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We Demand: The Suffrage Road Trip
Swedish immigrants Ingeborg Kindstedt and Maria Kindberg visit San Francisco in the summer of 1915, planning to buy a car and explore the country on their way back to their home in Rhode Island. On impulse, they offer to bring with them suffragists heading to Washington, DC, to demand voting rights for women from Congress and the president. Soon they are plunged into a difficult and dangerous journey that pushes them to the very limits of their endurance.
Along the way they encounter unexpected allies, as well as those opposed to women’s growing independence. Bad roads and harsh weather hinder their progress. Will they overcome these obstacles and arrive in Washington at the appointed day and time?
Along the way they encounter unexpected allies, as well as those opposed to women’s growing independence. Bad roads and harsh weather hinder their progress. Will they overcome these obstacles and arrive in Washington at the appointed day and time?
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
337 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2021
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1524 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 6, 2021
The names Ingeborg Kinstedt and Maria Kindberg probably don’t ring a bell unless you are acquainted with the woman’s suffrage movement. Yet, these two middle-aged Swedish immigrants, who settled in Rhode Island, played a meaningful role in the early part of the twentieth century in the movement.
Based on a true story, Anne B. Gass in We Demand: The Suffrage Road Trip crafts a fictional reconstruction of a bold 3000-mile cross-country auto trip from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. in 1915 involving Ingeborg and Maria.
The two, along with Sara Bard Field and socialite Frances Joliffe were to amass and deliver thousands of signatures on a petition to Congress and President Wilson, demanding women’s right to vote.
Field and Joliffe represented the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (CU), an organization set up by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns in the United States in 1913 to fight for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women’s suffrage. Because of ill health, Joliffe had dropped out before the trip was ongoing.
The narrative unfolds in late September 1915, where we first encounter Ingeborg and Maria. Their initial plan was to explore the USA on their own, and they never imagined they would become involved in such an important event.
After decades of hard toil, the two had traveled by steamship to San Francisco to attend the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. It is here where they meet someone belonging to the Congressional Union, who briefs them that the CU. had prepared to launch a trip in a few weeks, sending one hundred cars to Washington, D.C packed with suffrage supporters. Their mission is to drive across the USA with petitions urging Congress pass the federal suffrage amendment. Unfortunately, there were no volunteers.
Upon learning of their predicament, Ingeborg blurts out, without consulting Maria, that she and Maria will undertake it. She mentions to the woman they are purchasing a Convertible Overland Six automobile in San Francisco to travel back to their home in Providence, Rhode Island, which is not very far from Washington, D.C. She further tells her there is ample place for the petitions.
When Alice Paul gets wind of their offer, she agrees to have the two Swedes drive with the petitions and explains to them they will pay for the automobile and their expenses. The CU will compensate them for food and lodging for the two envoys that will tag along. The envoys turn out to be Sara Bard Field and Frances Joliffe, and as pointed out previously, the latter slipped out early in the adventure. Ingeborg and Maria were not totally thrilled when Alice tells them about the two representatives and reluctantly accept the two riders.
At the commencement of the trip, a chauffeur drives the three women to Salt Lake City, who, incidentally, gets lost on the path to their destination. This doesn’t sit very well with Ingeborg, who fires the driver. Maria takes over the driving, and Ingeborg, who knows the workings of a car, attends to the maintenance of the Overland Six. Sara becomes the spokesperson for the CU, who will be engaged with public relations while meeting with dignitaries, socialites, and politicians along the way.
You can well imagine the harrowing adventures these women would experience, which Gass describes in detail in the narrative, as they make their way across the country through inclement weather, poorly signed mud roads, and where getting lost or stuck was part of the fun.
And as one Congressman succinctly summed it up, “I know those roads.... some would be better done on horseback than in an automobile. Many a man has rued the day he attempted them.”
Several times Ingeborg questions her judgment to having agreed to take part in the voyage. As she mentions, if only they had pinned Alice Paul down on the details: who would speak, the distances, and the road conditions? Then there was the matter of being shunned by some of the CU women because they were immigrants. And to add insult to injury, even the media ignored them as if they were ghosts. Likewise, there was the outright bigotry and racism, which she came across which was not considered before embarking on the trip.
