Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council

Grand Rapids Women Architects 1920s-1970s
2019-10-05 13:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | MI
Join the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council and architectural researcher Pamela VanderPloeg (grandrapidsbuildings.com) on Saturday, October 5 for a presentation and walking tour on Grand Rapids female architects and their influence on homes and neighborhoods, both locally and nationally, from 1920-1970. We will meet at 1pm in the beautiful Gothic-designed Klise Memorial Chapel at East Congregational Church at 1005 Giddings SE. The presentation will be followed by a 90-minute guided walking tour of the Ottawa Hills and adjacent East Grand Rapids streets where several 1920s era homes are attributed to women architects. Tour participants will enjoy a look at the interior of these lovely historic homes that highlight the aesthetically pleasing and efficient designs of these talented female architects. Registration is required for this free event. Click here to register!

From Managerial Void to the Medical Mile: The Evolving Roles of Women and the Enduring Presence of History
2019-10-10 19:00 - 20:30 | Grand Rapids Public Library, 111 Library NE, Grand Rapids, MI, United States
Fleshing out the history of women founders of early Grand Rapids medical institutions, GGRWHC’s Julia Bouwkamp will reveal a pattern where they were pushed from the centers of organizations they had created to the more feminine realm of nursing. Despite their marginalization, these nineteenth-century women exploited limiting ideas about gender to continue the expansion and sophistication of our medical world.
Co-sponsored by the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council, the Grand Rapids Historical Society, & the Grand Rapids Public Library

Getting the Vote: A History of Women’s Suffrage in Michigan
2019-11-06 18:30 | MI
This program will be presented by Ruth Stevens at the Dowagiac Area History Museum

Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame Inductions
2019-11-07 17:30 - 21:00 | MI
This event takes place at the TCF Center, Detroit.
Visit Michigan Women Forward for more information about the event and the 2019 inductees: https://miwf.org/event/michigan-womens-hall-of-fame-induction-ceremony/

History Detectives
2020-01-18 09:30 - 16:00 | Grand Rapids Public Library, 111 Library NE, Grand Rapids, MI, United States
One day, six programs! Join us at 11:30am for the GGRWHC sponsored program,”CENTENNIAL 2020! Grand Rapids, Suffrage City,” presented by Julia Bouwkamp & Jo Ellyn Clarey – or stay for the whole day! History Detectives always has a range of programs to offer local history fans, and this year is no different! Visit the History Detectives webpage at: https://subjectguides.grcc.edu/HistoryDetectives for all the details – including how to reserve a boxed lunch!

Takeover! Grand Rapids Suffragists and the 1914 Grand Rapids Press
2020-02-04 18:30 - 20:00 | Kent District Library – East Grand Rapids
When setting goals for 1914, the National Equal Suffrage Association called for rallies, participation in parades, and the take over of local newspapers for a day across the country to argue for the cause. The Grand Rapids Equal Suffrage Association met this challenge by editing and producing the edition of May 2, 1914 issue of the Grand Rapids Press, and holding a rally in Veterans Park on that afternoon. Ruth Van Stee will talk about the edition itself, the local women involved, and how these local events fit intothe national suffrage movement. One of the original newspapers of the day will be on display that evening for viewing.

Susan B. Anthony Brings the National American Woman Suffrage Association to Grand Rapids
2020-03-12 13:00 - 14:00 | Lowell Area Historical Museum
Melissa Fox will present at the Lowell Area Historical Museum & Friends of the Englehardt Library in Lowell. Susan B. Anthony visited West Michigan many times beginning in 1873. Her last appearance was at the 1899 NAWSA convention held at the St. Cecilia Music Society, the only time it ever met in Michigan.

POSTPONED - GGRWHC Annual Meeting & Reception
2020-03-25 17:00 - 19:00 | John F. Donnelly Conference Center at Aquinas College
GGRWHC annual reception and “Suffrage Sampler: Celebrating the Centennial of the 19th Amendment,” 5:00 – 6:45 pm, Donnelly Center (157 Woodward Lane SE), Aquinas College. Hors d’oeuvres & wine; Free & open to the public. (Please RSVP at info@ggrwhc.org or 616-574-7307) Mingle with friends and lift a glass for the centennial of the 19th Amendment, the constitutional guarantee of universal suffrage!

