June 12, 2023: Aisha Pierre, Curator of Interpretation, National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House – Topic: Deep in the Archives
Curator of Interpretation, Aisha Pierre, has been working closely with our museum’s collection! She will be showcasing and celebrating some of the objects she has found since joining us in August of 2021.
Aisha has a BA in History from Rhode Island College (18′) and a MA in Museum Studies from Syracuse University (21′). She loves working with history through museum collections and loves the opportunity to share some of the incredible pieces from the collection with others.
Don’t miss the new documentary, “Women and the Vote,” which premiers tonight at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV. This film takes viewers to five cemeteries across New York state on Election Day 2020, where voters reflect on the sacrifice of suffragists who fought for women’s rights and weaves in historical photographs and reminders of the suffragist legacy.
The documentary is part of a larger project to collect and share information about New York suffrage activists through 1920, when the 19th Amendment was passed, and beyond. The Anthony Museum is a proud fiscal sponsor of this project.
This event will feature the world premiere of music composed for the event by Mina Esary in collaboration with the ROCmusic students, performed by fivebyfive and the students. This new work will be the catalyst for a community talk-back about the complicated dimensions of the suffrage movement: the history of the movement, who was included, who was excluded, and what work is still needed.
Community talk-back panelists include:
Jean Elisabeth Pedersen – Associate Professor of History at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester
Deborah Hughes – President and CEO of the Susan B. Anthony Museum and House
Cona Marshall – Assistant Professor in Religious Studies and African and African American Studies at the University of Rochester
Kathryn Murano Santos – Senior Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Rochester Museum and Science Center
The event will be virtual and will feature three parts:
1) A video premiere of a new work by composer Mina Esary which will feature students from the ROCMusic Collaborative with fivebyfive
2) A community talkback
3) An optional socially distanced neighborhood walk in the Susan B. Anthony district
Susan B. Anthony has been spotted in Canada, and there have been sightings on Pinterest and murmurs online, but even fans at her home base at the National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House in Rochester, New York, have had to squelch rumors that the old girl was soon to arrive on doorsteps across the United States in a new, but familiar form. Today, inside sources at the Anthony Museum revealed the breaking news that Mattel™ is about to induct Susan B. Anthony into their Inspiring Women™ line in the form of a signature Barbie® doll.
The Anthony Museum has been keeping the secret for months. “We were delighted that the design team from Mattel™ reached out to us early in the project, demonstrating their interest in a doll and packaging that would reflect Susan B. Anthony’s life and work, and that would launch in this historically significant year when we celebrate Susan B. Anthony’s 200th birthday, the 19th Amendment, and the Anthony Museum’s 75th anniversary,” says Deborah L. Hughes, president & CEO of the Anthony Museum.
“While Barbie may have started as a teenage fashion model in 1959, she has evolved over the decades into a feminist role model, most recently with a 2020 Barbie presidential candidate who is Black and has a diverse campaign staff,” says Michelle Parnett-Dwyer, curator of dolls at The Strong National Museum of Play, home to the National Toy Hall of Fame. “It’s only fitting in this year of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, that Barbie has now taken on the role of representing Susan B. Anthony.”
Lynn Sherr, journalist and author of Failure is Impossible, says, “Such a useful little likeness of our first suffrage felon! Add a ‘Failure is Impossible’ button with a ‘Votes for Women’ sash, and the suffragist who once playfully explained her decision not to marry – she didn’t want to be ‘a drudge or a doll’ – is an organizing tool for the next generation. Better yet, give her a ballot!”
Esteemed Susan B. Anthony biographer, Ann Gordon, lends another perspective. “You can almost hear her speak, ‘Yes, your honor, I have many things to say.’ She is still telling us to get ‘a citizen’s right to vote.’”
The Barbie® Signature Susan B. Anthony Inspiring Women™ Doll has already been sighted at the Anthony Museum. The doll officially launches on October 5, but a limited number are currently available through the Anthony Museum online shop at shop.susanb.org.
Questions related to this doll launch may be directed to pr@susanb.org.
View this virtual march celebrating hope, courage, and change!
The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House will host its 4th annual Suffragist City Parade on September 20th, 2020. We are marching with HOPE for the future, celebrating those with COURAGE from the past, and inspiring CHANGE for justice for all today.
The 2020 Suffragist City Parade is a virtual event, broadcast online on September 20, at 6:00 PM EDT. View the Parade here. (The Anthony Museum will schedule encore presentations, at times to be determined.)
Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass were champions for voting rights and human rights, and they both lived in Rochester, NY, for many years. It is in honor of these two leaders that Rochester claims to be “Suffragist City.” During this historic year, we know there’s been a lot of progress since Anthony and Douglass started agitating for justice. That’s what gives us hope.
The doors to many occupations have opened, so the parade will showcase the people in careers and fields that were not available to most women (and some men) until recently. We want the march to celebrate our achievements and to say thank you to those who courageously stood up on our behalf.
We also know that we’ve still got work to do. We want our parade to be a visible reflection of the people who make up our communities, the changemakers helping us move closer to that vision of being “of the people, by the people, for ALL the people.”
We invited people to participate in the Suffragist City Parade by submitting a video or still image; the response has been overwhelming, with submissions from across the United States.
Please join us Sunday at 6:00 pm, and view the many groups who will march virtually with their messages of Hope, Courage, and Change!
Tune in to Facebook and YouTube next Wednesday at 6:30 PM for a special performance in honor of the 100th Anniversary of 19th Amendment LIVE at the National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House! Featuring Principal Second Violin Rob Simonds, Assistant Principal Second Violin Daryl Perlo (The James E. Dumm Chair, funded in perpetuity), Willa Finck (violin), Olita Povero (viola), Ingrid Bock (cello), Hayley Grainger (flute), Kamalia Freyling (clarinet), and Karl Vilcins (bassoon).
PLEASE NOTE: Due to current COVID-19 restrictions, there will be no live audience at this performance.
Objection! Mr. President, Susan B. Anthony must decline your offer of a pardon today.
Anthony wrote in her diary in 1873 that her trial for voting was “The greatest outrage History ever witnessed.” She was not allowed to speak as a witness in her own defense, because she was a woman. At the conclusion of arguments, Judge Hunt dismissed the jury and pronounced her guilty. She was outraged to be denied a trial by jury. She proclaimed, “I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty.” To pay would have been to validate the proceedings. To pardon Susan B. Anthony does the same.
If one wants to honor Susan B. Anthony today, a clear stance against any form of voter suppression would be welcome. Enforcement and expansion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would be celebrated, we must assure that states respect the 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments to the United States Constitution. Support for the Equal Rights Amendment would be well received. Advocacy for human rights for all would be splendid. Anthony was also a strong proponent of sex education, fair labor practices, excellent public education, equal pay for equal work, and elimination of all forms of discrimination.
As the National Historic Landmark and Museum that has been interpreting her life and work for seventy-five years, we would be delighted to share more.
Deborah L. Hughes President & CEO
The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House
Don’t miss the new documentary, “Women and the Vote,” which premiers tonight at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV. This film takes viewers to five cemeteries across New York state on Election Day 2020, where voters reflect on the sacrifice of suffragists who fought for women’s rights and weaves in historical photographs and reminders of the suffragist legacy.
