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A Path Forward—Utah’s New Women’s History Memorial
We’re thrilled with the new memorial to Utah women’s history! We unveiled this gift from Better Days 2020 to the state of Utah in a special ceremony for the centennial of the 19th Amendment in August 2020. “A Path Forward” was created by artists Kelsey Harrison and Jason Manley to honor Utah women’s contributions to […]Read More -
Utah Suffragists and the National Woman’s Party
by Katherine Kitterman, Better Days 2020 Historical Director September 10, 2020 As we’ve described in past blog posts, Utah suffragists were involved in the national movement for women’s voting rights from the 1870s onward. In the 1910s, Utahns worked with two rival suffrage organizations—the more moderate National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), and the more radical […]Read More -
Better Days 2020 Reading Club – Week 4 – Winning the Vote: A Divided Movement brought about the Nineteenth Amendment
April 13, 2020 Welcome to Week Four of the Better Days 2020 Reading Club! We hope you enjoyed last week’s article. This week’s article was written by Dr. Lisa Tetrault, who we read from our very first week about the Seneca Falls Convention. We’ll be learning about the divisions and tensions that arose within the […]Read More -
Meet the Women Who Led Utah in Ratifying the 19th Amendment
by Katherine Kitterman, Better Days 2020 Historical Director October 3, 2019 Utah ratified the 19th Amendment 100 years ago today, on October 3, 1919. Unlike women elsewhere, Utah women had already been voting for 40 years, and in fact, four female lawmakers led the way for Utah to ratify the amendment extending women’s voting rights […]Read More -
The 19th Amendment by the Numbers
by Katherine Kitterman, Better Days 2020 Historical Director September 17, 2019 This Constitution Day, Better Days presents a look at the numbers on our favorite constitutional amendment (the 19th, of course). Constitution Day commemorates the day in 1787 that the Constitutional Convention delegates in Philadelphia signed the document they had drafted that summer. When that […]Read More -
Answering Questions About Voting Firsts
By Katherine Kitterman, Better Days 2020 Historical Director September 13, 2018 Our mission at Better Days 2020 is to share the stories of Utah women – who were the first women citizens in the U.S. to vote under a women’s equal suffrage law! We’re pretty proud of that fact, so let’s take a closer […]Read More -
On This Day: A Mother’s Influence
On This Day: A Mother’s Influence By Candace Brown, Better Days 2020 Historical Intern August 18, 2018 On this day in history, August 18, 1920, Tennessee’s youngest state representative, Harry T. Burn, sat in his Nashville hotel room, poring over a letter from his mother. Postmarked August 17, most of the seven-page note was […]Read More -
The Suffrage Resolution at Seneca Falls
The Suffrage Resolution at Seneca Falls By Candace Brown, Better Days 2020 Historical Intern July 27, 2018 On July 19, 1848, in the opening speech of the Seneca Falls Convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton declared, “We [women] now demand the right to vote.” Her audience applauded her gumption. But when she later presented the ninth […]Read More -
On This Day: Seneca Falls Convention
On This Day: Seneca Falls Convention By Candace Brown, Better Days 2020 Historical Intern July 19, 2018 One hundred seventy years ago today, on July 19, 1848, thirteen-year-old Daniel Cady Eaton broke into the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel with both his aunt’s blessing and her assistance.Once inside, he made his way to the front of the […]Read More -
“None Of The Unpleasant Results Have Occurred”
“None Of The Unpleasant Results Have Occurred” By Katherine Kitterman, Historical Director, Better Days 2020 July 10, 2018 On February 15, 1898, Susan B. Anthony led a delegation of women and men up the steps of the U.S. Capitol to speak in support of women’s suffrage. It was her 78th birthday, and the fifteenth […]Read More -
Gaining, Losing, and Winning Back the Vote: The Story of Utah Women’s Suffrage
Gaining, Losing, and Winning Back the Vote: The Story of Utah Women’s Suffrage By Barbara Jones Brown, Naomi Watkins, and Katherine Kitterman When Utah became a U.S. territory in 1850, all free white male inhabitants over the age of 21 had the right to vote if they were U.S. citizens. This meant many […]Read More -
Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon: First Female State Senator
By Rebekah Clark, Better Days 2020 Historical Research Associate January 23, 2018 Martha “Mattie” Hughes Cannon (1857 – 1932) blazed trails for women as a skilled physician, ardent suffragist, progressive public health reformer, and most notably, the first female state senator in the United States. Born in Wales, young Mattie immigrated with her family […]Read More -
Susan B. Anthony and Her Strong Utah Ties
Susan B. Anthony and Her Strong Utah Ties By Barbara Jones Brown, Better Days 2020 Historical Director December 15, 2017 Like many American suffragists, Susan Brownell Anthony (1820 – 1906) began her activism by working to abolish slavery. Raised in upstate New York in the Quaker tradition, she became passionate about social equality and […]Read More -
Winning Back the Vote: Ruth May Fox
Winning Back the Vote: Ruth May Fox Congress Took Away Utah Women’s Voting Rights in 1887. But Utah Suffragists Like Ruth May Fox Won Them Back. September 20, 2017 In February 1870, Utah women became the first to vote in the modern nation. For the next seventeen years they cast their ballots in high […]Read More -
2020 Marks Monumental Anniversaries In Suffrage History
2020 Marks Monumental Anniversaries In Suffrage History August 28, 2017 August is a banner month in the nation’s voting history. On August 18, 1920, Congress ratified the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, making women’s suffrage national law. Forty-five years later, on August 6, 1965,President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, protecting suffrage rights for women and […]Read More -
Emmeline B. Wells: A Leading Suffragist In Utah And The Nation
Emmeline B. Wells: A Leading Suffragist In Utah And The Nation By Barbara Jones Brown, Better Days 2020 Historical Director August 28, 2017 After receiving the franchise in 1870, Utah women enthusiastically voted and worked alongside Eastern leaders in advocating for national women’s suffrage. Thrilled at the enfranchisement of Utah women, the president and […]Read More