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Search results for: suffrage
19th Amendment: The Fight Over Woman Suffrage in Connecticut
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees all women who…
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Senator Brandegee Stonewalls Women’s Suffrage
Senator Frank Brandegee of New London vehemently opposed progressive legislation at the national level, particularly when it came to the issue of women’s suffrage.
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Connecticut Attorney General John H. Light and His Fight for Woman’s Suffrage
Attorney General John H. Light made his pro-suffrage stance public at a time when such advocacy could still lead to criticism
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Hartford’s Nook Farm
This small enclave in the capital city’s west end became home to many of the 19th century’s most celebrated and creative personalities.
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Past Perfect: Wallace Nutting Invents an Ideal Olde New England
In the early 1900s consumers bought photographs, furniture, and books from a former minister who skillfully sold the fantasy of simpler times as an antidote to modern life.
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Women of the Prison Brigade
These women from all walks of life had one thing in common: they had been jailed for demonstrating in support of women’s right to vote.
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A Feeling of Solidarity: Labor Unions and Suffragists Team Up
The voting booth and the shop floor were two important arenas in the fight for women’s equality.
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America’s First Ordained Woman Minister: Olympia Brown and Bridgeport’s Universalist Church
Long-time Bridgeport resident Olympia Brown was the first woman ordained as a minister in the United States and campaigned vigorously for women’s suffrage.
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Katharine Houghton Hepburn, A Woman Before Her Time
This Hartford suffragist and reformer fought for women’s rights in the first half of the 20th century.
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Mary Townsend Seymour: Hartford’s Organizer, Activist, and Suffragist
Mary Townsend Seymour was a leading organizer, civil rights activist, suffragist, and so much more in Hartford during the early 20th century.
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The Smith Sisters and Their Cows Strike a Blow for Equal Rights – Today in History: January 8
Abigail and Julia Smith of Glastonbury (along with Isabella Beecher Hooker) fought for a woman’s right to speak at town meetings and have a say in government.
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From the State Historian: Connecticut’s Slow Steps Toward Emancipation
Slavery remained in the Land of Steady Habits until 1848, and it was not quick to advance suffrage for African Americans, either.
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“Washburn Colonials”: Distinguished 1920s Homes Stand the Test of Time
Without formal training, Alice Washburn designed some of Connecticut’s most iconic Colonial Revival buildings of the early 20th century.
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Catharine Beecher, Champion of Women’s Education
Sister to two of the most famous figures of the 19th century–Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher–Catharine Esther Beecher achieved fame in her own right as an educator, reformer, and writer.
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A Diversified Mind: Hiram Percy Maxim
No matter his field of endeavor—from automotive design and acoustics to wireless radio and aviation—this multitalented creator had a hand in key developments of the early 1900s.
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“’No Taxation without Representation’: Black Voting in Connecticut
In 1870, Connecticut ratified the 15th Amendment, but poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and other means of disenfranchising African Americans remained in place.
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Connecticut Suffragists Appeal to the President – Today in History: July 12
On July 12, 1918, Connecticut suffragists—men, women, and children—rallied in…
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Henry Ward Beecher, a Preacher with Political Clout
This skilled orator championed woman suffrage, temperance, and the cause of anti-slavery but scandal nearly derailed his career.
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Vera Buch Weisbord’s “Radical” Life
Vera Wilhelmine Buch Weisbord was a labor activist who helped organize trade unions and strikes that shaped the labor movement of the 1920s and 1930s.
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Celia Burleigh, Connecticut’s First Female Minister
In 1871, Celia Burleigh, a life-long activist and reformer, became…
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The Smith Sisters, Their Cows, and Women’s Rights in Glastonbury
By refusing to pay unfair taxes, these siblings became national symbols of discrimination suffered by women and of the struggle of the individual against government.
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Looking Back: Tempest Tossed, the Story of Isabella Beecher Hooker
Isabella Beecher was a suffragist and spiritualist who shunned traditional female roles while alienating large parts of her famous family during her brother’s adultery scandal.
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Site Lines: Fortresses of Faith, Agents of Change
Black churches, including the earliest ones in Connecticut, have long been at the forefront in the battle for social progress and equality.
