Matilda Joslyn Gage, a suffragist who Sally Wagner said was “written out of history,” will be among the activists celebrated Monday night at an event commemorating the centennial of women’s right to vote in New York state.

Wagner is the executive director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation, which will benefit from Monday’s “100 Years of Women’s Suffrage in NYS Celebration,” along with the YWCA of Syracuse and Onondaga County. The celebration will be held at the Palace Theatre from 5-9 p.m., and profits from the event will go to the foundation and YWCA.

As a prominent suffragist who lived from 1826 to 1898, Gage believed the women’s suffrage movement was more than attaining the right to vote, Wagner said.

Gage thought women were under fourfold oppression by religion, capitalism, a male-dominated society and the government, Wagner said. To Gage, voting was an important tool to transform those parts of society and fight for gender equity.

In “Woman, Church and State,” a book Gage wrote in 1893, she discussed the importance of women’s rights to their own bodies and exposed sex trafficking practices involving Catholic priests, Wagner said.

Gage was working with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony at the time. Anthony then organized the merger of the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association, a more conservative organization, without Gage’s knowledge. The merger brought in the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, a group of women who wanted to outlaw alcohol and create a Christian nation.

The group pushed for the women’s right to vote so women could put God in the Constitution. Gage disagreed with that effort, Wagner said. Gage fought against the merger and lost, dropping out of the movement. In turn, she was written out of history.

When Wagner moved to Syracuse in 1999, she saved Gage’s house and turned it into a center for social justice dialogue. Today, she continues working to bring attention to Gage and her story.

 

As part of Monday’s celebration, an actor in full costume will represent Gage and interact with attendees, giving them the opportunity to learn more about her legacy. Local women, artists and groups will also be featured and table at the event, according to the Palace Theatre’s website.

One table will be dedicated to the Haudenosaunee influence on women’s rights. The Haudenosaunee were a significant influence for Gage, Wagner said.

In Haudenosaunee society, the chiefs are chosen, counseled and removed if necessary by the clan mothers. It’s a society that prioritizes “clearly the equality of women, clearly a balance,” Wagner said, adding that this society became a model and vision for Gage.

At the celebration, singer and songwriter Colleen Kattau will perform an original song called “Dangerous Women” that was inspired by Wagner’s work. Kattau makes references to Haudenosaunee women, the Seneca Falls Convention and suffragist leaders in the song.

Kattau said the etymology of the word “danger” in the song is associated with authority and control. But rather than signifying control and power over people, Kattau said she has interpreted it to mean taking back authority and power with the people.

“I’m glad that I’m part of the event to celebrate women getting the right to vote in New York state and using song as a way to educate and to keep the history alive of women’s suffrage,” Kattau said.

It’s special that the centennial anniversary comes the day before the Syracuse mayoral election, said Gia Palermo, managing director at the Palace Theatre, citing the importance voting has on both events.

Palermo said she hopes the event will encourage people to be more mindful and aware of their history. Women’s right to vote was only achieved a century ago, she added, and women shouldn’t take for granted any of the rights that their ancestors fought for.

“It’s important to commemorate the anniversary and use it as a kind of teaching tool for younger generations,” Palermo said.

Published on November 5, 2017 at 8:44 pm

Contact Sandhya: ssiyer@syr.edu