Volume 42, number 2
October 2020
Grand River Times The Newsletter of the Grand Rapids Historical Society Inside this issue:
Women Should be Seen and Heard: Grand Rapids and the Fight for the Vote
Cover Story: October Program Letter for our President page 2 Happening in History page 5 New Book Review page 6 Photo Sleuth Update page 6 Photo Sleuth page 7
By: Ruth Stevens and Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council Thursday, October 8, 2020, 7:00 p.m. Virtual Program on Zoom and YouTube https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ tZMrceGtqDwtH9ZtvcySQH5mkqjnIk9rs1Mm The story of the women’s suffrage movement in Grand Rapids began as early as 1874 when the Grand Rapids Woman Suffrage Association and Kent County Woman’s Suffrage Association were formed and suffragists brought national leader Susan B. Anthony to Grand Rapids. Hosted by Marion Carr Bliss and Cordelia Briggs, Anthony spoke to large crowds at Luce’s Hall in downtown Grand Rapids as she rallied support for a fall suffrage referendum. While the 1874 campaign was unsuccessful, suffragists persisted and finally claimed victory in 1918 when male electors voted to amend the Michigan constitution to grant women the right to vote, a full two years before the federal 19th Amendment went into effect.
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Our next program will be on Thursday, November 12, 2020. David Britten will be speaking about: A Journey from Plaster to Community: The Story of the GUB (Galewood-UrbandaleBurlingame)
Home of Cordelia and Edward Briggs, 2420 Plainfield, NE where Susan B. Anthony stayed during 1874 visit. Source: historygrandrapids.org.
Continued on page 3 Grand River Times
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