CANCELED - Kutsche Office Roundtable
2020-03-26 | MI
Women Changemakers, GVSU Kutsche Office Roundtable – 11:30 am, “A New Digital Exhibit on Women’s Suffrage in Grand Rapids,” GGRWHC’s Julia Bouwkamp; & 1:15 pm, “It Took a Family: Domestic Roles and the Civic Engagement of Alde Blake,” Blake descendants Moana Kutsche & Robert McArdle, with GGRWHC’s Jo Ellyn Clarey, GVSU Kirkhof Center, R. 2204, Allendale. For the full schedule from 8:30 am – 3:45 pm and to register (free) through March 19th, see https://www.gvsu.edu/kutsche/annual-local-history-roundtable-11.htm

POSTPONED - Athena Legacy Tour: The Women Who Built Grand Rapids
2020-03-26 16:30 - 19:00 | MI
Join the Grand Rapids Chamber and Downtown Grand Rapids, Inc. for the ATHENA Legacy Tour! Led by the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council, this bus tour will explore and celebrate the legacies of the women who built Grand Rapids.

Click here to register!

CANCELED - Kent County Women and WWI Home Front Defense
2020-04-02 19:00 - 20:30 | MI
Melissa Fox will present this program for the Rockford Area Historical Society at the Community Cabin. Upon U.S. entry into WWI, national women’s groups transformed their organizational structures for war work. Grand Rapids women were among midwestern leaders whose pioneering efforts have been too long neglected. Get ahead of history–credit them!

POSTPONED - Remnants of History: A Tour of Suffrage Artifacts at the Grand Rapids Public Museum
2020-04-16 13:00 - 14:30 | Grand Rapids Public Museum
GGRWHC’s Julia Bouwkamp, 1:00 pm & 6:00pm. Community Archives and Research Center (CARC) 223 Washington St SE, Grand Rapids. To register, please RSVP at info@ggrwhc.org or 616-574-7307; numbers will be limited. See actual objects from the movement: pennants, buttons, convention ribbons, posters, a touring carpet bag, and suffragist dresses!

POSTPONED - Susan B. Anthony Slept Here! National Suffrage Strategy & 1899 West Michigan
2020-05-07 19:00 | MI
“Susan B. Anthony Slept Here! National Suffrage Strategy & 1899 West Michigan,” Jo Ellyn Clarey, 7:00 pm, Rockford Area Historical Society, Rockford Community Cabin, 220 N. Monroe St, Rockford. Free & open to the public

CANCELED - Sixth Annual Midwestern History Association conference at GVSU
2020-05-12 - 2020-05-13 | MI
GGRWHC panel: “Between ‘Suffragette’ Noise and Silent Stunts: Suffrage Print Culture in the Last Decade,” Melissa Fox, Ruth Van Stee, Katelyn VerMerris (Sophia Brewer, chair), Sixth Annual Midwestern History Association conference, GVSU Hauenstein Center at DeVos Center, Free & open to the public. Stay tuned for more detail.

Hollyhock Lane Parade
2020-07-04 08:00 - 09:30 | MI

Emily Burton Ketcham Graveside Event on Her Birth Date in 1838
2020-07-16 19:00 - 20:00 | MI
On July 16th, 2020, between 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm, we will honor “Michigan’s greatest suffragist,” Emily Burton Ketcham, at an informal gathering by her grave site on the anniversary of her 1838 birth in Grand Rapids. Watch for fuller directions within Rosedale Memorial Park, Standale; plan on social distancing and have a mask, just in case. Feel free to bring a chair, a drink, and one or more flowers. Even a single stem would be a lovely tribute as we gather and share information about Ketcham in the month before the centennial of the 19th Amendment! Ketcham died early in 1907 and, like her friend Susan B. Anthony, did not live to enjoy the right to vote.
Rosedale Memorial Park
O-50 Lake Michigan Drive NW
Standale MI 49544

