Finish the Fight: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote

Spoiler Disclaimer

Synopsis

Published to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the nineteenth amendment, which gave women the right to vote, Finish the Fight explores the stories of the many diverse women who fought the battle to win their freedom. Nearly everyone has learned in school of suffragists like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but what about other women, especially those from different backgrounds--Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous, and more--who were also instrumental in gaining suffrage for women and people of color who previously weren't allowed to vote? Accompanied by beautiful illustrated portraits this book presents the biographies of many lesser known figures such as Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, who at sixteen led a suffrage parade on horseback; Ida B. Wells-Barnett, a freed slave and writer who documented injustices, helped found the organization that became the NAACP, and fought for women's rights; Susette La Flesche Tibbles, an indigenous woman who fought not only for women but for Native Americans who also were not allowed to vote; and many other fierce women who have largely been left out of our history books.

Review

In Finish the Fight, Veronica Chambers and The Staff of The New York Times explore many lesser known figures in the women's suffrage movement for a middle grade audience. It begins with the Haudenosaunee, a group of Native American tribes in upstate New York, where women were active participants in their government. Famous suffragist Lucretia Mott spent time amongst these people and brought some of their ideas back to the white women who were just beginning their fight for the right to vote. The next chapter takes a look at how bias against women of color affected the suffragist movement. From there, the authors give full-chapter summaries of the lives of many women of color who were actively involved in fighting for women's rights.

There is Frances Ellen Watkins Harper who's experience of prejudice while riding a street car, which predated Rosa Parks' similar experience by over a century, helped spur her to speak out for both abolition and suffrage. Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin started The Woman's Era, the first newspaper by and for black women in the U. S. Elizabeth Piper Ensley wrote for The Woman's Era and co-founded the Colorado Non-Partisan Equal Suffrage Association. Mary Church Terrell was highly educated and traveled around the world, including to Berlin, Germany, where she addressed the International Congress of Women. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee became the first woman to earn a PhD from Columbia University and as a teenager led a suffrage parade on horseback. Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a freed slave who became a writer, documenting the injustices of racial violence, eventually helping to found the National Negro Committee which later became the NAACP, and she saw suffrage as an extension of her work. Tovita Idar was a journalist who fought for both women's rights and the fair treatment of Mexican Americans, helping found the league of Mexican Women. Juno Frankie Pierce partnered with white suffragists in the fight to get Tennessee to become the final state needed to ratify the nineteenth amendment. Susette La Flesche Tibbles fought for Native American suffrage, which extended beyond the ratification of the nineteenth amendment because Native Americans still weren't yet recognized as American citizens. Zitkala-Sa, another accomplished Native American woman was instrumental in getting the Indian Citizenship Act passed. There is also a chapter dedicated to the queer women of the movement including Angelina Weld Grimke, Mary Burrill, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Mary Garrett Hay.

I think most of us can recall learning in school about suffragist leaders such a Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, but as Finish the Fight shows, there were many women of all races and backgrounds who were involved in the decades-long fight, not only for the right of women to vote, but also for women's rights in general since they had very few, especially after marrying. I believe out of all the women mentioned in the book, the only one I had previously heard of was Ida B. Wells-Barnett, so it was exciting to learn about all the other women from widely varying backgrounds who were instrumental in getting the nineteenth amendment passed, as well as other pieces of civil rights legislation, which finally recognized the rights Chinese Americans, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans. It was interesting to discover how the abolitionist movement and the suffrage movement had a lot of overlap. I was intrigued to learn that Frederick Douglass was a big proponent of women's suffrage. There are several interesting sidebars throughout the book that discuss other aspects of the women's rights movement, including how it also overlapped with workers' rights following the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which killed many workers, mostly women and girls. The book concludes by discussing how far women have come, but how far we have left to go and how the fight isn't yet over. There's also an informative timeline of events, a mini dictionary of all the brave female revolutionaries who were an important part of the suffrage movement, a comparison of 1920 (the year the nineteenth amendment was passed) vs. 2020 (the year the book was published), and a list of further suggested reading. Additionally the book includes beautiful and colorful illustrated portraits of all the women detailed inside. I learned a great deal from Finish the Fight and highly recommend it to middle grade students and their parents and educators who want to expand their knowledge of this important piece of American history. Given that our country may be on the cusp of finally electing our first female president, I found this to be very timely reading.

Visit

Veronica Chambers