Susan Goodier, lecturer, History Department, and her co-author, Karen Pastorello have won an Award of Excellence for their book, Women Will Vote: Winning Suffrage in New York State from the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH).

Goodier and Pastorello sought to illuminate the contributions of women and men of the state-level suffrage movement across race, ethnic, class, and gender lines. As with any social revolution, true change will happen only when a broad coalition of supporters convince those in power that change is necessary. Women Will Vote brings together chapters on activists belonging to five groups—rural women, working-class immigrant women, black women, male suffragists, and bold, radical women—who, despite glaring differences, all worked for votes for women. As disparate as these groups were, they formed a coalition around their common objective. The Great War interrupted the momentum that these groups built, and suffragists devoted themselves to supporting the war effort, and gained more legislative support for enfranchisement. The activism of the incongruent groups that comprised the state suffrage movement in the years leading up to the 1917 referendum in New York made this “very greatest victory” possible. New York women then turned their attention to winning the federal amendment in 1920.

The authors traveled to Philadelphia to accept the award.

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