This extensively researched work is more than a record of a journey of two feisty Swedish women, which is truly remarkable. Gass skillfully interweaves the individual histories of these women with interesting contextual information regarding the social and political atmosphere that existed at the time. In addition, her appreciation for the prowess of her principal characters radiates throughout the story. She brings the cross-country road trip to convincing life through carefully wrought, affecting characterizations and accurately rendering details of place and time. A bonus for readers interested in exploring more of the women’s suffrage movement is the selected reading at the end of the book.
Follow Here https://waa.ai/m9Rn To Read Norm's Interview With Anne B. Gass
Based on a true story, Anne B. Gass in We Demand: The Suffrage Road Trip crafts a fictional reconstruction of a bold 3000-mile cross-country auto trip from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. in 1915 involving Ingeborg and Maria.
The two, along with Sara Bard Field and socialite Frances Joliffe were to amass and deliver thousands of signatures on a petition to Congress and President Wilson, demanding women’s right to vote.
Field and Joliffe represented the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (CU), an organization set up by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns in the United States in 1913 to fight for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women’s suffrage. Because of ill health, Joliffe had dropped out before the trip was ongoing.
The narrative unfolds in late September 1915, where we first encounter Ingeborg and Maria. Their initial plan was to explore the USA on their own, and they never imagined they would become involved in such an important event.
After decades of hard toil, the two had traveled by steamship to San Francisco to attend the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. It is here where they meet someone belonging to the Congressional Union, who briefs them that the CU. had prepared to launch a trip in a few weeks, sending one hundred cars to Washington, D.C packed with suffrage supporters. Their mission is to drive across the USA with petitions urging Congress pass the federal suffrage amendment. Unfortunately, there were no volunteers.
Upon learning of their predicament, Ingeborg blurts out, without consulting Maria, that she and Maria will undertake it. She mentions to the woman they are purchasing a Convertible Overland Six automobile in San Francisco to travel back to their home in Providence, Rhode Island, which is not very far from Washington, D.C. She further tells her there is ample place for the petitions.
When Alice Paul gets wind of their offer, she agrees to have the two Swedes drive with the petitions and explains to them they will pay for the automobile and their expenses. The CU will compensate them for food and lodging for the two envoys that will tag along. The envoys turn out to be Sara Bard Field and Frances Joliffe, and as pointed out previously, the latter slipped out early in the adventure. Ingeborg and Maria were not totally thrilled when Alice tells them about the two representatives and reluctantly accept the two riders.
At the commencement of the trip, a chauffeur drives the three women to Salt Lake City, who, incidentally, gets lost on the path to their destination. This doesn’t sit very well with Ingeborg, who fires the driver. Maria takes over the driving, and Ingeborg, who knows the workings of a car, attends to the maintenance of the Overland Six. Sara becomes the spokesperson for the CU, who will be engaged with public relations while meeting with dignitaries, socialites, and politicians along the way.
You can well imagine the harrowing adventures these women would experience, which Gass describes in detail in the narrative, as they make their way across the country through inclement weather, poorly signed mud roads, and where getting lost or stuck was part of the fun.
And as one Congressman succinctly summed it up, “I know those roads.... some would be better done on horseback than in an automobile. Many a man has rued the day he attempted them.”
Several times Ingeborg questions her judgment to having agreed to take part in the voyage. As she mentions, if only they had pinned Alice Paul down on the details: who would speak, the distances, and the road conditions? Then there was the matter of being shunned by some of the CU women because they were immigrants. And to add insult to injury, even the media ignored them as if they were ghosts. Likewise, there was the outright bigotry and racism, which she came across which was not considered before embarking on the trip.
This extensively researched work is more than a record of a journey of two feisty Swedish women, which is truly remarkable. Gass skillfully interweaves the individual histories of these women with interesting contextual information regarding the social and political atmosphere that existed at the time. In addition, her appreciation for the prowess of her principal characters radiates throughout the story. She brings the cross-country road trip to convincing life through carefully wrought, affecting characterizations and accurately rendering details of place and time. A bonus for readers interested in exploring more of the women’s suffrage movement is the selected reading at the end of the book.
Follow Here https://waa.ai/m9Rn To Read Norm's Interview With Anne B. Gass
April 7, 2021
Thank you netgalley for the e-arc
I didn’t know I needed a historical fiction about working-class lesbian suffragettes until I read this book. I absolutely loved this story.
