On this day in 1850, the first “National Women’s Rights Convention” was assembled in Worcester, Massachusetts. Lectures, discussions, and speeches addressed issues of equality for women: wages, education & careers, property rights, and, of course, voting. Also present were groups advocating temperance and the abolition of slavery.
The idea germinated ten years earlier, in 1840, when two women—Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton—accompanied their husbands to London for The World Anti-Slavery Convention. When the two women were not allowed in (because they were women!), they cemented their friendship and decided they need to work on women’s rights.
Eight years after that, in 1848, a meeting was convened in Seneca Falls, New York—300 people attended (including 40 men). It was decided that, among other things, a series of national meetings must be convened for the purpose of raising awareness of women’s equality issues. The first (Worcester) gathering was held on this day two years later.
Also on this day (in 1915), 25,000 – 33,000 women assembled and marched down Fifth Avenue demanding equal voting rights for women. Five years later, women’s suffrage became a reality in the United States.
The cast spelter Art Deco bookends above were made in the 1930's. They bear a resemblance to the work of Paul Manship. Set on marble bases, they would be nice with or without books!
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