Author Description

This book, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the 19th Amendment as well as the 75th anniversary of the League of Women Voters, argues that U.S. women always have been political, even when they were excluded from party membership, voting and running for office. Political expression could be found in early temperance societies, antislavery societies, other voluntary associations, or through spontaneous protests, pickets and crowd actions. Women's involvement in political life has been given little attention by historians until recent years. The purpose of this book is to introduce an ongoing reexamination of the historical record of women's political activism. Chapters include: (1) "The Place of Women in American Political History"; (2) "Women's Social Welfare Movements after Suffrage"; (3) "Rights for Women"; (4) "Women in the Civil Rights Movement"; (5) "Labor and the Economy"; (6) "Women in Peace Activism and International Affairs"; and (7) "Conclusion: Does Women's Participation Count?" Contains a 43-item bibliography. (EH)