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Reverend James Pennington: A Voice for Freedom
Having escaped from slavery in Maryland, this accomplished pastor, publisher, and freedom fighter challenged racism wherever he found it, even within the ranks of the abolitionist movement and the ministry.
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Hiding the Charter: Images of Joseph Wadsworth’s Legendary Action
Overshadowed by the famed oak, Joseph Wadsworth, “the hero of the Charter,” has become the Rodney Dangerfield of Connecticut history—he doesn’t get any respect—or much recognition.
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Elizabeth Jarvis Colt Born – Today in History: October 5
On October 5, 1826, Elizabeth Jarvis was born in Hartford….
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Rosamond Danielson: Windham County Suffragist and Community Leader
Rosamond Danielson was a respected suffragist, World War I worker, and philanthropist from Putnam Heights
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Hope for the West: The Life and Mission of Lyman Beecher
Lyman Beecher was one of the most influential Protestant preachers of the 19th century, as well as father to some of the nation’s greatest preachers, writers, and social activists.
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Trolley Campaigners Storm Small Towns and Votes for Women is the Battle Cry
In the wake of a 1912 trolley campaign, the woman’s suffrage movement rapidly gained ground across Connecticut.
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Early Civil Rights and Cultural Pioneers:The Easton Family
For a variety of reasons, the Eastons were one of New England’s most notable 19th-century African American families.
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Votes for A Woman: Sara Buek Crawford
As Connecticut’s first female statewide elected official and first female Secretary of State, Sara Crawford broke barriers for women throughout her career.
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Mary Hall: Connecticut’s First Female Attorney
Writer and suffragist Mary Hall developed an interest in the law after hearing John Hooker speak at a suffragist convention. She studied under Hooker and became Connecticut’s first female attorney.
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Josephine Bennett: Hartford’s City Mother
By linking disparate social and political movements of the early 20th century, activist Josephine Bennett was “intersectional” well before the term was invented.
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Katharine Hepburn’s Love Affair (with Connecticut)
One of the most popular actresses of the 20th century, Katharine Hepburn was born to prominent parents in Hartford. She lived much of her later life in Old Saybrook.
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Elizabeth W. Coe Demands the Right of Jury Service
After passage of the 19th Amendment, Elizabeth W. Coe of Waterbury argued that women should be granted the right to serve on jury panels.
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Where It All Happened: Connecticut’s Old State House
Connecticut’s Old State House is a memorial to many of the legislative advances made in Connecticut during the most formative years of the United States.
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A Day for Women – Today in History: March 8
Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day. First observed in…
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Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Best remembered for her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” this Hartford author’s larger legacy is a life dedicated to women’s issues and social reform.
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Women Win the Right to Vote
After a decades-long struggle, women in Connecticut and across the US gained a say in government.
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Charlotte Perkins Gilman Born – Today in History: July 3
On July 3, 1860, Charlotte Anna Perkins (Charlotte Perkins Gilman)…
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Where Mr. Twain and Mrs. Stowe Built Their Dream Houses
This bucolic oasis on Hartford’s western edge became home to great literary talents, social reformers, politicians, and other nationally-regarded luminaries of the mid-to-late 1800s.
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An Orderly & Decent Government: Business and Government, 1905-1929
The early years of the 20th century were a time of vigorous political and social reform.
Read An Orderly & Decent Government: Searching for the Common Good, 1776-1818
During the American Revolution, loyalists were common in Connecticut. Those sympathetic to the patriot cause helped provide for the Continental army.
Read An Orderly & Decent Government: Making Self-Government Work, 1905-1929
With war’s end, suffrage advocates stepped up their campaign for equal rights.
Read An Orderly & Decent Government: Making Self-Government Work, 1866-1887
The late 1800s witnessed significant challenges to Connecticut’s voting and taxation laws.
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Map: Connecticut Women in History (more to come…)
From forging Revolutionary War ammunition to running newspapers, patenting new…
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Isabella Beecher Hooker
Isabella Beecher Hooker (1822–1907) Isabella Beecher Hooker was born in…
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Looking Back: How the Vote Was Won
Today it is the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center (The Kate) but it began as the Old Saybrook Musical and Dramatic Club.
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