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Better Days Reading Club – Week One: The Making of Seneca Falls
March 24, 2020 In light of recent events, we’re launching the Better Days Reading Club as a way to stay more connected and discuss topics we’d planned to explore at events this spring. At the beginning of every week, we’ll dig into an interesting article about the history of women’s voting rights and share a […]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 -
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