New York By Rail 14th ed. | Page 86

100th Anniversary Centennial: Women Get the Vote Women won the right to vote in New York State in the election of November 6, 1917. It had taken them nearly 70 years—since the nation’s first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls in 1848—to raise consciousness and convince male voters to come down on their side. It would be another three years before the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, granting suffrage to women across the United States. New York was not only home to the women’s rights movement itself, it was home to several pioneers of the women’s suffrage movement—Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Matilda Joslyn Gage and others—and a number of their homes and meeting places have become museums and working centers for the on- going effort supporting women’s equality and civil rights. Numerous celebrations, here and elsewhere throughout the state, will mark the 2017 centennial year. VoteTilla, July 16 - 22, 2017, is one of the biggest and most exciting celebrations of the women’s suffrage centennial. Participants will travel in canal boats from Seneca Falls to Rochester, where VoteTilla Week concludes with a celebration at the Susan B. Anthony Museum, which is spearheading the celebration. Along the way, the boats will dock at towns and villages for historic re-enactments, theatrical performances, speeches, music, crafts, food, and good fun, co-hosted by local groups and partner organizations such as the Canal Society of New York State, Seward House and the University of Rochester’s Susan B. Anthony Center for Women’s Leadership. While in Rochester, visitors can stop by the Central Library of Rochester, which will be honoring the centennial with an exhibit titled "Because of Women Like Her," a collaboration between a number of partners, including local museums and colleges that aims to draw visitors into the history and its contemporary implications. susanbanthonyhouse.org/VoteTilla/ The Women’s Rights National Historic Park in Seneca Falls still reverberates with the thrill of that first women’s rights convention. It incorporates the home of suffragist leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton, where the convention was planned; the McClintock House, where the Declaration of Sentiments was drafted (and a station on the Underground Railroad); and the Wesleyan Chapel, where the convention was convened. Guided tours are available. nps.gov/wori 84 | 2017 in new york: A yeAr of milestones The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House in Rochester provides a window into the life of this legendary civil rights leader who, among her other accomplishments, was arrested in 1872 for daring to vote. Her spirit lives on in its programs, which aim to help people to make positive differences in their lives and communities. susanbanthonyhouse.org National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, created in 1969, shines a spotlight on the accomplishments of women. By telling the stories of great American women through exhibits and educational resources, the Hall strives towards a future in which all members of society are fully valued. womenofthehall.org Matilda Joslyn Gage House in Fayetville honors the memory and principles of a woman whose gravestone reads, “There is a word sweeter than Mother, Home or Heaven; that word is Liberty.” This suffrage pioneer was a staunch abolitionist whose home was a stop on the Underground Railroad. The House also highlights Wizard of Oz author, L. Frank Lloyd Baum, Gage’s son- in-law, who lived in the home for a period of time and whose views and writings were greatly influenced by Gage. matildajoslyngage.org Convention Days in Seneca Falls, July 14-16, 2017, is an annual event honoring the 1848 convention. Though centered around the Women’s Rights National Historic Park, events are presented at venues throughout the town, making it a true community-wide commemoration. For details of the films, music, talks, tours and panels to be held, check conventiondays.com.