Long Island and the Woman Suffrage Movement by Antonia Petrash

Abstract

107 Book Reviews Long Island and the Woman Suffrage Movement. By Antonia Petrash. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2013, 157 pages, $19.99 Paper. Reviewed by Carrie Casagrande, University of Louisiana Monroe, LA When it comes to the women’s suffrage movement in the United States, New York’s grassroots efforts led the way in 1848 with the Seneca Falls convention. The women of Long Island worked tirelessly to see the dreams of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott become a reality with the passage of the 19th Amendment. New York librarian, Antonia Petrash investigates the struggle of a select group of Long Island residents as they contributed to the passage of both state and national women’s suffrage amendments. According to Petrash, the suffrage movement was not a united front but rather a loose coalition of strong willed and opinionated individuals. In such a group, it was only natural that disagreements often arose. Long Island resident, Harriot Stanton Blatch, for instance, grew up in the suffrage movement but disagreed with her famous mother, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She felt in order for the movement to be successful working class women had to be included. Others, such as Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and Katherine Duer Mackay, moved in the same political and social circles but had contentious relationships. Clashing personalities and differing opinions did not end there; some suffrage leaders were proponents of state-by state legislation, while others found inspiration in the national agenda of England’s suffragettes. Rosalie Gardiner Jones, Lucy Burns, and Elisabeth Freeman all spent time incarcerated for their participation in suffragette rallies in England. Each woman found inspiration in Emmeline Pankhurst’s hands on approach to the British suffrage movement. When they returned to the states, they brought with them the courage to speak 108 ■ NEW YORK HISTORY openly in the streets organize public rallies and expand the American suffrage agenda to include a national amendment. Not all participants in the movement shared the same motivation. Elizabeth Oakes Smith, for example , became frustrated by her lack of legal rights when financial difficulties forced her into the workforce. Through this struggle, she became a writer and proponent of suffrage. Petrash uses the events in each of these women’s lives as a means for discussing the issues related to suffrage. Long Island and the Women Suffrage Movement is composed of twelve short biographical essays. The author provides a brief sketch of the background of each woman. Afterwards, she focuses attention on the woman’s contribution to the suffrage movement. Unlike Petrash, many were not native New Yorkers but called Long Island home at some point in their life. The majority of the women were from wealthy families who had the economic resources to travel around the United States presenting their perspective on suffrage. The author does include, however, four chapters on women who suffered economic hardships. Lucy Burns, Elizabeth Freeman, Edna Buckman Kearns, and Elizabeth Oakes Smith struggled to support themselves and their families by working as teachers or writers . Petrash also includes a biography of Theodore Roosevelt, who after his time as president changed his view on women’s suffrage and became an avid spokesman until his death in 1919. One chapter devotes a good deal of attention to James Lees Laidlaw and his wife, Harriet Burton Laidlaw. Laidlaw was one of the few men who publicly supported women’s suffrage and the only man recognized by the League of Women Voters in their bronze memorial tablets unveiled March 25, 1931. The biographies are organized alphabetically, which causes considerable overlap in content. Individuals such as Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul are repeatedly introduced. The same is true of important events in the suffrage movement at both the state and national level. A chronological approach may have lessened this problem. In addition, the biographies of Elisabeth Freeman and Rosalie Gardiner Jones could have easily been combined since the two ladies worked almost exclusively together for the cause. The volume does have some factual errors. Petrash indicates that slavery was abolished with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and not the 13th Amendment in 1865 (13). Prior to 1951, there were no presidential term limits, which is why Roosevelt...