Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists

by Jean H. Baker

Jean H. Baker's Sisters shows how the personal became political In the fight to grant women civil rights.

They forever changed Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frances Willard, Alice Paul. At their revolution's start in the 1840s, a woman's right to speak in public was questioned. By its conclusion in 1920, the victory in woman's suffrage had also encompassed the most fundamental rights of the right to control wages, hold property, to contract, to sue, to testify in court. Their struggle was confrontational (women were the first to picket the White House for a political cause) and violent (women were arrested, jailed, and force-fed in prisons). And like every revolutionary before them, their struggle was personal.

For the first time, the eminent historian Jean H. Baker tellingly interweaves these women's private lives with their public achievements, presenting these revolutionary women in three dimensions, humanized, and marvelously approachable.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Feminism, Biography, Womens, Historical, American History

297 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Jean H. Baker is a professor of history at Goucher College. A graduate of Goucher College, she earned her doctorate at Johns Hopkins University.

Reviews

[Cookie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Cast off the shackles of yesterday..."

Abusive husbands, isolation, overwhelming work of the home, sole responsibility in rearing children, little to no outlet for creativity, demands for sex in a marriage where the thought of pleasure plays in the background under the fear of getting with child, again. The physical drain of multiple pregnancies, the emotional drain of infant death and the unknown postpartum depression. All experiences of some woman in marriage, many in which they had little say and even less recourse.

The inability to be independent. The societal pressures of place. The inability to own property, speak in most public places, hold positions of authority or really, positions anywhere except in the home. The understanding that you have no voice, even in your own life once you marry - but no honest and decent way to be successful without marriage. This what most women faced in the 19th century.

It makes perfect sense that the cause of woman's rights piggy-backed those of anti-slavery.

"Shoulder to into the fray..."

Lucy Stone's oration, Susan B. Anthony's strategies, E. Cady Stanton's words, Frances Willard's accommodation (which paved the way for modern day feminism), and Paul's radical actions that tipped the pot - all women who worked tirelessly for the cause of women's rights and the vote. In this book, Jean H. Baker showed me their hard fought accomplishments (even when they seemed slight), and made me stand in awe of the very sacrifices and difficulties they shouldered their entire lives. For my sake.

"Our daughter's daughters will adore us..."

It's hard for me to put comprehensive thoughts together without simply repeating the history learned, but there were things about each woman that stood out to me...

Lucy Stone's words, from letters mostly, were gorgeous and I wish she had written a personal history like the others. Striving to put herself into school for seven years, then doing so, then spurning the dogged advances of Henry Blackwell until he proved himself, and then being the first recorded woman in American history to not take his name in marriage? Fascinating and brave.



And it's such a shame not to mention how she was a most popular and successful anti-slavery lecturer, how she stood for independence in a marriage and the right for women to speak publicly and own property. She was forever a 'woman disappointed' but was a portrait of hard work for many woman's causes, including and most importantly, the vote.

Susan B. Anthony. In my mind, this woman was a bully. She lived in 'blessed singleness' and was doggedly single minded - women needed to be able to vote to accomplish any type of equality, to gain any form of freedom. She was devastated when Lucy Stone dared to marry and put-out when her own best friend, E. Cady Stanton also succumbed (and had children, the horror). As Baker said, she was Napoleon. Her strategies were what gave Woman's suffrage a voice, and while others were seeking suffrage at the state level, she understood that true change would only come from a constitutional amendment.



Though Anthony positioned the voice to be heard, her best friend, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, gave the voice life. Cady Stanton was the writer and organizer. She backed Anthony every step of the way (although sometimes only after she was done nursing her babe) and proved an integral cog in Anthony's machine, yet neither taking credit for their part. Cady Stanton most inspired me with her vocal stance that women be self-reliant, something that my own mother instilled in me and of which I'm grateful.

She was a mother of seven children, five of which were boys...needless to say, there was a lot in that quarter that I identified with and yet, though exhausted and in need of a long vacation, she found the time and stamina to do big things.



One of the most refreshing things about these women was that they were flawed. In fact, I'm not sure that I actually like any of them, though I certainly admire and respect them. Frances Willard, on the other hand, had a way that appealed to me and a philosophy that encouraged me. She was accommodating. Of the strong belief that women should stand for their vote, she encouraged this by any and all means chosen by that woman. Unlike Stone's roots in her Quaker background, Anthony's determination that women not marry and give up what little rights they had, or Cady Stanton's belief that only the educated be allowed to vote, Willard felt that all women had the right to pursue the course best suited for them. She was most inspiring, to me.



Which brings me to Alice Paul. I think, without really having any basis in fact, that beyond Anthony, Alice Paul is most remembered as being the driving force to suffrage victory. The interesting thing to me about this book is that though this may be true, she certainly was the last, loudest voice in the final push, it seemed to me that the ratification of the 19th amendment was more of a result of perfect timing. In the end, after decades of speechifying, traveling, lectures, petitions and picketing by thousands of women, Alice Paul's radical drive to get the woman's vote above all other concerns (including that of WWI) tipped a stubbornly self-righteous Woodrow Wilson over the edge into hypocrisy. Paul's prison time and horrid treatment within (which caused public outcry) during a time when Wilson was calling for democracy among other nations while he sat in a country where 20,000,000 of its citizens could not themselves take part...well, there wasn't anything left to do but save face and encourage Congress.

"And they'll sing in grateful chorus..."

This isn't to downplay Paul's amazing courage, or those women who stood with her. What the adage "timing is everything" does remind me of in this movement and Paul's time, is that when we truly stand up for the things that are important, when we are in the midst of a long battle, when the mountain seems so insurmountable, when there is no coming dawn on our horizon- the battle is still worth fighting - we do not know how things will unfold or when that last piece necessary for victory will come.

I really enjoyed this book. It did read like a textbook and it was a little dry, but it was also compelling and marvelously written. Baker has such a deft hand with her history, teasing you with interesting and relevant tidbits but never veering from her topic at hand. I did a deplorable job relaying that this book is really about these women's lives more than their accomplishments and public face. To make up for that in the end, all I can say is that for those who are interested in this history, this would be a great book to pick up.

"Well done, Sister Suffragette."

(Can you tell that Mary Poppin's Sister Suffragette played on repeat in my head during the duration? I won't expound on the disappointing epiphany I had about the movie after reading this book however...)

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book after watching the movie about Alice Paul and the end of the suffrage movement, Iron-Jawed Angels. I realized while watching the film that I didn't know enough about Paul, or about feminism's "First Wave" in general, to tell if the movie was giving her a fair portrayal or not. This book was a good introduction, I think, but more information will definitely be needed.

Sisters is divided into five sections, each dedicated to the life and work of one particular famous suffragist: Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frances Willard, and Alice Paul. By her own admission, Baker focuses more on the women themselves than on the history of the work they did. In her mind, the women of the first generation of American feminism are largely forgotten by all us Second Wavers and beyond, relegated to images of uptight prudes in high-collared dresses, with no lives or histories of their own, and she seeks to correct that. Due to this focus, and to each section only being about 50 pages long, she doesn't get much into the politics and activism, so look for that elsewhere. What she does talk about is each woman's childhood (three of five were very bad), religion (two Quakers, two Christians, and one atheist), personal relationships (Stone and Stanton were married, the other three were not, and four of the five women may have had lesbian relationships), and general personality. So I came out of the reading knowing not a whole lot more than I had started out knowing about suffrage politics, but thinking that Susan B. Anthony was probably been a damn fun person to be around, while Lucy Stone was probably not.

Given what it is--a lightweight, biographical account of five tremendously important women in less than 300 pages--it's fantastic. And while I hunger for more information, I know at least know what and who specifically I want more information on. Alice Paul remains the most intriguing figure to me, and Frances Willard appeals even less than before. The earliest years of the suffrage movement, particularly those that eclipse the Civil War and Reconstruction, are unbearably depressing, and it's much more fun to focus on the 20th century part of the battle. The book gives me lots of starting points. It's also a very easy read, and I'd recommend it for others who, like me, are embarrassingly ignorant of the suffrage movement in the U.S., especially if it is something you want to know about and don't want to dedicate a lot of time to. Iron-Jawed Angels isn't bad on that count either, actually. I'm going to be trying to move on to something a bit more substantive next, so suggestions are welcome.

[Stephen Tryon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a powerful history of the lives of five women who were leaders in the struggle for women's rights in the United States. But Baker's project is more than just a retelling of key moments in this struggle. Rather, she reveals details from the personal lives of the women about whom she writes that serve to illuminate the struggle for women's rights in our country.

I particularly liked the chapter on Alice Paul: her leadership of the National Women's Party and subsequent efforts to get President Wilson to support a constitutional amendment giving women the vote make her one of the most noble figures in American history in my view. Baker is able to root Paul's deep commitment To justice in her Quaker upbringing. The Quaker tradition holds that souls have no gender, and therefore women had an equal role as men in Paul's upbring. This deep philosophical point is one we can learn from today; I am surprised it hasn't been used or publicized more in the ongoing struggle for marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.

Good history makes events of long ago accessible and pertinent to the reader. In Sisters, Baker has given us some very good history.

[Amy Flaherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book I felt that I had to read in order to truly appreciate the rights I have a woman and I'm very glad I did. Its well written and does give a sense of who these women actually were as people and then what they paid with their lives, both pubic and private, to the rights that we now take for granted at times. If you are interested at all in this topic, its a good overview or a place to get started.

[Andrew Rothstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I attended Northwestern University, there was some snickering about the fact that Evanston was the headquarters for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Evanston was just beginning to allow alcoholic drinks with meals at that time.

The major obvious association between NU and the WCTU was the fact that the women's dormatory was Willard Hall. Probably most of us didn't know that Frances Willard was the most famous person associated with Prohibition and a temperence leader.

Thanks to this book, I know what I should have known when I went to NU, including the fact that Willard was also a leader of the women's suffrage movement.

The four other women profiled in this book are all of major historical significance, but given relatively short shrift in American history courses we take in high school. Susan B. Anthony gets the most attention, but the details of their work is not well known to the general public.

One enlightenment for me was the extent to which the issues that were so pronounced during the women's movement of the '60-'70s were actually well articulated in the 19th century.

Worth the read.

[Lizzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this look at the lives of leading American suffrage activists, and learned a lot that I never would have had I not read this book. I highly recommend it, but will say that it took me much longer to read than I expected because 1) there was so much information in it that I would prefer to "steep" in what I had learned than barrel through new information and 2) it got a little bit dry at times. I also really enjoyed the pictures in the middle - those helped drive home Baker's point about all of the Suffragists mentioned being real people, not just names in a history book. Definitely worth the read!

[Jeanmarie Nielsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am glad to have read this book. That these particular women, suffragists, stood for what they believed, what they intrinsically knew about their potential roles as women in a society that held a domineering male point-of-view, is inspired.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a must read. The fight not just for the women's right to vote but the reason's behind that long fight. Every young person should read this. Some of our politicians too!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was born 10 years before Alice Paul died. I was in 5th grade when she died and I never once heard of her until the movie "Iron Jawed Angels". As this book pointed out, she was expunged from our history books. And this despite the fact that my textbooks had been revised, adding in paragraphs that included information about women and minorities so that our history was more inclusive than that of preceding generations and included the then contemporary ERA. But still, as I recall it being taught, the suffrage movement started with Seneca Falls, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and then suddenly jumped to the 19th amendment as if there wasn't a whole lot of sufferin' in between (hum the School House Rock Sufferin' Til Suffrage song here). So I'm trying to correct that educational deficit.

This book focuses on 5 big names in the suffrage movement: Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Frances Willard, and Alice Paul. It looks at their personal lives, childhood, family, education, relationships, and what influenced them to become leaders in the suffrage movement. These are not the five I might have chosen, but the author shows how each approached the women's rights issue and ultimately through their unique contributions created a sisterhood that kept going through the many decades required to get to the 19th amendment. Insightful and well-researched, there is a lot of name dropping that may send you to the internet if you do not already know a bit about the players in the women's rights movement and their contemporaries. (My personal recommendation is a visit to the Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, NY.)

[Lauren Hiebner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who studies the suffragist movement knows it was up against many barriers from without. This book presents another challenge suffragists faced, their personalities and their different purposes for gaining the right to vote. This made a unified effort nation-wide difficult. The book’s biographies while brief, were insightful in better understanding why the suffragette movement took nearly 80 years to gain the right to vote.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

2023: After reading a fictional account of Alice Paul & the Washington march in 1913, I decided to pull this out & read it again. It's a good piece of bio that allows each woman her own story, but also pulls together the ways their stories weave & intersect. It also shows they digress & disagree with each other, but still get the job done.
2008: Very interesting look at these women

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, this does read like a history book - it's dry, but SO good at explaining that the Suffrage Movement REALLY started in the 1840's, not 1910 with Alice Paul. Yes, her drastic actions pushed to give women the vote, but there were many women before her who started the fires. We're SO lucky to be American.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to get through this, but it was fascinating information. It was nice to learn more about the prominent suffragists, how they differed and the traits they shared, and to get a better feel for the suffrage timeline in general. I admit wanting to have another kid just so that I can name it either "Alice" or "Paul," as Alice Paul was by far my favorite of the five women profiled.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bleh. Every single one of these women deserve and have whole books written about them so this history, with multiple stories crammed into a mere 300 pages is exactly what you think it would be: terribly, terribly superficial.

[Mary Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A necessary and interesting introduction to five women important in the American suffrage movement of the 1800's and early 1900's. Frustrating to know that we failed to ratify the ERA in the 1970's. And the fight continues.

[Jackie]

I knew virtually nothing about the suffragists until I read this book. It will forever change the way I view women's issues (here and abroad).

[S. Wigget · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this book at the gift shop of the women's history museum in Seneca Falls. I do recommend that if you read this book, read other books about suffragists, such as _The Women's Hour_ by Elaine Weiss. I've read quite a few others, including a couple books about Alice Paul and a couple books about Victoria Woodhull. (Actually, I have a couple stacks of books about suffragists and intend to read lots of them this year--2020, the anniversary year of the 19th Amendment).

This book consists of biographies on five suffragists... all of whom are white, which is a bit off-putting. I would have included at least one black woman, such as Sojourner Truth or Ida B. Wells. And I would have included Matilda Joslyn Gage. Also, I wasn't as engaged in the section about Frances Willard (probably because way too much Xianity), so I wouldn't have chosen her.

Anyway, there's a lot of interesting personal information about their lifestyles, and it's certainly worth the read.

I especially appreciate the details about the Silent Sentinels and the circumstances of their ending up tortured in prison, and what Kaiser Wilson's part was in all that. That alone is reason to vote at every election.

[Kimberly Fields · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book because it caught my eye on the shelf at the library. I was intrigued at the idea of learning more about the suffragists, who are responsible for so many of the freedoms I enjoy. Unfortunately, this book didn't fully live up to its potential.

Sisters is a compilation of biographies of some of the leading suffragists in the late 1800's and early 1900's. It includes the life stories of Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frances Willard, and Alice Paul. It was interesting to learn about these women and their lives; the events that led them to become involved in the suffrage movement, etc.

Unfortunately, while the content was captivating, the writing style was not. This book was dry and full of big, obscure words. While I'm a fan of good, less-known words, they should be used sparingly to enrich writing, not peppered all over in a pretentious attempt to sound educated. I think the author forgot who her audience was-- the average layperson, not a scholarly publication.

In addition to the writing style, the structure of this book was a little weak. It's laid out as a collection of short biographies of each of the aforementioned women, rather than as a narrative of suffrage as a whole. That's fine, except that this format required a lot of repetition of certain key events in suffrage. That repetition became a little tedious. I think it would have worked better if the author had written the book as a story of suffrage, with biographies inserted appropriately throughout, then a bunch of separate, repetetive biographies (like the format of Washington's Secret Six-- another history I read recently, which flows much better than Sisters).

