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A review by bethmitcham
The Voice That Won the Vote: How One Woman's Words Made History by Elisa Boxer, Vivien Mildenberger
4.0
This is a good history of a small corner of the women's suffrage movement. When the amendment to let women vote was before the states, it came down to Tennessee to get the final boost. It's hard to imagine now how reluctant politicians were to share the vote with women, but it was a really big deal and the expanded suffrage was by no means an easy thing. The voice in the title wasn't involved in the work to get women the vote, but was the mother of one of the "no" votes in the Tennessee state legislature. The vote was tied, but her letter to her son convinced him to change his vote.
The assumption was that this would cost him his seat, but at the end of the book he is reelected. So this is a history of a woman not involved in politics, who to our modern eyes is clearly a valid citizen, and who makes a difference by communicating. And then it's the story of someone who changes his mind because of his conscience (helped by his mom!) and expects to pay a penalty for standing up for a principle, and then gets a happy ending, and the book clearly draws this moral: do right -- be brave, and maybe everything will turn out roses!
The backmatter provides more detail around the vote of Harry Burn that ratified the 19th Amendment as well as a timeline of the Women's Suffrage movement.
I really like the art, which also goes hard for showing all citizens (brown and white) realistically (so shots of senators are all white). It's an interesting perspective on history that entertains while also giving a broader view of the people who made that history.
The assumption was that this would cost him his seat, but at the end of the book he is reelected. So this is a history of a woman not involved in politics, who to our modern eyes is clearly a valid citizen, and who makes a difference by communicating. And then it's the story of someone who changes his mind because of his conscience (helped by his mom!) and expects to pay a penalty for standing up for a principle, and then gets a happy ending, and the book clearly draws this moral: do right -- be brave, and maybe everything will turn out roses!
The backmatter provides more detail around the vote of Harry Burn that ratified the 19th Amendment as well as a timeline of the Women's Suffrage movement.
I really like the art, which also goes hard for showing all citizens (brown and white) realistically (so shots of senators are all white). It's an interesting perspective on history that entertains while also giving a broader view of the people who made that history.