In Her Own Right Symposium
The symposium was held March 18-19, 2021.
Presentation video recordings now available on the PACSCL YouTube Channel
The Philadelphia Area Consortium for Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL) and In Her Own Right project team invite you to join us in exploring a century of women’s activism leading to the passage of the 19th Amendment. The symposium celebrates more than 5 years of work on the In Her Own Right project: http://inherownright.org/
Keynote: Martha S. Jones
Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, Professor of History, and a Professor at the SNF Agora Institute at The Johns Hopkins University
All times are in EDT (find my time)
9:00 – 10:00am EDT Opening Plenary: Portals to the documentary history of women's activism
- Margery Sly, "Welcome and Introduction to the In Her Own Right Project"
- Rachel Guberman and Jennifer Weintraub, "Collaborative Commemoration: Schlesinger Library’s Long 19th Amendment Project Portal"
- Shaneé Yvette Murrain, "Black Women’s Suffrage: A Digital History of Disobedience"
10:15 – 11:30am EDT Friendship and Relationships Between Women
- Christina Larocco, "'Thy Loving Wife': Martha Schofield, Sadie Brouwer, and Locating Queerness in the Archive"
- Lauren M. McCardel, "The Friendship Album of Amy Matilda Cassey: Authorship and Activism in 19th-century Philadelphia"
- Stephanie J. Richmond, "A Network of Letters: A digital map of the Weston Sisters' Correspondence"
11:45am – 1:00pm EDT Professional Women
- Dr. Christina Gessler, "Sarah Josepha Hale’s Activism: A Poem, A Lamb, an Imposter, and a Plan"
- Kathleen L. Hornberger, PhD, "Graceanna Lewis: Delaware County naturalist and forestry advocate"
- Brennan Tomasetti, "Transformation of a National Historic Landmark: Guild House Hotel"
2:00 – 3:00pm EDT Track 1: Peacemakers
- Dr. Dagmar Wernitznig, "Enemy Alien: Rosika Schwimmer’s (1877–1948) Peace Activism in the United States during the First World War"
- Dr. Shirley Oakley, "Jeanette Rankin and the Peace Issue: Methods and Morals of Men"
2:00 – 3:00pm EDT Track 2: Women in Politics
Chair: L. Rebecca Johnson Melvin
- Wendy E. Chmielewski and Jill Norgren, "Really? Women Ran for Elective Office Before They Had the Vote?"
- Alison M. Parker, "Black Women’s Participation in Formal Partisan Politics: Mary Church Terrell and the Election of 1920"
3:15 – 4:15pm EDT Track 1: Preserving Anna Julia Cooper's Legacy Through Her Archives
Chair: Dr. Shirley Moody-Turner
- Sabrina Evans, Justin Smith, Courtney Murray, and Dr. Shirley Moody-Turner, "Undisputed Dignity: Preserving Anna Julia Cooper's Legacy Through Her Archives"
3:15 – 4:15pm EDT Track 2: Alice Paul at the University of Pennsylvania
- Heather J. Sharkey, John Pollack, Maria Murad, Ellen Miller, and Lindsey Perlman, "Alice Paul at the University of Pennsylvania: A Study of "The Legal Rights of Women in Pennsylvania" (1912)"
Thursday, March 18, 6:00 - 8:00pm EDT
Keynote by Martha S. Jones
All times are in EDT (find my time)
9:00 – 10:30am EDT Perspectives on Suffrage
- Anne M. Boylan, "Finding Delaware's African American Suffrage Activists in the Archives"
- Dr. Angela Shpolberg, "Emma Goldman and the American Women’s Suffrage Movement"
- Victoria Skelton, "Whose Sisterhood? The Limits of Feminism and the International Council of Women, 1888-1920"
10:45 – 11:45am EDT Philanthropy with Strings
- Andrea Walton, "Where There’s a Will There’s a Way?: A Consideration of Anna T. Jeanes’s Bequests and Gifts to Promote Change in Education"
- C.C. Borzilleri, "Professional Motherhood: Expanding the Private Sphere to the Public"
- Carolyn A. Levy, "'To Secure from Vice and Degradation': Cases of the Rosine Association"
12:00 – 1:00pm EDT Antislavery Women
- Beverly Wilson Palmer, "Black and White Women Crusading Together: The PFASS from 1855 to 1870"
- Natalie Joy, "Native Women's Activism in the American Antislavery Movement"
2:00 – 3:30pm EDT Track 1: Prominence and Memory
- Allison J. McFarland, Ph.D., MBA, "Doing Good Even When No One Remembers Your Name: A Look Back at 19th Century Activist Frances Willard"
- Amy Cohen, "19th Century America’s Most Famous Philadelphian (and why you haven’t heard of her): The Anna E. Dickinson Story"
- Naomi Watkins and Michael Ramon Aguilar, "A Matter of Trust: Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon"
2:00 – 3:30pm EDT Track 2: El Voto Feminino: Women and Suffrage in New Mexico's Past and Present
- Sylvia Ramos Cruz, M.D., "Ganaron el Voto: Suffragists in New Mexico"
- Pamelya Herndon, J.D., "African American Women in the Suffrage Movement – The Betrayal and Resurrection of Their Voting Rights"
3:45 – 4:45pm EDT Track 1: Lives Recreated in the Reconstruction Era
- Dr. Lois Leveen, "Beyond 'Mary Bowser': Uncovering Black Civil War Spy Mary Richards Denman's Postbellum Activism"
- Heather Brinn, "In Defense of Love: Freedwomen’s Nonnormative Relationships in the Reconstruction South"
3:45 – 4:45pm EDT Track 2: Social Change in the WWI Era
Chair: Heather Willever-Farr
- Jenna E. Fleming, "Women and the Performing Arts as Activism in the First World War"
- Melissa S. Gentry, "The Bleeding Heart, the Bootlegger, and Daisy: The Untold Story of Women in Prohibition Muncie"
5:00 – 5:30pm EDT Wrap-up and virtual toast to our presenters and supporters
In Her Own Right received generous support from:
We gratefully acknowledge our symposium sponsors: