Women's Rights: Sojourner Truth - Seneca Falls, NY

Women's Rights

Sojourner Truth

Seneca Falls, NY

N 42° 54.637 W 076° 48.010

Short Description: 

A statue of African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist is located in the Women's Rights National Historic Park at 136 Fall Street, Seneca Falls, NY.

Long Description:

Sojourner Truth was was an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. In 1797, she was born a slave in Ulster County New York and given the name Isabella . She worked for a series of five masters while raising five children. When slavery ended in New York in 1827, she settled in New York City.

A deeply religious woman, Isabella took the name Sojourner Truth after God spoke to her. She was 46 years old when she set out walking and preaching through Long Island and Connecticut. Eventually she reached Massachusetts and joined the Northampton Association of Education and Industry. There she began speaking out for the abolition of slavery and for women's rights.

After the disbandment of the Northampton Association, Samuel L. Hill and others founded the factory village of Florence. With Hill's help, Sojourner Truth bought her own home on Park Street. Unable to read or write, Truth dictated her story to a neighbor. The Narrative of Sojourner Truth was published in 1850. She became well-known as an orator, singer, evangelist, abolitionist and reformer, selling her Narrative and photographs of herself throughout the nation. Her best-known speech on gender inequalities, "Ain't I a Woman?", was delivered in 1851 at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention.

In 1857, she moved to Harmonia, MI. During the Civil War she helped recruit black troops for the Union Army. In 1867 she moved to Battle Creek, MI and continued her mission as an advocate for women's rights. She died on November 26, 1883. A life size bronze statue of Sojourner Truth is part of an exhibit about her life on the second floor of the Women's Rights National Historic Park in Seneca Falls. Sojourner Truth is wearing a long dress, buttoned waistcoat, a shawl and a bonnet. She is leaning on a cane held in her right hand. In front of the statue is a panel with the inscription:

Ain't I a Woman?

One of the most powerful antislavery and women's rights speakers, Sojourner Truth, was born a slave in New York. Profoundly Christian, she adopted her name when visions guided her to travel and testify for the Lord.

In a speech before the women's rights convention in Akron, Ohio in 1851, she pointed out the problem with true womanhood: it did not describe the experience of most women. Although a powerful ideal, it was only an ideal.

Women's Rights: Amelia Bloomer - Seneca Falls, NY

Women's Rights

Amelia Bloomer

Seneca Falls, NY

N 42° 54.537 W 076° 48.096

Short Description: 

A statue of American advocate for women's rights, Amelia Bloomer, is located in the Ludivico Sculpture Trail in Seneca Falls, NY.

Long Description:

Amelia Jenks was born May 27, 1818 in Homer, NY. She married Dexter Bloomer when she was 22 years old. Her husband encouraged her to write for the local newspaper, the Seneca County Courier. One year after attending the Seneca Falls Convention women's rights convention in 1848, she became to first woman to own and edit the first newspaper for women, The Lily. Her publication promoted less restrictive clothing standards for women. The result was a style of women's dress that to this day are called bloomers.

In May 1851, by chance on the streets of Seneca Falls, Amelia Bloomer had the opportunity to introduced Susan B. Anthony to Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The resulting friendship forever changed to course of women's rights in America which resulted in passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution on August 26, 1920.

In 1852, Amelia Bloomer moved to Council Bluffs, IA. There she was a leader in the suffrage movement, in Nebraska and Iowa. She and served as president of the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association from 1871 to 1873. She died in Iowa on December 30, 1894.

A life size bronze statue of Amelia Bloomer stand on a bronze plinth set on a 4' square concrete base. Amelia Bloomer is wearing a round broad brimmed hat with a strap around her chin, a long jacket, scarf, blouse with ruffled cuffs, and a knee length dress. She is standing with both hands by her sides.

The the base contains a plaque which identifies the subject, artist, and date. It is inscribed:

AMELIA BLOOMER

BY CHERRY RAHN

2001

Women's Rights: Susan B. Anthony, Amelia Bloomer, and Elizabeth Caty Stanton - Seneca Falls, NY

Women's Rights 

When Anthony Met Stanton

Seneca Falls, NY

N 42° 54.530 W 076° 47.678

Short Description: 

A sculpture depicting the historic meeting when Amelia Bloomer introduced Susan B. Anthony to Elizabeth Caty Stanton on the streets of Seneca Falls, NY is located at East Bayard Street, near junction of Spring Street.

Long Description:

The bronze sculpture of three founders of the Women's Rights Movement was created Professor A. E. ‘Ted’ Aub and dedicated in Seneca Falls on July 18, 1998. Amelia Bloomer is in the center, Susan B. Anthony is on left of the sculpture and Elizabeth Caty Stanton is on the right side. All are dressed period garb. Stanton is holding a book in her left hand.

The Susan B. Anthony Center for Women’s Leadership at the University of Rochester has published the journals of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This quote is taken from Elizabeth Cady Stanton's journal:

"How well I remember the day! George Thompson and William Lloyd Garrison having announced an anti-slavery meeting in Seneca Falls, Miss Anthony came to attend it. These gentlemen were my guests. Walking home after the adjournment, we met Mrs. Bloomer and Miss Anthony, on the corner of the street, waiting to greet us. There she stood, with her good earnest face and genial smile, dressed in gray delaine, hat and all the same color, relieved with pale blue ribbons, the perfection of neatness and sobriety. I liked her thoroughly, and why I did not at once invite her home with me to dinner I do not know . . ."

A bronze plaque near the sculpture is inscribed:

WHEN ANTHONY MET STANTON

In May 1851, there was a chance encounter on the streets of Seneca Falls, which forever altered the struggle of women's rights. Amelia Jenks Bloomer introduced Susan B. Anthony to Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The friendship that was forged between Stanton and Anthony gave direction and momentum to the seventy-two year struggle for womens' suffrage which culminated on August 26, 1920 in the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Neither woman lived to see this happen. 

Given to the Village of Seneca Falls by 

Governor George E. Pataki

on behalf of

the Governor's Commission Honoring the Achievements of Women

E. Ted Aub. Sculptor

July 18, 1998

Women's Rights: First Women's Rights Convention - Seneca Falls, NY

Women's Rights

First Women's Rights Convention in the World

Seneca Falls, NY

Exterior Plaque

GPS: N 42° 54.664 W 076° 47.975

Short Description:

The first Women's Rights Convention in the world took place in the Wesleyan Chapel at just east of 136 Fall Street in Seneca Falls, NY.

Wesleyan Chapel

Wesleyan Chapel 

Long Description:

Interior Plaque

On the east wall of the Wesleyan Chapel and again on the interior wall there is a nicely done bronze plaque identifying this as the site of the first Women's Rights Convention in the world. The plaques have a bas-relief sculpture of a women's rights advocate in period dress and the following inscription:

On this spot stood the Wesleyan Chapel

where the First Woman's Rights Convention

in the World's history was held 

July 19 and 20 1848

---

Elizabeth Caty Stanton 

move the resolution

which was seconded by Fredrick Douglass

"That it is the duty of the Women 

of this country to secure to themselves

their sacred right

to the franchise

---

Some of the signers of the declaration of Rights

Lucretia Mott - Jacob P Chamberlain - Martha Wright - Elisha Foote

Amy Post - Charles J Hoskins - Mary Ann McClintok - Richard Hunt

Lovina Latham - Jonathan Metcalf - Mary H Hallowell - Henry Seymour

Literary Site: Franz Kafka House, Prague, Czech Republic

Franz Kafka House

Prague, Czech Republic

GPS: N50°5.523 E14°24.247

Short Description:

Franz Kafka Home and Museum is located on 22 Golden Lane (Zlata Ulicka) in Prague, Czech Republic.

Long Description:

Golden Lane located at the Prague Castle. The street is lined with small colorful houses. House No. 22 was used by Franz Kafka,as a quiet area for writing.

Franz Kafka was born on July 3, 1883 in Prague, Austro-Hungarian Empire, now the Czech Republic. He grew up fluent in both Czech and German but considered German his mother tongue. He wrote many novels and short stories in German, including: "Die Verwandlung" ("The Metamorphosis"), Der Prozess (The Trial), and Das Schloss (The Castle). His writings contain the themes of alienation, physical and psychological brutality, parent–child conflict, characters on a terrifying quest, labyrinths of bureaucracy, and mystical transformations.

Literary Site: O. Henry House - San Antonio, TX

O. Henry House 

San Antonio, TX

GPS: N 29° 25.461; W 098° 29.843

Short Description:

The O. Henry House is located at the corner of Laredo and Dolorosa Streets in San Antonio, TX.

Long Description:

From the plaque outside the house:

O. Henry was born at Polecat Creek, North Carolina and moved to

Cotulla, texas in 1882 for health reasons. he then came to San

Antonio and rented this house for $6.00 a month. Fascinated by San

Antonio's multi-cultural community, O. henry chronicled the

languages and culture of the native populations, spending many happy

and productive hours in "cantinas" (saloons) wjich onec stood on this

site. O. Henry published a humorous, tabloid newspaper, called The

Rolling Stone, which he filmed with poems, stories and charactures of

people and races, and for which he was admonished by early German

settlers, causing the newspaper to have grave financial problems. San

Antonio was the setting of several of O. Henry's stories including A

Fog in Santone, The Higher Abduction and Hygela of Solito.

Moving to Austin in 1898, O. Henry worked as a teller in a bank to
argument his income, at which time he was convicted of
embezzlement. He served three years in prison where he wrote
prodigiously and memorized every word in the dictionary.

