Overview

Since the Women's March on Washington and the Me Too movement, a new, more diverse generation of feminists is raising questions about how to effect change. Ask a Suffragist: Stories and Wisdom from America's First Feminists channels the first generation of American feminists as exemplars and advisors as we seek modern solutions. Activists with urgent causes to support don't have time to read dull history textbooks. Fortunately, American suffragists lived radical lives that were in no way boring. Instead of droning on like an encyclopedia about dates, meeting minutes and genealogy charts, America's First Feminists discusses relationships, strategies and activism, focusing on stories that are particularly relevant for modern feminist activists, whether for inspiration and emulation or to avoid repeating past mistakes. America's First Feminists covers the 1830s through the 1860s, when the idea of equality for women was new and its supporters were vilified. In addition to suffrage, these early activists fought for abolition, temperance, racial justice, education, career opportunities, women's ordination and the right to wear pants instead of those exasperating dresses and petticoats. Each chapter considers a question today's feminists might ask the great feminists of the past. How can we make our voices heard, like Sarah and Angelina Grimké, who defied their slave-holding background to become abolitionists? How do we break the glass ceiling, like Harriot Hunt and Elizabeth Blackwell, who opened the field of medicine to women, or Mary Ann Shadd Cary, who became the first black American woman to edit a newspaper? America's First Feminists celebrates diversity instead of neatly pointing readers into one right way of living. The passionate, inspired and flawed people who started the American feminist movement often disagreed with each other. Well-known suffragists like Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucy Stone are featured, as are lesser-known suffragists whose contributions are often overlooked. America's First Feminists includes women of color such as Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and Maria W. Stewart, male feminists such as Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison and immigrants to the United States such as Ernestine Rose and Marie Zakrzewska.

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9781733823920

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Reviews

A highly readable and engaging work of firmly constructed history. -Kirkus Reviews This is a powerful and deeply-needed resource for bringing back the wisdom of these incredible women who changed our world. Woven together here with context and courage, the lives and work of these brilliant women come shining through the well-written, entertaining and accessible prose to delight and challenge scholars and 'regular readers' alike. Highly recommended, crucial reading. -Olivia Meikle, producer and host, What'sHerName Podcast April Young Bennett is an inspiration for all feminists who are part of religious communities. Through her speaking, her writing and her communal work, she has tried to give voice to the values of both religion, faith and feminism. She has worked tirelessly, thoughtfully and respectfully to raise some of the most critical issues facing religious women today and I can think of no one more suited to write on the suffrage movement. -Bat Sheva Marcus, founder and past president, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance April Young Bennett transforms the personalities and convictions of America's suffragists into modern companions for feminists today. Chronicled through deep questions and engaging narratives, the suffragists become genuine partners on the path to any reader working toward a more equitably society. -Kate McElwee, Executive Director, the Women's Ordination Conference Having courageously navigated the patriarchal waters of her religious community and beyond, April Young Bennett is a seasoned and articulate voice for women's equality. Her feminist activism, like her writing, remains consistently clear, intelligent, engaging and informed. Ask a Suffragist: Stories and Wisdom from America's First Feminists is no exception. Written with the budding feminist in mind, the book depicts--often in their own words--the diverse relationships and strategies employed by the early advocates for women's rights in the United States. For those of us who continue their work, their stories--sometimes inspired, sometimes flawed--teach us that informed activism is essential to effective activism. -Lorie Winder Stromberg, Co-founder, Equal in Faith; Executive Board Member, Ordain Women

Author Information

April Young Bennett began studying the lives of suffragists to inform her own activism. She has campaigned for better state and federal laws addressing the wage gap, healthcare, education and juvenile justice and for gender equity within her modern-day patriarchal religious community. As an organizer of the Ordain Women movement, she led hundreds of women and men in marches and demonstrations that attracted national attention. April helps feminists of different faiths share ideas and collaborate toward common goals at the Religious Feminism Podcast. She blogs about Mormon feminism at Exponent II, an organization that began during the second wave feminist movement, named after a nineteenth century Mormon suffragist newspaper.

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