My other big issue with this book was the clear liberal slant of the book. Obviously it's impossible to avoid any bias in reviewing history, but ideally a historian should strive to be as objective as possible. Banks was anything but. Her bias was constantly popping out in her narrative, as she inserted a number of disdainful comments about religion and motherhood. For example, at the conclusion of her biography of Frances Willard, Baker concluded "Moreover , her sentimental religiosity makes her an archaic figure in the twenty-first century, and her appeals to bring a "mother heart" into society seem hopelessly dated." Baker's condescending tone in these passages was obnoxious and had no reason to be part of this history.

In conclusion, it's a shame the writing style and condescending tone of the author spoiled a fascinating story of such courageous women. I'd still say this book is still worth wading through to get to these stories, as long as you can put up with its faults, at least until a better history of the suffragists comes out. Hopefully that will be soon.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book for review is “Sisters:The Lives of America’s Suffragists”by Jean H. Baker. It falls in the genre of American history and women’s studies.

This novel focuses on some of the main women who took up the cause for women’s suffragist. We have Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frances Willard and Alice Paul. Each chapter talks about how each woman got started in the cause for the fight for women across the United States to vote.

The stories are varied, some started out with poor childhood to those of privileges. Baker talks about the struggle involved in taking on such a long task, an environment where women can’t vote, where men are in charge of their wife’s property and children, where they are simply to be wed, have children and little more.

Trying to change the system, a system run by men, takes time, fortitude and leadership as these women travel the county and world trying to show and make a stand for women’s rights. Paul even takes on Woodrow Wilson for years, fighting a standing institution that involves being jailed, force-fed and being kept in deplorable conditions.

Different organizations are formed all for the good of women, do they all get along no, do they all fight for the same thing with the same methods? No. But they don’t stop until the Constitution is changed the 19th Amendment is ratified.

I chose this book for my women’s book club that I run. I thought with this being an election year it be good reading. It is not a fast read as there are a lot of details inside the covers. While I knew of some of these women and what they did, it was paled in comparison to what I really knew. This was a great read, very educational and it just confirmed why I vote and why all women should vote.

I really enjoyed reading this book.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

of course I wanted to love this book, and if I was rating based on how important these women were to women now, I would give it 20 Stars. but the actual writing style came across very academic, and I felt like the author inserted her opinion more than I liked, not letting the reader draw their own conclusions. that said, if you don't know much about the suffragists, like I didn't, it is definitely still worth a read. And I could see this book being a very useful base from which another author could write a fictionalized, and more interesting, account of these women.
moving on to talk about the content, the oppression and resistance that these women faced was infuriating and overwhelming. I totally understand why it took 70 years. A great lesson for activists today to remember. also, important to realize that these women were very racist, a product of their times, and there is a deep root of historical reason that black women activists don't always trust their white counterparts.
it was so fascinating to see how the movement really developed in waves, with the first wave including convincing (white) women themselves that they should want to vote!

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

For someone who knows very little about the suffrage movement, this book was eye-opening. I found the writing to be difficult to get through because of Baker’s frequent use of big, obscure words. And as others have pointed out, it was a bit dry. BUT, I still very much enjoyed reading this journey. I felt many things while reading this; empowered, inspired, sad, angry, and privileged. I was born with the right to vote. I can’t imagine being alive during the time that women had to fight so hard for certain rights. I really loved learning the details of these incredible women’s lives. I think this is the perfect book for anyone wanting to learn more about America’s suffragists. For me, this was just the starting point.

[Diane Mueller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learning about those who opened the door to women's right was interesting. We hear so little about these women's lives. I found this book dry and at times it was difficult for me to read very far without growing sleepy.

[RuthAnn]

In the biblography of Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good review of 5 key players in the 70+ year struggle for women’s suffrage. It was helpful to understand how suffrage was initially intertwined with the abolition of slavery issue but eventually emerged as its own separate issue.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read about great women who left indelible marks on our world.

[Lashonda Slaughter Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the biographical sketches in this.

[Tammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was good, but the writing was poor.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so happy to find a book that was about these women, but I did not think it was as historically accurate as it could be.

[Pat Jorgenson Waterchilde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspiring!