As we mark the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the ground-breaking 19th Amendment to the Constitution, Genesee Country Village & Museum is offering a timely webinar series that takes a closer look at the struggle for women’s rights and equality. “Rightfully Hers: Building the Foundation for Freedom, Suffrage, & Equality” is a five-part online series featuring talks from local experts, scholars, and historians on topics ranging from Western New York suffrage leaders to the unique challenges Black women have faced in the struggle for equal rights.
Each Wednesday through November 18, GCV&M will present a talk on a different aspect of women’s history, focusing on the journey towards equality and voting rights. The series begins with talks from Dr. Melinda Grube and Deborah Washington, experts on and re-enactors of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Harriet Tubman, respectively.
On November 4, the day after a historic presidential election where for the first time, a Black woman is on the ballot for a major party, GCV&M will host RIT professor Tamar W. Carroll to explore Black women’s political participation in the U.S., emphasizing their efforts to win voting rights for Black men as well as Black women, efforts which continued well after the passage of the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote, due to Jim Crow laws that disenfranchised African Americans.
The series continues with a look at Rochesterians Martha Matilda Harper and Kate Gleason, two pioneers in the business world whose influence still shapes our modern landscape. Harper’s story as one of the first business owners to franchise a business nationally is perhaps one of the lesser-known local success stories, and Gleason’s legacy lives on in the innovation of her family’s business, Gleason Works.
“Rightfully Hers” wraps up with Larry Bell, historian for the Howland Stone Store Museum, as he shares the fascinating story of Emily Howland and the residents of Sherwood, New York. Inspired by Quaker values, they advanced the cause of equal rights for all, through abolitionism, education, and especially women’s suffrage. This final installment caps off the larger view of the intersections of various branches of the struggle for women’s rights and freedoms and how they have influenced each other throughout history.
These online sessions can be watched live, or viewed as recordings after the fact. Anyone who registers for the full series during the run of the webinar will receive information on how to log in to upcoming talks, along with links to any previous sessions as recordings. Same-day registrants after 4 p.m. will be sent a link to view the recording, due to registration time constraints. Tickets for the full series are $40 per person/$32 GCV&M members. Viewers have the option to register for the entire series, or for individual sessions at a cost of $10 per person/$8 per GCV&M member. Pre-registration is required for this online program.
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