnham said he found Dr. Ware’s use of artifacts, such as campaign buttons, suffrage-themed cookbooks, and newspaper headlines, “interesting and compelling.” At the end of her talk, Dr. Ware took questions from the online audience and urged students to keep up the fight for equal rights for all in the United States and around the world.
Members of the Groton Feminists Club, Sixth Formers Leah Pothel, Claire Holding, and Alex Brown, introduced Dr. Ware and capably moderated the post-talk question-and-answer session.—Tommy Lamont, history teacher
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In this centennial year marking when American women won the right to vote—a year in which women’s votes will likely have an enormous impact—the faculty-student Speakers Committee aimed to offer a program focused on this important aspect of United States history. As Dr. Ware pointed out, suffragettes were like the "voting rights activists of their day."
During the Circle Talk, a virtual webinar, Dr. Ware both summarized the history of the suffrage movement and dove deeply into certain aspects of it, especially the role of African American women and other women of color, whose stories were long suppressed while stories of white, privileged leaders became iconic.
The author of Why They Marched: Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote (2019) and other books, Dr. Ware has taught at Harvard University, MIT, New York University, and Tufts University. Given her expertise, she has been especially busy this year, appearing in documentaries and numerous television shows and speaking with audiences around the country about her work and the importance of ensuring that all Americans who are eligible are able to vote in elections.
Several students commented on how much they learned from the presentation. Fourth Former Henry Burnham said he found Dr. Ware’s use of artifacts, such as campaign buttons, suffrage-themed cookbooks, and newspaper headlines, “interesting and compelling.” At the end of her talk, Dr. Ware took questions from the online audience and urged students to keep up the fight for equal rights for all in the United States and around the world.
Members of the Groton Feminists Club, Sixth Formers Leah Pothel, Claire Holding, and Alex Brown, introduced Dr. Ware and capably moderated the post-talk question-and-answer session.—Tommy Lamont, history teacher
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