Tag Archives: NY

“Trouble Brewing in Seneca Falls, NY”: Plus suffrage centennial news!

“Trouble in Seneca Falls, New York” is an audio podcast series on Vimeo.

IN OTHER NEWS: There will be a Statue Fund press conference to announce the winning sculptor of the design competition for the Stanton/Anthony Woman Suffrage Monument on Thursday, July 19, 2018 at the New York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, at 10 a.m. For more information, 347-224-8976.

The National Park Service women’s equality site will be participating in Convention Days in Seneca Falls, NY from July 20-22, 2018. On Saturday, July 21, 2018 there will be a book signing for “W is for Waterfall,” a book for children highlighting women’s history by Aileen Easter. From 2:45 to 4 p.m the same day a program called “The Role of Women in the Promotion of Peace: From Lucretia Mott and the Universal Peace Union…” with content up to the present day. Starting on Convention Days and running through August 1, 2018, the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY has put out a call to storytellers and artists to imagine and create their own versions of the famous conversation between Amelia Bloomer, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton on May 12, 1851. Link to the NWHF web site for more information.

50-50 in 2020 is a nonpartisan organization based in Iowa whose goal is to recruit, train and mentor women political candidates in sufficient numbers that by the year 2020, the centennial of women’s suffrage, women will hold 50 percent of the seats in the Iowa Legislature, 50 percent of the Iowa congressional delegation, and the governor’s office.

The Turning Point Suffragist Memorial has announced that it will open the national suffrage memorial in Lorton, VA on August 26, 2020. That day will have more than its share of attention. Make sure that the memorial meets its funding deadline by contributing NOW. And become a member so that you’ll receive updates and special notices.

We’ve made a contribution to Turning Point. What about you? The Votes for Women activists had us in mind when they took action from 1848 to 1920. Let’s be there for them today. If you’re an Inez Milholland supporter (our national suffrage martyr), Inez will be featured on station 8 of the suffragist memorial, along with a broad arc of honoring a wide range of those who stood up to be heard. We’re all needed now!

Nonprofit Vote has trainings and resources for non profits offering election training.

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On the trail of Sojourner Truth: Walking tour a special of Suffrage Centennials!

Olivia Twine travels to Kingston, NYby Olivia Twine

When planning a pilgrimage or holiday with suffrage centennials in mind, consider Kingston, New York in the Hudson Valley. Friends of Historic Kingston’s walking tour of the city’s pre-Revolutionary stockade district drew a small group on a recent delightful spring day. I’m fascinated with the Stockade District as it relates to abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth, born in Hurley (now Rifton, NY). She filed and won a lawsuit in 1727 that resulted in the return of her young son Peter who’d been kidnapped into slavery in Alabama. The Ulster County Courthouse, where Truth’s case was heard, is still a working courthouse within the Stockade District. A plaque on the courthouse lawn honors Truth and her life in Ulster County.

In 1777, Ulster County residents townspeople gathered on the courthouse lawn to hear the newly-adopted New York State Constitution read from the front steps. Also at the courthouse, Chief Justice John Jay administered the oath of office to New York State’s first governor, George Clinton, a native of Ulster County. He is buried down the street in the Old Dutch Church cemetery. Kingston was the first capital of New York State, founded when a constitutional convention was held within the stockade at the home of Abraham Van Gasbeek, the oldest public building in America and now a museum.

The walking tour, led by Paul Tully, is expected to cover 400 years of the city’s history, starting in 1658 when about five dozen European settlers living along the Esopus Creek moved from the lowlands to the hill above. Colonial governor Peter Stuyvesant ordered them to relocate to an area that was more easily defended from Native Americans who also farmed along the creek. Sharing farmland for several years had brought the settlers and the Native Americans to the brink of war.

Stuyvesant chose the new site because its height on three sides offered natural protection. Board by board, the settlers took down their buildings, carted them uphill, and rebuilt them behind a 14-foot high wall. They constructed the 1,200′ by 1,300′ wall at night in three weeks by pounding tree trunks into the ground. During the day, the men left and farmed the fields in the lowland while the women and children remained confined within the stockade village known as Wiltwyck. This continued until a treaty with the Esopus Indians was signed ending the brutal Esopus Wars in 1664.

The streets of the original Wiltwyck remain laid out just as they were in 1658. Today they are a state and national historic district in the heart of uptown Kingston, NY. Although the wood houses of the original village are long gone, 21 Pre-Revolutionary homes still stand within the stockade area. These limestone and mortar houses are unique to Kingston and the surrounding area. All but one of these homes were burned by the British on October 16, 1777 when the New York State government was forced to move. The residents of Wiltwyck, now Kingston, rebuilt their village stone by stone, and the sturdy structures are used as homes and offices to this day.

Three hundred years are left to tell of Kingston’s rich history. You can hear Paul Tully tell it on the first Saturday of the month, May to October, while strolling around this beautiful national historic district. Tours depart from the corner of Wall and Main streets in front of the Fred J. Johnston Museum at 1 p.m. It takes a little more than an hour. Fees are $10 for adults, $5 for children under 16.

Kingston can be reached from Exit 19 of the New York State Thruway; from the east side of the Hudson River via the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge; and from NYS Routes 9W, 209, and 32. For more information, contact Friends of Historic Kingston, P.O. Box 3763, Kingston, NY 12402, 845-339-0720. www.fohk.org.

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Suffragist and abolitionist Harriet Tubman still center of attention in centennial of her death

Harriet Tubman historic site, Auburn, NYThe politics of the Harriet Tubman historic site in Auburn, New York becoming a national park is very much in the news. Since 2013 is the centennial year of Tubman’s death, there is considerable interest in this subject that was compounded when U.S. President Obama visited Seneca Falls, NY in August and then stayed overnight only a few miles from the Tubman home and museum without visiting it. The no-show ruffled some feathers, while others were more philosophical about the event. The Auburn, NY Harriet Tubman historic site is located in the “Cradle” of the women’s rights movement in the U.S. which is located in the Finger Lakes region of New York. A bill is in the U.S. Congress to make Tubman historic sites in NYS and Maryland one national park. The politics of this possibility are highlighted in these two accounts by Marguerite Kearns and Olivia Twine in New York History: Article #1. Article #2. Kearns and Twine can be found on LetsRockTheCradle.com

Photo: Hospital building on the Harriet Tubman historic site in Auburn, NY. 

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