S02 E13 Pennsylvania: Silent Bells and Land Armies

In this episode, Robyn Young discusses the suffrage movement in Pennsylvania.

We talk about the events and activists in the PA voting rights campaign:

• Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was a prominent speaker for abolition, African American rights, suffrage and education. She also authored poetry, articles, and books.
• Hannah Patterson helped organize the 1915 "Suffrage Day" at the Philadelphia ball park for a game between the Phillies and the NY Giants and threw out the first pitch.
• The 1915 Justice Bell Tour took a replica of the Liberty Bell for a 5,000-mile journey around the state during which tens of thousands came to see it. The bell’s clapper was symbolically chained down and would only ring out when women got the vote.
• Anna Howard Shaw was one of the suffrage movement’s leaders and greatest orators with an estimated 10,000 speeches given around the country over decades.
• Emma Writt and her sisters Pauline and Mary were African American suffrage leaders in western Pennsylvania when they helped plan and participate in an integrated women’s suffrage march in Pittsburgh in 1914 – the first march in that city.

About our Guest:

Robyn Young is an independent scholar and women's historian dedicated to sharing women's history with the general public. She is known as the “Marker Lady” as she has had four historical markers approved for the National Votes for Women Trail. She has been a board for NCWHS since 2018 and currently serves as its secretary.

Links to People, Places, Publications:

• Pennsylvania & the 19th Amendment (here)
• Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Biographical Sketch (here)
• Visit the F.E.W. Harper statue (here)
• Hannah Patterson Biographical Sketch (here)
• Visit the 1915 Justice Bell Tour marker (here)
• Anna Howard Shaw Biographical Sketch (here)
• Visit the Anna Howard Shaw marker (here)
• Emma Writt Richards Biographical video (here)
• Pittsburgh’s first women’s suffrage march (here)

CM Marihugh is a public history consultant and currently conducting independent research for a book on commemoration of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. She has an M.A. in Public History from State University of New York, and an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College.

Learn more about:

• National Votes for Women Trail (here)
• National Votes for Women Trail - William G. Pomeroy historical markers (here)
• National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (here)

Do you have a question, comment, or suggestion? Get in touch! Send an e-mail to [e-mail]