Near life-size figures of the first wave of the women’s rights activists in the United States.

On Sunday, since it was raining in  Central New York, we drove to Seneca Falls to visit the Women’s Rights National Historical Park.  It was opened in 1993 and my daughter-in-law had worked on the project when she was employed by an Auburn architecture firm. The site is free, contains  the sculpture above  as you enter the main building, a reconstructed  of the Methodist Church where the first convention was held in 1848 and a visit to the home  and recitation  of the life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was the main organizer.  She was deeply inspired and influenced by her Quaker neighbors. There is a small but interesting gift shop and all in all the visit was quite educational and entertaining for  a group with a rather large range of age.    The upstairs exhibit  , though filled with great pictures and text, would have been understood easier if it was arranged in sequential order instead of the the rather confusing organization .

This first  convention was attended by 300 women and men and began a 72 year work for women’s suffrage.  One attendee, who was 19,  lived to  vote in 1920.

The convention presented the  “Declaration of Sentiments” which declared that all men and women are created equal. It was quite radical and dangerous for the women to sign as they had no power or protection.   Just as the brave men who declared their freedom from England in the Declaration of Independence  and  put themselves open to persecution and death, so did these early brave  feminists.

This Is Women’s History in the United States!