Saugatuck-Douglas History Center – Tuesday Talks, “Getting the Vote: Michigan Women and the Path to Suffrage,”
2020-07-28 11:00 - 12:30 | MI
Getting the Vote: Michigan Women and the Path to Suffrage
Zoom: Saugatuck-Douglas History Center, Tuesday Talks
July 28 at 11:00 a.m.
Free — for directions,
RSVP via Eventbrite
For the past year, GGRWHC board member Ruth Stevens has hit the road charting the path to suffrage across southwest Michigan. Now she’s gone virtual! At her July 28th Tuesday Talk sponsored by the Saugatuck-Douglas History Center, she will connect the local with accounts of the broader suffrage movement and offer highlights to illustrate how persistent were activists from both large and small communities, from the 1870s until Michigan women finally won full voting rights in 1918. Yes, 1918–almost two years before the 19th Amendment guaranteed suffrage to all citizens nationwide.
Stevens will offer a fascinating look at the early days–how the 1867 granting of school suffrage to Michigan women led to service as early as the 1880s on school boards, the first elective offices held by women. Michigan was often in the national eye, specifically because very few states had granted women school suffrage. National leaders hoped that a win in Michigan for full voting rights would create a ripple effect across the country.
Join us for this free Zoom program! It will require an RSVP through Eventbrite for a secure link. Getting the Vote: Michigan Women and the Path to Suffrage Please share! See you on Zoom!

Relax at Rosa with the GGRWHC!
2020-08-20 12:00 - 13:30 | MI
Relax at Rosa with the GGRWHC!
Thursday, August 20th, Noon to 1:30pm
Grand Rapids Art Museum Patio
The Relax at Rosa lunchtime entertainment series downtown occurs from Noon to 1:30 PM every Thursday through September 10th at Rosa Parks Circle. Local food trucks will be on site—and so will we! Look for the ladies in the hats! And masks~

Visit us on the Grand Rapids Art Museum patio between noon and 1:30 pm to learn more about the suffragist movement in Grand Rapids as well as the celebratory activity planned for Wednesday, August 26th – Here Lies a Suffragist. In honor of the of the women who worked to pass the voting rights amendment, the GGRWHC has selected a dozen suffragist graves in Fulton and Oakhill South cemeteries for recognition. Visit us Thursday at Rosa Parks Circle for a preview of names, maps and suggestions for decorations. And stay tuned!

Here Lies a Suffragist: Celebrate the Centennial Socially but Safely!
2020-08-26 06:00 - 20:00 | MI
Here Lies a Suffragist: Celebrate the Centennial Socially but Safely!

Our August 26th grave-decorating project, Here Lies a Suffragist, https://www.ggrwhc.org/suffrage-grand-rapids/ will substitute for our original in-person celebration. Please help us honor representative local suffragists on the centennial date of the Nineteenth Amendment, Wednesday, August 26th, 2020!
Here’s the plan! First, read through our Here Lies a Suffragist tour guides, and choose one woman (or more? or all!) to honor on Equality Day, August 26th. Make a graveside visit on the 26th, perhaps with flowers—even a single stem. The sites will be easily found—look for the purple balloons and “Votes for Women” badges.
As a record of your visit, please take a photo—of the decorated gravesite certainly; but including you, too, if you are willing. Please post it in the comments section of our Facebook post honoring the day! (If you do not use Facebook, please send it to our email address– info@ggrwhc.org) Don’t worry about grave clean up—we will see to it!

GGRWHC Centennial Blow-Out at St. Cecilia! [POSTPONED]
2020-08-26 19:00 - 21:30 | MI
Mark your calendars for the summer centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment! On the stage at St. Cecilia Music Center and at a reception upstairs later we will revel in the color and spectacle of the 72-year-long women’s suffrage movement and catch a glimpse of developments after 1920. Every year we celebrate August 26th as Equality Day. This year help us make it extra special on August 26th!

Generating Resources: Indexing an Army of Women
2020-09-12 13:30 - 15:00 | MI
Western Michigan Genealogical Society
Saturday, September 12th, 2020
Virtual Program (Click Here for Zoom Link)
Generating Resources: Indexing an Army of Women
Jo Ellyn Clarey, Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council
November 1918, 14,000 local suffrage supporters
Genealogists don’t always look to mass movements to locate individuals, especially women–or consider taking the next step toward resource creation when they discover a forebear’s name in a group listing. This program will call for the creation of indexes akin to the lists of Civil War soldiers, to assemble armies of women, making them forever easier to find. It will illustrate the riches to be yielded beginning with participant lists from early women’s social movements on the local level. The records of early women’s organizations were rarely considered worthy of archival collections or even attic space; so there are often no minutes or correspondence files. But we know that disciplined searches of newly digitized newspapers can result in columns of the names of women who were committee members of local literary societies and WCTU chapters, as well as those who embarked on political activities and wartime work. (This program will look beyond the WWI women’s registration cards, so well known in Grand Rapids. But those 23,000 names represent only one wartime project.) Still, energetic searches of newspapers often stop short with the discovery of just one particular name–even when it is one among 14,000 others who published their names in support of women’s suffrage in 1918 Grand Rapids. This program will discuss the benefits of placing ancestor names into their rich and intersecting contexts, and the need to structure a process for doing that.
By profession a literary scholar, Jo Ellyn Clarey has redirected her path into the world of local women’s history in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she has been tracking down the forgotten contributions of area women. For the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council, she continues advancing long-term projects highlighting the roles of local women in the Michigan suffrage movement; overseeing a complete elective history of the city’s women; and organizing research on U.S. women’s immense, but little known, work during WWI. She has also served on the boards of the Grand Rapids Historical Society, the Grand Rapids Historical Commission, and acted as liaison to the Michigan Women’s Studies Association, whose statewide conference she has chaired. Clarey has presented at and organized programming for numerous institutions and academic conferences.

