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A review by book_concierge
The Women's March by Jennifer Chiaverini
4.0
Audiobook narrated by Saskia Maarleveld
Subtitle: A Novel of the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession
As the subtitle suggest, this novel focuses on the women who risked their liberty, and their lives, to win the vote for women, including women of color. Chiaverini focuses on three of the most important suffragists of the day: Alice Paul, Maud Malone, and Ida B Wells-Barnett, to tell the story of how the idea for the march was conceived and the struggles they faced in planning for the event.
In order for women to be allowed to vote, the men who held the power, had to be the ones to grant that power, and let’s be clear, it was white men who held the power. And they were not willing to do so. The women who demonstrated were frequently taunted and assaulted by onlookers. No matter how peacefully they tried to ask a political candidate, “Do you support women’s suffrage?” they were taunted and jeered at by the men in the crowd, bodily ejected by a group of policemen, and like as not, arrested.
But the women, themselves, were hardly united. The National American Woman Suffrage Association – known simply as “the National” – was focused on gaining suffrage rights for women on a state-by-state basis. Alice Paul, who had been offered a position organizing their open-air meetings, felt strongly that the way to go was to push for a constitutional amendment, and one that would include ALL women, including blacks, a stance that alienated the women suffrage organizations in the South.
Chiaverini brings these historical figures to life. The chapters alternate between these three central figures, showing how each approached the issue and the unique challenges each faced. The scenes of the march itself, and the near disaster it became due to the failure of the Police Superintendent to provide adequate security, are harrowing. And I felt as disheartened as the women themselves must have felt when they finally had a meeting with President Wilson and he dismissed them stating, “I have no opinion on woman suffrage. I’ve never given the subject any thought.”
That first national march was a triumph of organization and courage, but it would be another seven years, until August 1920, before the Eighteenth Amendment was finally ratified.
While the novel itself is interesting and engaging, I really enjoyed the author’s notes at the end, where Chiaverini gives more details on what happened after the march. I had not realized before that Alice Paul drafted the first Equal Rights Amendment in 1922. I recall the attention the ERA received in the 1970s. It has yet to be ratified.
Saskia Maarleveld does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. She sets a good pace and Chiaverini’s writing helped to keep all these various female characters clearly defined.
Subtitle: A Novel of the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession
As the subtitle suggest, this novel focuses on the women who risked their liberty, and their lives, to win the vote for women, including women of color. Chiaverini focuses on three of the most important suffragists of the day: Alice Paul, Maud Malone, and Ida B Wells-Barnett, to tell the story of how the idea for the march was conceived and the struggles they faced in planning for the event.
In order for women to be allowed to vote, the men who held the power, had to be the ones to grant that power, and let’s be clear, it was white men who held the power. And they were not willing to do so. The women who demonstrated were frequently taunted and assaulted by onlookers. No matter how peacefully they tried to ask a political candidate, “Do you support women’s suffrage?” they were taunted and jeered at by the men in the crowd, bodily ejected by a group of policemen, and like as not, arrested.
But the women, themselves, were hardly united. The National American Woman Suffrage Association – known simply as “the National” – was focused on gaining suffrage rights for women on a state-by-state basis. Alice Paul, who had been offered a position organizing their open-air meetings, felt strongly that the way to go was to push for a constitutional amendment, and one that would include ALL women, including blacks, a stance that alienated the women suffrage organizations in the South.
Chiaverini brings these historical figures to life. The chapters alternate between these three central figures, showing how each approached the issue and the unique challenges each faced. The scenes of the march itself, and the near disaster it became due to the failure of the Police Superintendent to provide adequate security, are harrowing. And I felt as disheartened as the women themselves must have felt when they finally had a meeting with President Wilson and he dismissed them stating, “I have no opinion on woman suffrage. I’ve never given the subject any thought.”
That first national march was a triumph of organization and courage, but it would be another seven years, until August 1920, before the Eighteenth Amendment was finally ratified.
While the novel itself is interesting and engaging, I really enjoyed the author’s notes at the end, where Chiaverini gives more details on what happened after the march. I had not realized before that Alice Paul drafted the first Equal Rights Amendment in 1922. I recall the attention the ERA received in the 1970s. It has yet to be ratified.
Saskia Maarleveld does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. She sets a good pace and Chiaverini’s writing helped to keep all these various female characters clearly defined.