The stories of Ingeborg Kindstedt and Maria Kindberg are truly fascinating and I wish more was known about them. There’s a great section at the end where the author separates the fact from fiction. It’s such a shame that the majority of suffragettes who made history were upper class women.
There are some amazing names found in this story, from prominent Union members and lawyers, to black suffragettes like Ida B. Wells. The trip to D.C. was not glamorous and Gass does a great job of showing the many indignities that suffragettes had to deal with as they worked for a better future.
I would absolutely recommend this book, I can’t believe there’s not more hype around it already.
I didn’t know I needed a historical fiction about working-class lesbian suffragettes until I read this book. I absolutely loved this story.
The stories of Ingeborg Kindstedt and Maria Kindberg are truly fascinating and I wish more was known about them. There’s a great section at the end where the author separates the fact from fiction. It’s such a shame that the majority of suffragettes who made history were upper class women.
There are some amazing names found in this story, from prominent Union members and lawyers, to black suffragettes like Ida B. Wells. The trip to D.C. was not glamorous and Gass does a great job of showing the many indignities that suffragettes had to deal with as they worked for a better future.
I would absolutely recommend this book, I can’t believe there’s not more hype around it already.
August 19, 2021
I enjoyed this book and learnt a lot about the suffrage movement in the USA, however, I think there was a bit too much going on - some characters/storylines seemed to be shoe-horned in just to make a point of including diverse voices.
The journey itself took forever and did become a bit repetitive in parts (e.g. descriptions of the car, of Sarah's illness) but the hardships and adventures they faced on the way were well-written (the snow storm, getting lost in the desert).
I think more attention could have been paid to the characters, their stories and relationships with each other rather than the journey.
It's a good story and one that I will recommend to my students as a way to extend their knowledge of life in the USA at that time and how it varied for women from state to state.
The journey itself took forever and did become a bit repetitive in parts (e.g. descriptions of the car, of Sarah's illness) but the hardships and adventures they faced on the way were well-written (the snow storm, getting lost in the desert).
I think more attention could have been paid to the characters, their stories and relationships with each other rather than the journey.
It's a good story and one that I will recommend to my students as a way to extend their knowledge of life in the USA at that time and how it varied for women from state to state.
December 24, 2021
Eastward! Ho!
I had never heard of this Motor trip to gather support for the 19 th amendment so the book kept my interest as “the Swedes” drove their Overland Six in 1915 from San Francisco to Washington DC where they met President Wilson, The author kept the historical fiction moving along with actual characters, such as Clarence Darrow and Alice Paul. Ms Gass certainly did her research for the factionalized account of the trip which she managed to replicate in 2020.
I had never heard of this Motor trip to gather support for the 19 th amendment so the book kept my interest as “the Swedes” drove their Overland Six in 1915 from San Francisco to Washington DC where they met President Wilson, The author kept the historical fiction moving along with actual characters, such as Clarence Darrow and Alice Paul. Ms Gass certainly did her research for the factionalized account of the trip which she managed to replicate in 2020.
Want to read
April 22, 2022An astounding book about the struggle women faced to get the vote and the three who decided to try and make a difference. It was unheard of at the time for women to travel across the country alone, but they managed to do it while also picking signatures up along the way to try and get the 19th amendment ratified.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
March 10, 2024
I was not impressed.
December 27, 2023
A well written, well researched work of historical fiction about the suffrage movement from the point of view of two Swedish immigrants who volunteered to drive suffrage envoys across the country to collect signatures for a petition to present to congress. In addition to the historical context, this was a fun read about a tough road trip taken on by some very tough women.
I really liked that the author made a point to lay out how other disenfranchised groups were either pushed aside or excluded from the movement, such as African and Native Americans and immigrants. She wove this theme in by demonstrating how hard it must have been on the swedes, who were often kept off the stage at events and out of the media, even though they were working day and night and integral to the cause.
On a personal note, it was fun to read a book written by a candidate who ran for the Maine state legislature in my small district last year.
I really liked that the author made a point to lay out how other disenfranchised groups were either pushed aside or excluded from the movement, such as African and Native Americans and immigrants. She wove this theme in by demonstrating how hard it must have been on the swedes, who were often kept off the stage at events and out of the media, even though they were working day and night and integral to the cause.
On a personal note, it was fun to read a book written by a candidate who ran for the Maine state legislature in my small district last year.
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