LTAI: Women's Suffrage is a program series designed to spark conversation about American history and culture through an examination of the women's suffrage movement.
This is the third of five online/in-person meetings hosted by Broward County Main Library.
Join a special book discussion on Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha S. Jones. This conversation will be led by scholar Dr. Jane Caputi, a professor of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies at Florida Atlantic University (FAU).
Book abstract:
The epic history of African American women's pursuit of political power -- and how it transformed America.
In the standard story, the suffrage crusade began in Seneca Falls in 1848 and ended with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. But this overwhelmingly white women's movement did not win the vote for most black women. Securing their rights required a movement of their own.
In Vanguard, acclaimed historian Martha S. Jones offers a new history of African American women's political lives in America. She recounts how they defied both racism and sexism to fight for the ballot, and how they wielded political power to secure the equality and dignity of all persons.
From the earliest days of the republic to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and beyond, Jones excavates the lives and work of black women -- Maria Stewart, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Fannie Lou Hamer, and more -- who were the vanguard of women's rights, calling on America to realize its best ideals.
Scholar's bio:
Jane Caputi is Professor of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies at Florida Atlantic University. Her doctorate is in American Culture Studies. At FAU, Dr. Caputi has won the University Distinguished Teacher Award (2001) and was twice named University Researcher of the Year for Scholarly Activities, Professor level (2005 and 2013). In 2016, the Popular Culture Association named her their “Eminent Scholar of the Year” and in 2020 the Association for the Study of Women in Mythology gave her their annual “Saga Award” for contributions to women’s history and culture. In 2013. Palm Beach County NOW (National Organization of Women gave her their annual Susan B. Anthony Feminist of the Year Award.
Dr. Caputi has written four books: The Age of Sex Crime (1987); Gossips, Gorgons and Crones: The Fates of the Earth (1993); Goddesses and Monsters: Women, Myth, Power and Popular Culture (2004); and Call Your “Mutha’” A Deliberately Dirty-Minded Manifesto for the Earth Mother in the Anthropocene (2020). This last book is in a series on Heretical Thought and was published by Oxford University Press. Dr. Caputi also has made two educational documentaries The Pornography of Everyday Life (2006), distributed by Berkeley Media and Feed the Green: Feminist Voices for the Earth (2016), distributed by Women Make Movies.
Want a free hard copy of Vanguard by Martha S. Jones? Register to the event and send Sebastian Perez an email @ sbperez@broward.org
Upcoming conversation dates and times:
LTAI: Women’s Suffrage is a humanities discussion project from the American Library Association (ALA) supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
AGE GROUP: | New Adults | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | Speaker | In-person | Discussion/Lecture | Clubs & Groups | Books |
Mon, Apr 29 | 12:00PM to 8:00PM |
Tue, Apr 30 | 10:00AM to 6:00PM |
Wed, May 01 | 12:00PM to 8:00PM |
Thu, May 02 | 10:00AM to 6:00PM |
Fri, May 03 | 10:00AM to 6:00PM |
Sat, May 04 | 10:00AM to 6:00PM |
Sun, May 05 | Closed |