DEMOCRACY 101: Celebrating 100 Years of Women’s Voting Rights
2020-09-16 18:00 - 20:00 | MI
*Online via Zoom
The 19th amendment has been praised for a century as a landmark for women’s rights. Who gained the right to vote and who didn’t? What can you do to shape the next 100 years? Join us for presentations and remarks from President Mantella, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and more.
DEM 101 occurs on Wednesdays throughout the semester.
Visit gvsu.edu/service/dem101 for more events!

Reading into Suffrage History
2020-09-16 19:00 - 20:30 | MI
Reading into Suffrage History
Virtual Book Discussion
Wednesday, September 16th, 7:00 – 8:30 pm
The Woman’s Hour by Elaine Weiss

Free & open to the public
Register here!
Co-sponsored by the Grand Rapids Public Library
& the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council

The Woman’s Hour is the inspiring story of activists winning their own freedom in one of the last campaigns forged in the shadow of the Civil War and the beginning of the great twentieth-century battles for civil rights. It features summer in Tennessee one hundred years ago. And Elaine Weiss will join us on September 16th to discuss her groundbreaking book featuring the nail-biting climax of the 72-year-fight to ensure all citizens the right to vote.
Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on August 18th, and on the 26th it became the law of the land. We met Weiss when she visited Grand Rapids in 2018 to talk about The Woman’s Hour, and you may have seen her recently in 2020 centennial documentaries–The Vote and Carrie Chapman Catt on PBS, and more. We can ask her about progress on the mini-series to be based on this book! It includes Weiss’s report on an extraordinary moment in May 2020 when the voice of the daughter of a slave was heard inside the house chamber of the Tennessee Capitol. Scroll down to meet Juno Frankie Pierce! More here.
Prior to the shut-down, we had planned to follow our big August 26th celebration with opportunities to talk about books on suffrage history. Now the partnering groups are taking it virtual! Colleen Alles will represent the Grand Rapids Public Library, joined by Ruth Stevens for the GGRWHC. They will sketch out questions to start, but will try to keep the structure loose and also link content to the local history of Grand Rapids’ own suffragists.
Please join us even if you couldn’t finish the books. You will be inspired to keep reading! Anyone interested is welcome, but the virtual Zoom discussion will require an RSVP through EventBrite.
Find your own books or check one out from the Grand Rapids Public Library!
As soon as possible, use this GRPL link to place a hold. You might need to wait for a book to become available. And when you place a book on hold, it will be available for pickup at GRPL through GRPL to Go

PAULA MONOPOLI: CONSTITUTIONAL ORPHAN, A CONSTITUTION DAY CELEBRATION
2020-09-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Hauenstein Centery for Presidential Studies, Loosemore Auditorium, 401 Fulton Street West, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 49504
*You can reserve for this event until Sept. 24th at 7:00 pm.
The ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in August 1920 represented a significant movement in American history. It promised women in our republic change in their political, civil, and social statuses. What followed was a decade of dispute among women’s movements, emerging from it a thin conception of the Nineteenth’s constitutional meaning as a nondiscrimination rule in voting. Why did this thin conception prevail over a broader one that included equal citizenship and gender equality? Moreover, what is the lasting role of the Nineteenth in the Constitution today?
In celebrating Constitution Day and the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, the Hauenstein Center welcomes Paula Monopoli, the Sol and Carlyn Hubert Professor of Law and founding director of the Women, Leadership, & Equality Program at Maryland Carey. In her new release, Constitutional Orphan: Gender Equality and the Nineteenth Amendment, Paula explores the roles of suffragists in the constitutional development of the Nineteenth Amendment. Drawing on historical sources, case analysis, and legal scholarship, Paula will offer broader ways in which the Nineteenth could be used today.

