Women’s Rights & Political Science in North America

Today you will arrive in Syracuse, New York, which is for all intents and purposes the birthplace of the women’s rights movement in the U.S. There were three National Women’s Rights Conventions held in Syracuse, the third of which, held in September of 1852, was attended by perhaps the most famous suffragette – Susan B. Anthony. Other notable attendees included Matilda Gage and Paulina Davis. Your guide for the week will meet you at your hotel to lead you on a brief tour of the sites in Syracuse where these women met to plan together.

The group will head an hour west this morning to visit Seneca Falls, New York. In 1848, two women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, organized a meeting – the first Woman’s Rights Convention,  to discuss women’s rights in New York. The group will visit the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls where Stanton wrote the Declaration of Sentiments that was presented at the meeting. The group that met in Seneca Falls adopted the declaration and demanded equal rights for women on 18 fronts. 

Your tour today will include a trip to the Women’s Rights National Historical Park to learn more about the key figures and their efforts. While there, you’ll visit the chapel where Stanton, Mott and the others met, view the Declaration of Sentiments, see the house where Stanton lived and more. The group will also visit the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

The group will travel by bus this morning from Seneca Falls, New York to Glen Echo, Maryland. The trip will take about six hours. Once you arrive, your guide will take you to visit the Clara Barton National Historic Site. Clara Barton was the founder of the American Red Cross and an important figure in the fight to establish equal rights for women and minorities. You will tour her home here, the place where the Red Cross began.

After your stay in Glen Echo for the evening, you will board the bus again this morning to travel across the Chesapeake Bay to Cambridge, Maryland. Before arriving in Cambridge, the group will stop in Church Creek, Maryland for a visit to the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park. The fight for women’s rights paralleled the fight against slavery and rights for minorities in the US. Harriet Tubman established an extensive network from the south to the north whereby slaves could escape to be free. She and many of her contemporaries dedicated their entire lives to equality. The group will stay in quaint Cambridge for the night before moving on to the nation’s capital in the morning.

The group will travel to Washington D.C. this morning. Once you arrive, your guide will lead you on a walking tour of important sites in the city significant in the fight for women’s equality. You’ll first visit the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument, which was recently designated as a national monument, having served as the headquarters for the National Women’s Party. It was from this address that notable women like Alice Paul strategized ways to achieve equal rights for women. 

After lunch, the group will visit the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site. This was the site of the first National Council of Negro Women and where women like Mary Bethune fought for the advancement of black women’s rights. You will tour the home and learn more about Mary and her colleagues in the fight. The group will then head to the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site. Douglass was a champion for women and one of the first notable men to join the fight for equal rights.

This morning, the group will visit the National Portrait Gallery. Included in this massive portrait collection are images of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Victoria Woodhull, Carrie Chapman Catt, Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, Sarah Remond, Ida Wells, Mary Church Terrell and many images of suffragists in action. The group will then move on to tour the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Vietnam Women’s Memorial and the National Women’s History Museum in Alexandria, Virginia.

It’s been a long week traveling to these significant historical sports that played such a significant role in the fight for women’s rights in the US. The tour has come to an end today and you probably much more knowledgeable about the suffrage movement than ever before. After a group breakfast, your guide will say goodbye so that you can start your journey home.