Saving the Day: Men in the Woman Suffrage Campaign

Karen Pastorello, Professor of History, Tompkins Cortland Community College, will draw from her manuscript with Susan Goodier, “’The Very Greatest Victory’:  Recognizing Women’s Right to Vote in New York State, 1846-1927,” to focus on a group of men who supported woman suffrage, examining some of the activities of the Men’s League for Woman Suffrage founded by Max Eastman and others in 1909 and headquartered in Manhattan. Eventually boasting over 20,000 members, the organization turned out large numbers to cast their ballots in favor of woman political rights. Some men supported the movement by lending financial support, while others wrote, spoke, and marched in favor of woman’s suffrage, despite the vitriol targeted at them. Exploring men’s activism lends insight into a previously neglected aspect of the suffrage battle and, in doing so, reveals the men’s motivations and their contributions to the cause.