Conquering the Cough: Grand Rapids Women Beating Disease
2020-10-03 13:00 - 14:30 | MI
Michigan History Conference
Historical Society of Michigan
Friday-Saturday, October 2nd & 3rd, 2020

Conquering the Cough: Grand Rapids Women Beating Disease
Julie Hoogland, Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council
Sue Thoms, Spectrum Health Beat
1:00 pm on Saturday, October 3rd
Whooping cough was a killer disease fought during the 1930s and 1940s by innovative public health scientists, women on a shoestring budget, who pioneered unorthodox field studies and inspired a creative community collaboration in Grand Rapids. Pearl Kendrick and Grace Eldering ran one of the few U.S. public health laboratories in the nation dedicated to vaccine development, and their history in the development of controlled clinical trials is important. But, until recently, they have been left out of the standard histories of methodology and practice.
In September 2019, the Community Legends project unveiled a sculptural grouping of Kendrick, Eldering, and lab assistant Loney Clinton Gordon on the south porch of the Michigan State University Research Center, 400 Monroe Ave NW. This righting of historical amnesia with bronze public statuary honors one forgotten story of women, race, and vaccine development.
Forgotten histories and lessons will be revealed—that one creative solution can lead to another. The creation of the DPT vaccination—can shine a light on pressing social issues: pandemic, vaccines, race, and gender.
To register for this online conference.
Download entire conference schedule.

Women Should be Seen and Heard: Grand Rapids and the Fight for the Vote
2020-10-08 19:00 - 20:30 | Virtual – Additional Details Forthcoming
*Access to Virtual Online Presentation* Click Here to Register for Zoom Event and GRHS YouTube Presentation Click Here
The story of the women’s suffrage movement in Grand Rapids began as early as 1874 when Grand Rapids and Kent County suffragists organized and brought national leader Susan B. Anthony to Grand Rapids. Hosted by Grand Rapids suffragists Marion Carr Bliss and Cordelia Briggs, Anthony met with local suffrage leaders and spoke at Luce’s Hall in downtown Grand Rapids to large audiences. While the 1874 campaign was unsuccessful, suffragists persisted and finally claimed victory in 1918 when male electors voted to amend the Michigan constitution to grant women the right to vote.
Along the way, women in Grand Rapids petitioned, marched, spoke, canvassed, and organized as they fought for the right to vote. Highlights from their campaign include the 1888 election of Harriet A. Cook to the Grand Rapids School Board, the hosting of the 1899 convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association at St. Cecilia Auditorium in Grand Rapids, suffragists’ 1914 “take over” of the Grand Rapids Press, and the final push in 1918 when suffragists blanketed the city with posters and flyers as they pressed their cause. Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council board member Ruth Stevens will tell this story using archival photographs and the words of Grand Rapids suffragists that have been preserved in newspaper articles, scrapbooks, and rare oral interviews.
Ruth Stevens is a retired professor of Legal Studies at Grand Valley State University. She earned a J.D. from the University of Michigan and a Master’s in Library and Information Science from Wayne State University, and she is currently a member of the board of the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council. Stevens has done extensive research on early school voting rights for Michigan women and has a special interest in the role of local suffrage organizations within the Michigan and national suffrage movements. During this centennial year celebration of the 19th Amendment, she has spoken to local history societies in Dowagiac, Coloma, Niles, Saugatuck, and now in Grand Rapids. Stevens was an editor for GGRWHC’s 2020 digital suffrage exhibit, authored materials for the Michigan Girl Scouts “Right to Vote Centennial” patch, and created a Michigan suffrage quiz available on the website of the 2020 Women’s Vote Centennial Initiative. For these materials and more on women’s suffrage, see: https://www.ggrwhc.org/suffrage-home/.

“A Woman’s Place Is Under the Dome: Michigan’s Capitol and the Woman’s Suffrage Movement”!
2020-10-14 19:00 - 20:30 | MI
On Wednesday, October 14th, 7:00 pm, join Michigan Capitol Historian Valerie Marvin for “A Woman’s Place Is Under the Dome: Michigan’s Capitol and the Woman’s Suffrage Movement”! Join this program to relive important suffrage moments under Michigan’s dome, where you will also find Grand Rapids women lobbying and finally, in 1921, sitting in the state senate. The fight for woman’s suffrage began in Michigan in 1846, when woman’s rights advocate Ernestine Rose gave two speeches in Michigan’s first Capitol. Click here for a quick Wiki introduction to the little-heralded-but-marvelous Rose.

This virtual program is sponsored by the History Hounds series of the Historical Society of Michigan for a nominal charge. For details and to register, please click here.
If you are a member of the GGRWHC, you can attend free. (Otherwise, it is $7.) To get the organizational member number of the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council, please email us or call: info@ggrwhc.org or (616) 574-7307.

CANCELLED--"Beyond 100 Years of Suffrage: Moving Forward Envisioning an Inclusive Future,” Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City MI
2020-10-16 - 2020-10-18 | MI

Reading into Suffrage History
2020-10-21 19:00 - 20:30 | MI
Reading into Suffrage History
Virtual Book Discussion
Wednesday, October 21st, 7:00 – 8:30 pm
Death in Ten Minutes by Fern Riddell

Free & open to the public
Register here!
Co-sponsored by the Grand Rapids Public Library &
the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council

Death in Ten Minutes is a biography of Kitty Marion, who became one of the UK’s most militant suffragettes. The book illustrates the British campaign using Kitty’s life, and it doesn’t end in 1918 when some British women got the vote. In fact, many US suffragists and UK suffragettes went on to use their skills for other causes and social movements. Kitty was no exception. More here.
We are delighted that two specialists in British women’s history will provide context and help us to make connections between the US/UK sister movements. Former GVSU administrator and history professor Gretchen Galbraith will join us from her new home at SUNY Potsdam in New York, where she is dean of the School of Arts & Sciences; and Pamela Walker, Professor of History at Carleton University, will join from her home in Canada! They will help us understand how UK and US governmental systems are different, and why that made a difference; how political parties were involved differently in the two countries; how and why both movements split apart along the way; and when history writing and language can be controversial, and deserve discussion in itself!
Prior to the shut-down, we had planned to follow our big August 26th celebration with opportunities to talk about books on suffrage history. Now the partnering groups are taking it virtual! Colleen Alles, representing the Grand Rapids Public Library, will join Gretchen Galbraith, Pamela Walker, and a host for the GGRWHC. They will sketch out questions to start, but will try to keep the structure loose and also link content to the local history of Grand Rapids’ own suffragists.
Please join us even if you couldn’t finish the books. You will be inspired to keep reading! Anyone interested is welcome, but the virtual Zoom discussion will require an RSVP through EventBrite.
Find your own books or check one out from the Grand Rapids Public Library!
As soon as possible, use this GRPL link to place a hold. You might need to wait for a book to become available. And when you place a book on hold, it will be available for pickup at GRPL through GRPL to Go.

Reading into Suffrage History
2020-11-18 19:00 - 20:30 | MI
Reading into Suffrage History
Virtual Book Discussion
Wednesday, November 18th, 7:00 – 8:30 pm
All Bound Up Together by Martha S. Jones

Free & open to the public
Register here!
Co-sponsored by the Grand Rapids Public Library &
the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council

In All Bound Up Together, Martha S. Jones explores the roles played by 19th-century black women in their communities’ social movements during the run-up to the 20th century. Covering three generations of black women activists, she demonstrates that the “woman question” was at the core of movements against slavery and for civil rights.
Unlike white women activists, who usually created institutions separate from men, black women often organized within already existing churches, political organizations, mutual aid societies, and schools. Jones illustrates how women helped to shape the course of black public culture. More here.
Prior to the shut-down, we had planned to follow our big August 26th celebration with opportunities to talk about books on suffrage history. Now the partnering groups are taking it virtual! Colleen Alles will represent the Grand Rapids Public Library, joined by Sophia Brewer for the GGRWHC. They will sketch out questions to start, but will try to keep the structure loose and also link content to the local history of Grand Rapids’ own suffragists.
Please join us even if you couldn’t finish the books. You will be inspired to keep reading! Anyone interested is welcome, but the virtual Zoom discussion will require an RSVP through EventBrite.
Find your own books or check one out from the Grand Rapids Public Library!
As soon as possible, use this GRPL link to place a hold. You might need to wait for a book to become available. And when you place a book on hold, it will be available for pickup at GRPL through GRPL to Go.
