Northeast Ohio: The Birthplace for Women’s Suffrage?
For the March 29, 1976 edition of “The New Yorker” magazine, artist Saul Steinberg depicts the World as viewed from Manhattan. This magazine cover turned into a popular poster, is dominated by the skyline of 9th and 10th Avenue, and an overly expansive Hudson River, especially when compared to “Jersey,” the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific Ocean. One of the few mentions of the Midwest is a small dot for Chicago, a vast improvement over the eastern seaboard and the City of Boston that, perhaps unsurprisingly, gets no mention at all. The rest of the World gets it; from the New York perspective nearly everything began and ended in the borders of New York State.
Five years ago, my wife was elected to judicial office, the first woman in our rural Ohio County so elected to this particular seat. To pay homage to those who won women the Vote, and paved the trail for my wife’s election, we made a pilgrimage to New York State and the location of the First Women’s Suffrage Convention at Seneca Falls. We enjoyed the Museum and the surrounding area thoroughly, as a tour of Seneca Falls has several impressive historical locations. Within a tour that is easily experienced in a single day, one can visit the home of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the main organizer of the 1848 Convention. A short distance away from the Stanton home is the M’Clintock House where the Convention was planned, and the Declaration of Sentiments was drafted, a document largely credited to Lucretia Mott. The highlight of the tour was the Wesleyan Chapel. In need of repairs at the time of our visit, this Chapel was the location of the 1848 Convention at Seneca Falls where the Declaration of Sentiments was signed by over one hundred people. A reading of this document, conveniently written on a large wall in a park between the Wesleyan Chapel and an adjacent Visitor’s Center, provides a poignant end to your visit with a chance to reflect upon why our Nation’s ideals upon our founding were limited only to white males of privilege.
The Visitor’s center, a perfect location to both begin and end your Suffrage Tour, offers several displays and films related to the Suffrage Movement and Park Rangers helpful with additional information about the Suffrage Sites and the surrounding area. The Visitor’s Center also contains the obligatory Museum shop from which to purchase mementos and share your experience with a very helpful staff eager to know your thoughts of how the events of 1848 had a direct impact on visitors who enjoy the right to participate and serve in our democracy. When my wife explained the purpose of our Journey, to honor those who made her legal career possible, one of the Park Rangers for the Women’s Rights National Historic Park took her picture, displaying evidence of our visit on the Park’s Facebook Page. The experience was educational and thought provoking. However, events immediately after this pilgrimage caused both my wife and I to question Steinberg’s belief in the over-importance of New York State to our Nation and its ideals of equal justice under law, particularly with respect to voting rights for women.