An Unfinished Revolution: Edna Buckman Kearns and the Struggle for Women's Rights

Description

Through the lens of one family's history, An Unfinished Revolution tells the story of the suffrage movement and the ongoing struggle for women's rights in the United States. The book opens with ten-year-old Marguerite Kearns listening to her grandfather Wilmer's stories about how he met her grandmother Edna, a ninth-generation Quaker and ardent suffrage campaigner, and how he fell in love with her. Wilmer, who became a male suffrage activist himself, also shares the story of the Spirit of 1776 suffrage campaign wagon that Edna and others used while organizing in New York State in 1913. After sitting for years in a Kearns family garage, the wagon is currently housed in the permanent collection of the New York State Museum as a prime artifact in the national suffrage movement. As Marguerite grows older, she draws on a wide variety of sources--from family stories and photographs to archives and scholarly histories--to piece together the real-life narrative of her family. Profoundly changed in the process, she becomes an activist herself, and when she marches in a present-day women's march, she carries a photo of her grandparents participating in a 1914 women's march in New York. With the women's suffrage movement as the backdrop, this memoir and family history illuminates how activism passes from one generation to another--and how a horse-drawn suffrage campaign wagon became a symbol of freedom and equality. Contents List of Illustrations The Story Behind the Story Part I Chapter 1 The March of the Women Chapter 2 Wilmer Meets Edna Small Things Chapter 3 Granddaddy Wilmer Chapter 4 “Dish Rags” and “She-Men” Chapter 5 An Unlikely Couple Chapter 6 “When Is Papa Coming Home?” Chapter 7 The Secret Chapter 8 “Don’t Fall in Love with Curmudgeons” Chapter 9 The Spirit of 1776 Wagon Chapter 10 Getting to Know the Family on Edgar Allan Poe’s Chairs Part II Chapter 11 The Telephone Party Line Chapter 12 Just Friends Chapter 13 Dinner at Delmonico’s Chapter 14 Many Women, Many Views Chapter 15 Learning about Interviewing Chapter 16 “Is It Always Like This?” Chapter 17 “Will Thee Marry Me?” Chapter 18 Rumblings at the Dinner Table Chapter 19 “Happy New Year to Thee and All” Chapter 20 First Chance to Be Alone Looking Back: The Wedding Friends’ Intelligencer, Seventh Month 2, 1904 Wedding Notice, the Herald, Long Island From Edna’s Red Wanamaker Diary Part III Chapter 21 Charles, Angela, and the Wedding Scandal Chapter 22 Honeymoon in St. Louis Chapter 23 “I Am a Writer” Chapter 24 Civil War Orphan School Chapter 25 Sinking Spells Chapter 26 Holly, Mistletoe, and Evergreens Chapter 27 “It Is Awful. Awful.” Part IV Chapter 28 “Trust Me” Chapter 29 The Wagon in Woodstock Chapter 30 Uproar in Huntington Chapter 31 One Woman per Century Chapter 32 Sojourner Truth in the Hudson Valley Looking Back: In Their Own Words 1909 Edna Buckman Kearns. Notes. Circa 1909. From her collection of documents and memorabilia. 1912 Suffragist Whirlwind Campaign—1912. By Mrs. Wilmer R. Kearns (handwritten notes). “Mrs. W. R. Kearns Writes of Plans to Convert the Regular Fairgoer—Open Air Meetings Were Big Feature,” September 29, 1912, Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1913 Edna Buckman Kearns, May 1913. Handwritten notes. Rockville Centre, Long Island, New York. October 27, 1913. Letter to Editor of The Leader, Mr. E. G. Gardner. Letter written by Edna Buckman Kearns, 29 Waterview Road, Rockville Centre, Long Island, New York. November 10, 1913. 1914 March 21st, Rockville Centre, New York. Letter to Mr. Leroy-Weed, Senate Chamber, Albany, New York. “Current Gleanings” by Edna Buckman Kearns, The Observer, June 1914. 1915 An Acknowledgment by Edna Buckman Kearns. “Current Gleanings: Shoulder to Shoulder for Principle” by Edna Buckman Kearns, The Observer, Rockville Centre, New York. June 18, 1915. “Confessions of a Suffragist” by Edna Buckman Kearns, July 30, 1915, The Owl, Long Island, New York. Empire State Campaign Committee: Second Campaign District Comprising Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Mrs. Wilmer Kearns, Press Chairman. Last Call for 1915 1917 Edna Buckman Kearns, South Side Observer, Rockville Centre, New York, August 24, 1917. 1919 Edna Buckman Kearns in Handwritten Letters to Serena Kearns: March 4, 5, and 11, 1919. “Men Too, Loved Freedom” by Wilmer R. Kearns (unpublished narrative in the author’s possession). Written 1960 by Wilmer R. Kearns Chapter 33 Pete Seeger’s Aunt—Suffrage Activist Anita Pollitzer Chapter 34 Inez Milholland—US Suffrage Martyr Chapter 35 The Struggle Continues Acknowledgments Genealogy Chart Timeline of the Spirit of 1776 Suffrage Wagon July 1848 September 1852 July 1876 1882 July 1913 July and August 1913 Fall 1913 November 1917 1920 1920–1930 1934 1930–1960 1971 1972 1984 1985 March 1986 1992 1992–1997 1997 2000 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 and Beyond Notes Selected Bibliography Index About the Author