fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Movie Night Gift Subscription
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

POINT OF VIEW/ Suffrage and global citizenship

by HV1 Staff
January 14, 2021
in Op-ed, Voices
2

The sturdy wooden wagon on display in the New York State capital through this summer is the centerpiece of an exhibit called From Seneca Falls to the Supreme Court: New York’s Women Leading the Way. Unheard of in 1776 and unsecured until 1920, the women’s vote has become critical to candidates’ success. The suffrage movement of the early 20th century evokes the stamina and discernment needed to address the overwhelming values crisis that’s challenging the American spirit now.

During the second decade of the 20th century, the indefatigable Edna Kearns led the way in New York City and on Long Island, where she promoted voting rights for women wherever an audience could be found. The wagon, called “Spirit of 1776,” was her speaker’s platform. Seeing the horse-drawn vehicle this month in a place of honor among images of the women it served was a reminder of the determination it took to effectuate a right we now take for granted. Voting is a hard won civil right, not a “privilege” like driving a car or traveling on an airplane, as some politicians would have us believe.

Suffragists addressed the injustice of being denied the equality touted in the Declaration of Independence.

Today’s crisis is the polite but tacit denial of Americans’ desire for fairness, equality and ecological sensibility by the profit-based values underlying the dominant global corporate system. It’s a series of issues that snag us in the weeds and distract us from the overriding problem: How to regain control of our government and save the planet from destruction by inexorable exploitation and neglect.

Audience response was unpredictable when the “Spirit of 1776” hit the road. Crowds threw flowers at the women or tossed insults such as, “Why aren’t you at home taking care of your husband and children?” In Edna’s case, her daughter Serena was often with her in the wagon, and her husband Wilmer marched in the men’s division of suffrage parades. Edna and Wilmer exemplified partnership at a time when it was cutting edge. When Edna went off to conferences and suffrage organizing events, Wilmer answered the phone and suffrage correspondence.

Former Woodstock Times editor Marguerite Culp-Kearns, Edna’s granddaughter, donated the wagon to the State of New York ten years ago. In the exhibit, the “Spirit of 1776” and photographs of Edna and the activists with whom she marched are surrounded by panels of accomplished New York State women who forged a path from the Declaration of Sentiments presented at Seneca Falls in 1848 to the diverse Supreme Court of today. The Suffrage Wagon News Channel, or https://www.suffragewagon.org has been created by Culp-Kearns to build leadership through news and stories of the suffrage movement.

On July 2, 1913 The New York Times reported that the wagon, which came from the family of “an old-time Long Islander” known as Uncle Dan Hewlett, had been presented the day before to the State Woman Suffrage Association for campaign purposes. After the ceremony, the Times stated: “Mrs. Wilmer Kearns and Miss Irene Davidson, dressed as minute men, and little Miss Serena Kearns, in the back seat as a little Liberty, carrying the stars and stripes, drove to Jamaica, where a meeting was held. The wagon was covered with painted inscriptions, placards and waving banners. The words “spirit of ‘76” was fastened to the back, and beneath it another placard read: “If taxation without representation was tyranny in 1776, why not in 1913?”

Page 1 of 2
12Next
Tags: Women’s rights
Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

Rosendale screens The Island President, with panel, on July 18

Next Post

Community Partnership for a Safer New Paltz hires new director

HV1 Staff

Related Posts

Village of New Paltz toilet mandate expected to reduce complaints

Satire

Village of New Paltz toilet mandate expected to reduce complaints


April 1, 2023
Planet alignment? Not since Orson Welles’ The War of the Worlds has the public been so mislead
Columns

Planet alignment? Not since Orson Welles’ The War of the Worlds has the public been so mislead

March 31, 2023
Letters to the editor (3/10/21)
Letters

Love to Saugerties, State of the County, solving problems and more letters from our readers

March 29, 2023
Venus gets ready to dominate the evening sky
Columns

Venus gets ready to dominate the evening sky

March 24, 2023
Letters to the editor (2/9/22)
Letters

County Charter Revision Commission, Silicon Valley Bank, Marcus Molinaro and more letters from our readers

March 22, 2023
Ulster County RRA urges legislature to shift from single-stream to dual-stream
Op-ed

Should the county absorb the Resource Recovery Agency?

March 19, 2023
Next Post

Community Partnership for a Safer New Paltz hires new director

Please login to join discussion

Trending News

  • After months of speculation, Uptown Kingston’s Market Basket reopens for business 1.7k views
  • Students sent to hospital after Rosendale crash involving school bus 1.3k views
  • School “swatting” strikes Kingston High as police issue statewide advisory 1.3k views
  • Stony Run deal passes, not everyone is celebrating 1k views
  • New Paltz Planning Board considers proposal for feline-themed café 637 views
  • Benefit concert for beloved Woodstock musician known for giving back to community 569 views

Weather

Kingston
◉
43°
Cloudy
6:38 am7:21 pm EDT
Feels like: 43°F
Wind: 0mph NNW
Humidity: 82%
Pressure: 29.77"Hg
UV index: 0
SunMonTue
48/27°F
61/43°F
63/45°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Movie Night Gift Subscription

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing