Rightfully Ours

July 15, 2012
A timeline that starts in January 1777, when Mary Katherine Goddard printed the first full copy of the Declaration of Independence, and ends with the women's suffrage amendment passed in 1920 opens this fine history of how women got the vote in the United States. Hollihan covers the eight decades of struggle for women's suffrage with plentiful illustrations, numerous sidebars and a straightforward ability to explain words and ideas in context. The stories, struggles and great work of Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul are laid out, as well as Angelina and Sarah Grimke, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Jane Addams and many other women famed and lesser-known. Hollihan is particularly good at tracing, in language middle-graders can understand, how little control women had over their lives and persons. She also does not gloss over the deep divisions between white women and African-American women, and between the conservative and radical movements within women's suffrage associations. The only downside is the activities, which range from slightly silly (dress up like an ancient Greek for suffrage!) to simply wrong (cake mix does not taste as good as a cake made from scratch). For young readers not quite ready for Ann Bausum's masterly With Courage and Cloth (2004), the survey offers a powerful lesson in the vindication of the rights of women. (resources, index [not seen]) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

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September 1, 2012

Gr 5 Up-A fact-filled account of the struggle for women's suffrage. The first three chapters focus on notable activists Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony. Hollihan recounts how this battle was inexorably tied to the antislavery movement and the role played by women of color in both movements, including Harriett Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Ida Wells-Barnett. Women's organizations divided over the 15th amendment that gave African American men the right to vote. The years of the Gilded Age and the early 20th century found new educational opportunities for women and opportunities to write and to speak and spread the message. Carrie Chapman Catt, Alice Paul, and Lucy Burns used new tactics including civil disobedience to draw attention to their cause. Decades of diligent work saw fruition in the passage of the 19th amendment, using the exact words written by Susan B. Anthony in 1878. Hollihan concludes this informative and edifying volume with the statement that "Equal rights for women are not yet the law of the land in the United States." Activities, which make the suffragist years come alive, are educational and fun and related to chapter materials. Included are detailed instructions for making soap and an oil lamp, making and wearing a corset, china painting, and designing suffragist postcards and signs. Captioned black-and-white photographs and reproductions and sidebars enhance each chapter. An excellent, readable introduction to an important topic.-Patricia Ann Owens, Illinois Eastern Community Colleges

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