VOTES FOR WOMENThe year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the passing of the 19th Ammendment,

guaranteeing and protecting women’s constitutional right to vote. In celebration of this

milestone of democracy, we’ve curated this digital display consisting of books and

movies available at the Elyria Public Library System.

If you would like to place a hold on one of these items, call your preferred Elyria Public

Library branch or click on the item’s cover to be directed to the online catalog where you

can order the item right from your computer or mobile device.

The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote

by Elaine F. Weiss

Nashville, August 1920. Thirty-five states have ratified the Nineteenth Amendment, twelve

have rejected or refused to vote, and one last state is needed. It all comes down to Tennes-

see, the moment of truth for the suffragists, after a seven-decade crusade. The opposing

forces include politicians with careers at stake, liquor companies, railroad magnates, and

a lot of racists who don’t want black women voting. And then there are the ‘Antis’--women

who oppose their own enfranchisement, fearing suffrage will bring about the moral collapse

of the nation. They all converge in a boiling hot summer for a vicious face-off replete with

dirty tricks, betrayals and bribes, bigotry, Jack Daniel’s, and the Bible.

In Her Own Right: The Life of Elizabeth Cody Stanton

by Elisabeth Griffith

The first comprehensive, fully documented biography of the most important woman

suffragist and feminist reformer in nineteenth-century America, In Her Own Right restores

Elizabeth Cady Stanton to her true place in history. Griffith emphasizes the significance of

role models and female friendships in Stanton’s progress toward personal and political

independence. In Her Own Right is, in the author’s words,

an “unabashedly ‘great woman’ biography.”

Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cody Stanton and Susan B. Anthony

by Geoffrey C. Ward

Stanton and Anthony were close friends, partners, and allies, but judging from their

backgrounds they would seem an unlikely pair. Stanton was born into the prominent

Livingston clan in New York, grew up wealthy, educated, and sociable, married and had a

large family of her own. Anthony, raised in a devout Quaker environment, worked to support

herself her whole life, elected to remain single, and devoted herself to progressive causes,

initially Temperance, then Abolition. They were nearly total opposites in their personalities

and attributes, yet complemented each other’s strengths perfectly. Stanton was a gifted

writer and radical thinker, full of fervor and radical ideas but pinned down by her

reponsibilities as wife and mother, while Anthony, a tireless and single-minded tactician, was

eager for action, undaunted by the terrible difficulties she faced. As Stanton put it, “I forged

the thunderbolts, she fired them.”

Off the Sidelines: Raise Your Voice, Change the World

by Kirsten Gillibrand

Off the Sidelines is a playbook for women who want to step up, whether in Congress or the

boardroom or the local PTA. If women were fully represented in politics, Gillibrand says,

national priorities would shift to issues that directly impact them: affordable daycare, paid

family medical leave, and equal pay. Pulling back the curtain on Beltway politics, she speaks

candidly about her legislative successes (securing federally funded medical care for 9/11

first responders, repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell) and her crushing disappointments (failing by

five votes to pass a bill protecting survivors of sexual assault in the military).

Failure is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words

by Lynn Sherr

Juxtaposed with contemporary reports and biographical essays, the words of this legendary

suffragist reveal Susan B. Anthony as a loyal, caring friend, and an eloquent, humorous

crusader. “More than a collection of well-arranged quotations, the work informs, inspires,

and gives historical perspective”.

Suffrage: Women’s Long Battle for the Vote

by Ellen Carol DuBois

DuBois explains how suffragists built a determined coalition of moderate lobbyists and

radical demonstrators in forging a strategy of winning voting rights in crucial states to set

the stage for securing suffrage for all American women in the Constitution. In vivid prose

DuBois describes suffragists’ final victories in Congress and state legislatures, culminating in

the last, most difficult ratification, in Tennessee.

DuBois follows women’s efforts to use their voting rights to win political office, increase their

voting strength, and pass laws banning child labor, ensuring maternal health, and securing

greater equality for women.

Suffragette (2015)

Starring Carey Mulligan, Meryl Streep, and Helena Bonham Carter

Inspired by true events, a moving drama exploring the passion and heartbreak of the

women who risked everything in their fight for equality in early 20th century Britain. The

story centers on Maud, a working wife and mother whose life is forever changed when she

is secretly recruited to join the U.K.’s growing suffragette movement. Galvanized by the

outlaw fugitive Emmeline Pankhurst, Maud becomes an activist for the cause alongside

women from all walks of life.

Iron Jawed Angels (2004)

Starring Hilary Swank, Anjelica Huston, Frances O’Connor, and Julia Ormond

DuBois explains how suffragists built a determined coalition of moderate lobbyists and

radical demonstrators in forging a strategy of winning voting rights in crucial states to set

the stage for securing suffrage for all American women in the Constitution. In vivid prose

DuBois describes suffragists’ final victories in Congress and state legislatures, culminating in

the last, most difficult ratification, in Tennessee.

NPR American Chronicles: Women’s Equality

by Susan Stamber

NPR explores the issues, struggles, and triumphs of the American women’s movement,

from the early pioneers to the leaders of today who fight to preserve hard-won rights. This

inspiring, thought-provoking collection spotlights the early suffragists, unsung heroes, and

prime movers behind the modern movement and considers the future of women’s rights in

America and the world.

Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote

by Carla Diane Hayden

The campaign for women’s suffrage—considered the largest reform movement in Amer-

ican history—lasted more than seven decades. The struggle was not for the fainthearted.

For years, determined women organized, lobbied, paraded, petitioned, lectured, picketed,

and faced imprisonment in pursuit of the right to vote. Drawing from the Library’s extensive

collections of photographs, personal papers, and the organizational records of such figures

as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mary Church Terrell, Carrie Chapman Catt, the

National Woman’s Party, and the National American Woman Suffrage Association, Shall Not

Be Denied traces the movement leading to the women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls,

the contributions of suffragists who worked to persuade women that they deserved the

same rights as men, the divergent political strategies and internal divisions they overcame,

the push for a federal women’s suffrage amendment, and the legacy of the movement.

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