Talk on Woman Suffrage in Vermont on Oct. 19

HARDWICK – “Why Not in Vermont? The Long Campaign for Woman Suffrage in Vermont,” a talk by Marilyn Blackwell, Ph.D., will be presented on Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m., at the Memorial Building.

In 1908, members of the Vermont Equal Suffrage Association noted, “Women Vote for President in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho, Why Not in Vermont?” In a state with a long history of respect for individual rights, Vermont lawmakers were resistant to women’s voting rights. Through the stories of three Vermont suffragists, Blackwell will outline the shifting debate over women’s full citizenship from the 1850s until 1920.

Blackwell co-authored a biography of Clarina Howard Nichols of Brattleboro. Nichols was a journalist, lobbyist and public speaker involved in all three of the major reform movements of the mid-19th century: temperance, abolition, and the women’s movement. Blackwell has published many articles on nineteenth-century women and the social history of Vermont. Her most recent article, “Vermont and the Equal Rights Amendments: A Case against Exceptionalism,” appeared in Vermont History in Summer/Fall 2019. She is currently researching the woman suffrage campaign in Vermont.

The program is sponsored by the Friends of the Jeudevine Library. The Memorial Building is Hardwick’s Town Office building across from the library. For more information call 472-5948.