DARE TO QUESTION

Dare to ask questions; dare to demand answers.

As a child, Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) questioned why women couldn’t vote. She became a tireless fighter in the battle for women’s suffrage and marched, made speeches, and traveled around the United States to promote the cause. Eventually, she questioned the movement itself because Black and working-class White women were excluded. Carrie also asked why strategies to attract women to the movement couldn’t be more creative. In New York, she and her romantic partner Mary Garrett Hay galvanized women into bold, exciting action. The First World War proved the turning point: The men of New York state—who voted in favor of women’s suffrage in 1917, after acknowledging they’d filled male jobs when men went to war—and President Woodrow Wilson took note. In 1919, Congress passed the 19th Amendment, granting voting rights to all American women (though the book doesn’t specifically note that many Black women were still deprived of that right for decades, backmatter states that the right to vote “was, and still is, often denied to many U.S. citizens"). This concise, insightful account allows readers to focus on the salient points of Catt’s work and should inspire them to follow suit and support causes they are passionate about. Energetic, humorous visuals are enhanced by varied fonts and playful text placements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A captivating, respectful portrait of a dynamic American woman who made history.