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Sandra Weber

Sandra Weber: How Long Must Women Wait

October 27, 2016 by Sandra Weber 2 Comments

pickets in front of white houseOne hundred years ago, on October 22, 1916, Inez Milholland Boissevain gave a powerful suffrage speech in Los Angeles. At one point, she directed a question at Woodrow Wilson: “Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?” As those words echoed through the hall, Inez collapsed on stage.

Today, New York State prepares to celebrate the centennial of women’s suffrage and the nation approaches an historic election – a woman is the presidential nominee of a major political party. The importance of casting a vote on November 8, 2016, seems obvious, and the right to vote taken for granted. But consider that women in New York State could not vote in Congressional or Presidential elections a hundred years ago. However, after decades of campaigning for women’s suffrage, it appeared that momentum was building in 1916. One woman from New York helped spur the forces to move “forward into light.” [Read more…] about Sandra Weber: How Long Must Women Wait

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Gender History, Political History, Suffrage Movement, womens history

Sculptor Edmonia Lewis: From Albany to Rome, Italy

February 11, 2016 by Sandra Weber 2 Comments

sculptor edmonia lewis from albany to romeWhen American writer Henry James labeled the group of American women sculpting in Rome the “white marmorean flock,” he also made another note. “One of the sisterhood was a negress, whose color, picturesquely contrasting with that of her plastic material [white marble], was the pleading agent of her fame.” Like many of his contemporaries, James attributed the success of Edmonia Lewis to her skin color while also disregarding her mixed-race heritage.

In the early nineteenth century, it was difficult to be an American sculptor. There were no professional art schools, no specialized carvers, few quality materials, and only a few practicing sculptors in America. The pilgrimage to Rome was a necessity for those who aspired to be sculptors. If a woman wished to pursue sculpting, she confronted additional obstacles. [Read more…] about Sculptor Edmonia Lewis: From Albany to Rome, Italy

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Arts, History Tagged With: Art History, Black History, Edmonia Lewis, Gender History, John Brown, Literature, Niagara County, Rensselaer County, sculpture, womens history

Kate Field: “A Babe in the Woods” of the Adirondacks

March 31, 2014 by Sandra Weber 3 Comments

kate profileAt the height of her career in mid-1873, Kate Field was said to be “a more prominent journalist than Clemens [Mark Twain].” The Washington Post said she was “one of the foremost women of America,” and the Chicago Tribune called her the “most unique woman the present century has produced.” Yet in her tales of adventure in the Adirondacks, she called herself “a babe in the woods.”

She wrote, “To be a babe in the woods watched over by a human robin redbreast, is as near an approach to Eden before the fall as comes within the ken of woman.” [Read more…] about Kate Field: “A Babe in the Woods” of the Adirondacks

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Adirondack Park, Adirondacks, Environmental History, Gender History, Political History, Women's History Month, womens history

The Two Mrs. Boissevains: Inez and Edna

March 17, 2014 by Sandra Weber 4 Comments

11399r-Inez on horseThe lives of the two Mrs. Boissevains of New York seem inseparable and incomparable. Both graduated from Vassar College, supported women’s suffrage, endured ill health, believed in free love, and attained popular fame. It is not surprising that they chose the same husband: the charming, witty, handsome Eugen Boissevain. Inez Milholland wed him on July 14, 1913, and after Inez died, he took Edna St. Vincent Millay as his bride on July 18, 1923.

Already known for “making suffrage fashionable,” Inez Milholland shot to fame as the herald atop a white horse at the head of the March 3, 1913, suffrage procession in Washington, DC. It was a shock to the world when a few months later the New York Times announced that Inez had met Hollander F. Eugene Boissevain aboard an ocean liner and married him in London. [Read more…] about The Two Mrs. Boissevains: Inez and Edna

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Gender History, Political History, Suffrage Movement, Women's History Month, womens history

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