CITIZEN

“Minnesota is remarkable for its galaxy of superior women actively engaged as speakers and writers in many reforms.’’  This is how Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton acknowledged the unique role women from the North Star state played in the fight for the woman’s suffrage.  Citizen explores this multigenerational march of Minnesota women for the franchise and all they hoped would come with the vote.

From pioneering activists like Sarah Burger Stearns to Progressive Era leaders like Nellie Griswold Francis, the vote was seen as a mark of fuller citizenship and tool of change for concerns like healthcare, children, and women’s rights.  But how did tensions between Black and white, native born and immigrant, and radical and moderate mar the movement?  How did Minnesota’s suffragists mirror the national effort?

This chronicle of Minnesotans’ role in achieving the 19^th Amendment also suggests that the 70 plus years of activism was itself an important badge of change and true democracy.

Promotional support provided by League of Women Voters Minnesota