On December 17, Dr. Catherine Palczewski will come to Cook County Higher Education to present the first of a series about women’s suffrage. The class will run from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Opposing votes for women may seem surprising today, but anti-suffrage views dominated among men and women through the early 20th century. Artists created political cartoons that mocked suffragists. Religious leaders spoke out against women’s political activism from the pulpit. Articles attacked women who took part in public life.
“Picturing the Arguments Against Suffrage – Setting the stage” is the first presentation. It focuses on the postcards from the turn of the century that ridiculed woman suffrage.
Future sessions include:
• Women’s Suffrage Parade, Pickets, and Prison. January 21, The 1913 Woman Suffrage Parade: This presentation focuses on the first national suffrage parade and the crowd violence that disrupted it. It works through the idea that women had to actually work at being perceived as public women, and the parade was one way to do that. The class also lays the groundwork for the split that would come between NAWSA and the NWP – the two big groups working for suffrage.
• February 18, The 1917 Silent Sentinels: This presentation focuses on the NWP’s protests at the White House’s gates – the first of its kind. It also explores the imprisonment and hunger striking of the imprisoned suffragists.
• March 18, The 1919 Prison Special: Women who had been imprisoned did a cross-country train tour, wearing replicas of their prison uniforms, to drum up support as the vote got closer and closer (within one vote) in the U.S. Congress.
The classes are $20 per session, but don’t let finances be a barrier in attending. Contact CCHE regarding workshop scholarships. www.northshorecampus.org; 218-387-3411; highered@northshorecampus.org
Not able to attend locally? Enjoy the presentation via your laptop, desktop, and ipad. Contact CCHE to confirm your technology will work.
Catherine H. Palczewski is professor of Communication Studies at the University of Northern Iowa. She teaches courses on political communication, social protest, argumentation, and gender. She has received numerous teaching awards, including the Iowa Regents Award for Faculty Excellence in 2010, the University of Northern Iowa College of Humanities and Fine Arts Faculty Excellence Award in 2008, and the George Ziegelmueller Outstanding Debate Educator Award in 2004.
She directed the AFA/ NCA Biennial Conference on Argumentation in 2013 and edited its selected works: Disturbing Argument (2014). Her co-authored publications include Gender in Communication (2014) and Rhetoric in Civic Life (2012).
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