O. Henry was gifted in his ability to capture the essence of a city by
understanding the hearts of people in all walks if life. His wit, skill
with words, unusual plot twists and surprise endings brought him 
international fame. He died in New York in 1910.


In 1998, Wallace and mary Freidrich Rogers regained ownership of 
her grandfather's old Buckhorn Saloon Museum (which included the 
historic O. henry House) from the lone Star Brewing Company. The 
Rogers then donated this house as a charitable contribution to the Lee
and Zachry Carter Memorial Fund of the San Antonio Area
Foundation.

Chief probation Officer L. Caesar Garcia of the Bexar County Adult
Probation Department is helping his probationers by using O. henry's
life example as a teaching aid. Probationers get credit for doing their
Community Services by acting as docents in the O. henry House.
Following O. Henry's example of using his own jail time to sharpen
his writing skills, the docents utilize their probation period in a
constructive way, perhaps discovering their own latent talents.

O. Henry House

Typical of the homes of early German settlers, this two-room dwelling was built by John Kush about 1855. It originally stood on south Presa Street. It was occupied in 1895-96 by William Sidney Porter, who gained national renown as the short story writer O. Henry. Here he issued a weekly humorous newspaper, "The Rolling Stone". In 1960 the structure was moved to this location by the Kush Family and the Lone Star Brewing Company.

Literary Site: William Cullen Bryant Homestead, Cummington, MA

William Cullen Bryant Homestead

Cummington, MA

GPS: N42° 28.236; W072° 56.101

Quick Description: 

The William Cullen Bryant Homestead is located at 207 Bryant Road off Route 112 in Cummington, MA.

Long Description:

The William Cullen Bryant Homestead is the boyhood home of one of America's earliest and foremost 19th century poets. William Cullen Bryant was born on November 3, 1794. He published his first major poem at age 13. He published Thanatopsis, his most famous poem, when he was living here at age 17. Much of his poetry was inspired by his rural home in Cummington, MA. The Rivulet, a small stream that ran through the property, was the subject of a 1823 poem of the same name.

In 1825 he married Frances Fairchild, gave up his law practice, and to moved to New York City to begin a career as an editor of literary publications and then to become editor-in-chief and publisher of the New York Evening Post, a position he held until he died in 1878.

The family sold the Homestead in 1835. However, in 1865, Bryant repurchased the property. From 1865 until 1878 he would leave New York City during the hot summer months to make the Cummington homestead his summer home. Bryant became a noted celebrity, even after his death. In 1894, the centennial of his birth, many people flocked to the Homestead to celebrate his life and accomplishments. Bryant Park adjacent to the main branch of the New York Public Library is named in his honor.

The grounds of the Bryant Homestead are open, for free, daily from sunrise to sunset. Allow at least one hour for the self-guided landscape tour. When the Homestead is open, guided tours are available. Tours of the interior vary. Visitors should call for more information.

Poems by William Cullen Bryant:

The Ages
Thanatopsis
The Yellow Violet
Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood
Song.—"Soon as the glazed and gleaming snow"
To a Waterfowl
Green River
A Winter Piece
The West Wind
The Burial-place. A Fragment
Blessed are they that Mourn
No Man knoweth his Sepulchre
A Walk at Sunset
Hymn to Death
The Massacre at Scio
The Indian Girl's Lament
Ode for an Agricultural Celebration
Rizpah
The Old Man's Funeral
The Rivulet
March
Sonnet.—To—
An Indian Story
Summer Wind
An Indian at the Burial-place of his Fathers
Song—"Dost thou idly ask to hear"
Hymn of the Waldenses
Monument Mountain
After a Tempest
Autumn Woods
Sonnet.—Mutation
Sonnet.—November
Song of the Greek Amazon
To a Cloud
The Murdered Traveller
Hymn to the North Star
The Lapse of Time
Song of the Stars
A Forest Hymn
"Oh fairest of the rural maids"
"I broke the spell that held me long"
June
A Song of Pitcairn's Island
The Skies
"I cannot forget with what fervid devotion"
To a Musquito
Lines on Revisiting the Country
The Death of the Flowers
Romero
A Meditation on Rhode Island Coal
The New Moon
Sonnet.—October
The Damsel of Peru
The African Chief
Spring in Town
The Gladness of Nature
The Disinterred Warrior
Sonnet.—Midsummer
The Greek Partisan
The Two Graves
The Conjunction of Jupiter and Venus
A Summer Ramble
Scene on the Banks of the Hudson
The Hurricane
Sonnet.—William Tell
The Hunter's Serenade
The Greek Boy
The Past
"Upon the mountain's distant head"
The Evening Wind
"When the firmament quivers with daylight's young beam"
"Innocent child and snow-white flower"
To the River Arve
Sonnet.—To Cole, the Painter, departing for Europe
To the fringed Gentian
The Twenty-second of December
Hymn of the City
The Prairies
Song of Marion's Men
The Arctic Lover
The Journey of Life