Join us for the final five programs in the “DEEDS NOT WORDS: 100 Years of the Vote for Women” series.
Final programs provided and funded by the Avon Free Public Library, Avon Historical Society and Avon Senior Center to commemorate the 100th anniversary of suffrage in America.
The Suffragents: How Women Used Men to Get the Vote
Virtual Book Talk via Zoom with author Brooke Kroeger
Tuesday, 8/18/20, 7:00 pm.
Register here: https://www.avonctlibrary.info/event/suffragents-event-with-author/
The story of how and why a group of prominent and influential men in New York City and beyond came together to help women gain the right to vote. Presented by Brooke Kroeger.
The Suffragents is the untold story of how some of New York’s most powerful men formed the Men’s League for Woman Suffrage, which grew between 1909 and 1917 from 150 founding members into a force of thousands across thirty-five states. Brooke Kroeger explores the formation of the League and the men who instigated it to involve themselves with the suffrage campaign, what they did at the behest of the movement’s female leadership, and why. She details the National American Woman Suffrage Association’s strategic decision to accept their organized help and then to deploy these influential new allies as suffrage foot soldiers, a role they accepted with uncommon grace. Led by such luminaries as Oswald Garrison Villard, John Dewey, Max Eastman, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and George Foster Peabody, members of the League worked the streets, the stage, the press, and the legislative and executive branches of government. In the process, they helped convince waffling politicians, a dismissive public, and a largely hostile press to support the women’s demand. Together, they swayed the course of history.
Votes for Women!
Virtual Lecture Event via Zoom
Wednesday, 8/26/20, 3:00pm
Register here: https://farmingtonlibraries.librarymarket.com/events/talks-road-votes-women
Join us to learn about the Connecticut women who fought on a local, state, and national level and on whose shoulders we stand. Be inspired by their stories to use your vote to give voice to women! August 26th is the date of certification of the 19th amendment by the US Secretary of the State.
Presented by The Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame. This program is jointly sponsored by The Friends of the Avon Public Library and The Friends of The Farmington Public Library.
A Conversation with Meredith Bergmann, sculptor of the “Woman’s Rights Pioneers” Statue in New York’s Central Park featuring Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Monday, 9/14/20, 6:30 pm
Virtual Event via Zoom
Register here: https://www.avonctlibrary.info/event/meredith-bergmann/
For over 40 years, Meredith Bergmann has been making sculpture that deals with complex themes in an accessible, beautiful, and provocative way. Working within the tradition of narrative sculpture, she draws on her love of the history of art, literature, and mythology to make the past speak to the present. Blending the sensuality and power of representational sculpture with her own subtle sense of mischief, her work evokes multilayered responses.
She works both on public monuments and on a private scale, exploring issues of history, social justice, race, human rights, disabilities, and the power of poetry and music. Her work has been shown in more than two dozen exhibitions and appears in 10 institutional collections. Her largest public commission, unveiled in 2003, was for the Boston Women’s Memorial on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston’s Back Bay. Her FDR Hope Memorial for New York City’s Roosevelt Island will be unveiled this year and she is currently sculpting the first statues of historic women for New York City’s Central Park.
Meredith Bergmann, sculptor of the Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument, the first statues of real women for New York City’s Central Park, commissioned by Monumental Women and recently unveiled on August 26th, the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Meredith will describe the process of creating a public memorial commission and will discuss the issues involved with representing history in art now.
Meredith lives in Connecticut with her husband Michael Bergmann, a writer and director, and their son.
From the Hidden Women Series: The Black Suffragists
Tuesday, October 13, 2020, 6:30 pm
Virtual Presentation via Zoom
Register here: https://www.avonctlibrary.info/event/from-the-hidden-women-series-the-black-suffragettes-2020-09-17/
From the Hidden Women Series: The Black Suffragists, presented by Tammy Denease
www.hiddenwomen.org. The very definition of Women’s suffrage is the right for women to vote. So one could conclude that the Suffrage Movement should have included women from all walks of life – But did it? This is a pre-recorded lecture; live Q&A will follow.
“Deeds Not Words” Series Finale: Meet Susan B Anthony, “Failure is Impossible”
A virtual dramatic event by Sheryl Faye
Wednesday, 10/14/20, 7pm. Program is 45 minutes; all ages welcome.
Please register and a link to view the performance will be sent to you on the day of this event.
Register here: https://www.avonctlibrary.info/event/meet-susan-b-anthony-failure-is-impossible/
Susan B. Anthony was a women’s rights activist, and she devoted her life to racial, gender, and educational equality. She is one of the most famous women in American history, playing a prominent role in the women’s suffrage movement; the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote and she also was in support of women’s labor organizations and for a woman’s right to own property. In 2020 we celebrate not only 100 years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment, we’re also celebrating Susan B. Anthony’s 200th birthday!
Sheryl Faye is a full-time actress, a goal she has worked her whole live to achieve. Besides performing a variety of historical women for schools, libraries, historical societies, senior centers, and others, she also writes and performs with StageCoach Improv. She has been the voice of several characters for Sony Play Station games and for a variety of medical CD ROMS. She recently shot a national print ad for Vicks cold/flu and continues to keep busy working on films, television and theater throughout Boston and New York.
