Rightfully Ours

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 the issue of women’s right to vote. 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,