Women's Suffrage Movement: Women’s Suffrage By Jeff Hill

In the book Defining Moments of Women’s Suffrage by Jeff Hill, talks about the struggles women have had to endure for a long period of time for equal rights. The debate over women’s suffrage lasted from the 1840s to 1920s, as women suffered to have a voice in politics. Anti-suffragists argued on the non-traditional views of women’s roles and treated them as subordinate beings. Ultimately suffragists succeed in securing the 19th amendment, becoming political activists, gaining the right to vote, and changing America’s electorate forever. During this time, female activists faced violence and treat to their community due to their status quo. No matter the hardships women have had to experience during this process, suffragist created a powerful and non-violent political movement. Individuals such as Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, and Frederick Douglass were all women that helped establish the dream of gaining the right to vote for all American women. This book is successful at bringing awareness to its readers about the women suffrage by incorporating examples, tone, and a non-bias approach.

Though the initial call for women’s suffrage wasn’t until the mid-1800s, many earlier events paved the way for the Seneca Falls Convention. The United States of America gained territory that was settled by English colonists. Therefore, many British custom laws transferred to North America. British laws placed numerous restrictions on voting rights on women, not allowing them to express their voice in the electoral process. Both Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were both women activists that meet at the London Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840, the conservative men at this event prevented women from participating in the meeting. Subsequently, both Stanton and Mott became close friends at the conference after deliberately talking about the status of women in American society. In result, they agreed to hold a convention for women’s rights as soon as they returned to the United States.

In 1848, the Women’s Rights Convention took place in Seneca Falls, New York. During the convention, the individuals a part of the women’s suffrage movement issued the Declaration of Sentiments. The Declaration of Sentiments based on the Declaration of Independence, it asserted women’s equality in politics, morals, and petition for their rights. Forwarding a couple of years later, in 1890, AWSA and NWSA agree to become a pact together and be known as the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Over the next 14 years, suffragists led over 500 campaigns and made new strategies to push the federal amendment. The help of World War I and President Woodrow Wilson pressured support for the federal amendment which led to its victory. On August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment declared part of the United States Constitution, and the right to vote for all American women became a reality.

In the book Defining Moments of Women’s Suffrage, the author Jeff Hill describes the hardships that women experienced during the movement. After reading this source, my opinion concerning the women suffrage movement has changed since I was able to deeply understand the struggles that women have had to endure throughout history. Most importantly, I learned the reasons why it took so much time for women to gain the right to vote. According to the book, “It is dangerous to open so fruitful a source of controversy and altercation as would be opened by attempting to alter the qualifications of voters.” When reading this quote, it has provided facts, a direct quote, and knowledge for readers to be more informed towards the topic. In my point of view, facts throughout the book are provided to gain a better perspective and point of view from the characters mentioned. The author is very informative throughout the book for the reader to gain a better perspective of each event leading up to the reveal of the 19th amendment. Another example provided in the book, “By 1916, the association NAWSA had an operating budget of one hundred thousand dollars per year.” Providing this quote states accurate and specific details about the research rather than being vague and avoiding the assumptions implied. Also, the author isn’t prejudiced or against any of the events mentioned throughout the book. This method was effective in keeping the reader hooked and guided throughout the book.

The author’s point of view throughout the story is kept unbiased. Upon reading this article, has been written in a third-person point of view by avoiding a biased perspective. The narrator uses plural pronouns as them, their, and they to express the characters written in the story. According to the book, “But they once again, powerful figures argued that the need to secure African American rights was more pressing than the need to secure those of women.” Plural pronouns are used in this quote and the book to identify someone’s identity to help avoid assuming a gender. In doing so, plural pronouns support not being able to favor one side over the other. Another way that the author shows that they are unbiased is by storytelling in which the narrator expresses an omniscient point of view. The narrator expresses an omniscient perspective as it is trustworthy and reliable from the narrator’s knowledge. According to the book, “The pants, often worn under a knee lengthen the skirt, became a symbol of liberation for women of the era.” Throughout this source, the author uses an omniscient writing style to inform and develop an understanding of the characters. It’s a literary device that aids character development, allowing to expand significant depth and meaning of the characters. Furthermore, the author uses a neutral tone which presents a non-biased approach without showing any personal emotions towards the topic, doesn’t get in the way of facts and supportive details. The narrator also uses this point of view so it can relate information to the reader that the characters from the story might not know about each other.

Throughout the book, the author uses a unique way of explaining the events throughout the years leading to the achievement of the 19th amendment. They use a chronological order while having factual evidence, and supportive reasoning making it easier for the reader to guide themselves. As a result, the author implements women’s and men’s perspective throughout the book to have both points of view throughout this time in history. According to the book, many men had the opposition of women breaking ideal traditions as opposed to women wanting to break those traditional roles. It’s informative in the fact that you get a sense of both worlds and the ideals that people had during this era. The purpose of explaining the journey of women’s suffrage in chronological order was to get a sense of the long road and hard sacrifices that women had to make throughout the years. In my opinion, it gives an emotional sense of attachment to understand the characters portrayed throughout the book and the way they created powerful movements. Another way the author implemented a unique method of explaining the movement was by representing the characters back story along with the informative details. Being informed towards each character gave an understanding of what they stood for. According to the book, “Abigail Scott Duniway was a hardworking farm child that mile cows, planted corn, made butter, and at age nine resided the family’s lawn.”

This source gave a brief explanation of a character that gave an insider to the life they had before the movements. In result, it’s informative to have background knowledge of the characters throughout the book to gain a feeling for who they once were. In closing, the women’s suffrage movement was a long journey of hardships and challenges to win the right to vote for American women. Anti-suffragists battled continuously claiming that women should stick to being housewives and staying out of participating in political practices. After reading the book, it has informed me based on the obstacles that women had to surpass to have equality like everyone else. Bias opinions, racism, and gender neutrality were all factors that made the journey harder to overcome the challenges presented. This source had virtuous resources and details on the women’s suffrage movement and how powerful they came to be. The book provided a non-biased perspective, informative resources, and a better understanding of the book overall. As a woman, this book made me understand how it felt like to be a woman during the 1800s and the amount of dedication and hard work it took to change women’s rights and make history in America for women. This is a book that I would suggest to anyone interested in learning about the women’s suffrage moment without any biased point of view. This book is inspiring in the fact that women never gave up and kept going no matter the circumstances while symbolizing power and strength to individuals all over the world.