The suffragists modeled leadership –how people can take advantage of existing opportunities to spread the word about their cause or special interests. Grandmother Edna Kearns knew that women could be reached in the kitchen. So she focused on where women could make the connection between political rights and the domestic arts. Thus, her “Can Can” campaign reached women in their own homes!

Subscribe to the Suffrage Wagon News Channel.

To participate in the New Agenda’s mentoring program, find out more. Why? Because, as The New Agenda explains:

“This initiative also comes at a time when women are experiencing a widening promotion and pay gap.  In 2011 for the first time in history, women surpassed men as recipients of college degrees.  But according to a McKinsey report, 53% of entry level jobs are held by women today but the number declines to 37% for mid-management and even lower at 26% for senior level roles.   In fields like corporate management and politics, men still occupy 84% and 83% of leadership roles, and women’s progress has stalled or is moving backwards.   The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that women still only earn 80 percent of what men do in annual salary and benefits.”

The BBC television pieces entitled Christabel Pankhurst: “I wanted to assault a policeman”  and another recent segment called “Fight to clear Derby suffragette Alice Wheeldon’s name” are worth the five minutes or so you’ll spend watching. The BBC news magazine even has an article raising the question of whether or not the English suffragettes were regarded as terrorists in their day.

Note the valentine illustration above by American artist Ellen Clappsaddle. There’s no doubt where she stood on the issue of Votes for Women!

Stories of the suffrage movement can also tickle your funny bone. A favorite of mine is about the well-known British composer, Dame Ethel Smyth,  imprisoned for the suffrage struggle in England. When serving time in Holloway prison, Smyth leaned out of her cell and used her toothbrush to conduct the suffragettes in the prison yard singing “The March of the Women,” the work Smyth composed.

You can hear Smyth’s own voice on a special podcast from the BBC. Come on, now. This podcast is only three minutes long. Painless. And don’t forget that Susan B. Anthony’s birthday is February 15th! This link to the Susan B. Anthony Day notes the opposition to it becoming a national holiday though Susan’s day is observed or celebrated officially in several states.

“My great-grandmother is but one example of strength. I surround myself with pictures and memories of family members–men and women alike–who have shown might in times of distress. I serve food on my mom’s trays and use my grandmother’s silverware at meals. I play from my great-aunt’s songbooks on my grandmother’s piano. I drink wine from my aunt’s wine glasses. I sleep in my grandparents’ bed. I hang my great-aunt’s artwork on my wall. I listen to music on my grandfather’s Edison player. I soak up the journalled memories of my pioneer great-grandmother.

“I am never alone, because they and an army of love and wisdom are behind me. Anything I encounter will not surpass their stories. Anything I conquer will be because of the lessons they’ve taught me. And we are all enveloped in this greatness, if we remember to see it and let it feed the core of our being. Do you hear the call? Do you hear my great-grandmother saying ‘no’ to injustice? Do you hear your own conscience saying that there are some things that are simply not acceptable?”

Edee Lemonier speaks about her grandmother being bundled up to be carried to a Votes for Women demonstration in downtown Chicago featured in this New Agenda point of view.

Subscribe to Suffrage Wagon News Channel for regular updates!

And a new video on You Tube by two young women (Sylvia Ashley and Ane Grytten) presents archival suffrage images and original lyrics featuring the suffrage movement as a history lesson where voting is linked with being part of a democratic movement.

Why are stories of the suffrage movement significant? Storyteller Alton Takayama-Chung has this to remind us: “Younger generations may not have an interest in their culture or family history. They may not have the stories of their ancestors to fall back upon when faced with new situations. Culturally specific, historically accurate stories can be used to fill this need.”

Image: Library of Congress. Subscribe to the Suffrage Wagon News Channel to find out how to build leadership through stories of the suffrage movement.

Subscribe to the Suffrage Wagon News Channel. The subscription form is at the top of the right-hand column on the blog’s home page. Also, the web site has subscription options: suffragewagon.org

The Kearns motor car company manufactured different models over the years, and my grandfather Wilmer R. Kearns made the family automobile business a focus after he married my grandmother Edna and they moved to New York City in 1904 from the Philadelphia area. Building wagons and horse-drawn buggies ran in the Kearns family, so it wasn’t surprising when Wilmer’s brother Maxwell Kearns started manufacturing automobiles in Beavertown, PA where both Max and Wilmer were raised. While in NYC, Wilmer represented the Kearns Motor Car Company with an office in midtown Manhattan.

A Kearns motor car is on permanent exhibit at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. For more information about the Kearns car.

Edna and Wilmer Kearns lived in both NYC and Rockville Centre on Long Island where Edna participated in suffrage organizing. The Kearns vehicle on exhibit at the Pennsylvania state museum is “The Lulu,” named after Max and Wilmer’s sister, Lou, who collaborated with Edna on Votes for Women organizing on Long Island. Below: letterhead for Kearns Motor Car Company in New York City.