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Reverend Juanita Breckenridge Bates (1860–1946) Rev. Juanita was an American Congregationalist minister, her application being the test case to determine the policy of the denomination. She was the first woman to be awarded a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Oberlin College (1891), and Oberlin was the first school to award this degree. While at Oberlin, she was a member of Ladies' Literary Society. For decades, Rev. Juanita was a community organizer in the women's suffrage movement. Rev. Juanita chaired the Suffrage Party in Ithaca, New York, and was a leader of Tompkins County, New York in New York state's campaign for woman suffrage. The city of Ithaca and Tompkins County carried for suffrage. Rev. Juanita was interested in The Social Service League, Y.W.C.A. work, and both home and foreign mission work. She served as first vice-president of the Ithaca Political Study Club; was a member of Susquehanna Ministerial Association, New York State Congregational Conference; and was a director of New York State Federation of Women's Clubs, Ithaca Woman's Club, and City Federation of Women's Organizations of Ithaca. Lake View Cemetery ​ 605 East Shore Drive, Ithaca, NY 14850 Tompkins County Learn More

Eliza Robertson Gifford (1830–1911) As an outspoken member of the New York State Grange, Eliza Gifford urged the influential agricultural organization to support women's suffrage. After years of campaigning by Eliza and other NYSWA activists, the New York State Grange endorsed an equal suffrage resolution at its 1881 convention in Utica, NY. Eliza’s resolution was followed up in local subordinate Granges throughout the state and the Grange was key to bringing the suffrage cause to rural communities. Though anti-suffrage views persisted among some members, many Grangers took up the cause, sending petitions to the state legislatures in Albany. Eliza continued to advocate for women’s suffrage, eventually serving as the first vice-president of the Jamestown Political Equality Club. In 1891, she brought the issue to the attention of the national Grange, and in 1893 the national Grange endorsed a resolution supporting equal suffrage for women. Lake View Cemetery Highland Section, Lot 24 907 Lakeview Avenue, Jamestown, NY 14701 Chautauqua County Learn More

Jennie O. Curtis Cannon (1851–1929) Jennie was a prominent suffragist and member of the New York State Equal Suffrage Association, first serving as district director and then third vice president. She went on to become the Vice President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Known for her forceful and talented speaking skills, Jennie was active on the local level. She maintained the Delhi, New York headquarters for the suffrage campaign. In 1914, Jennie organized an Equal Suffrage Convention in Delhi which included Carrie Chapman Catt as a speaker. In 1915, she organized a mass suffrage meeting in Hancock, New York, and advocated for suffrage by driving around Delaware County in her decorated automobile. Jennie provided the club with its headquarters. Woodland Cemetery Plot Lot: 493 2 Orchard Street, Delhi, NY 13753 Delaware County Learn More

Susan Elizabeth Frazier (1864–1924) Susan was a thought leader on the issues of women's and African Americans rights and capacity. She was an active and accomplished substitute teacher in New York City Public Schools at a time when such opportunities for African American women were very limited. In addition to her teaching career as the first Black teacher in an integrated public school in New York, Susan did much to support other Black women. She was active in the Women's Loyal Union of New York City, a Black women's organization, as the Recording Secretary. Susan was a contributor to Woman's Era, the first newspaper aimed at African-American women. She wrote an 1894 profile called "Mrs. William E. Matthews," about the then-president of the Women's Loyal Union, Victoria Earle Matthews for the paper. Susan also addressed the Brooklyn Literary Union in an 1892 talk where she discussed the importance of Black women's contributions to literature and poetry in the United States, including Phillis Wheatley, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and H. Cordelia Ray. The talk was later published as "Some Afro-American Women of Mark" in the AME Church Review. Rhinebeck Cemetery ​ 16 Mill Road, Rhinebeck, NY 12572 Dutchess County Learn More

Lucy Wooster Chapman (1875–1962) Lucy was an active member of the Political Equality Club of Glens Falls. In 1915, she was Fourth Ward supervisor helping to coordinate the canvassing of Glens Falls to ascertain how many men and women in the city were in favor of granting women the right to vote. This local canvass committee was part of the Empire State Campaign of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association. Glens Falls was in the 11th campaign district led by Katharine Notman. If you know more about Lucy Wooster Chapman, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Pine View Cemetery ​ 21 Quaker Road, Queensbury, NY 12804 Warren County Learn More

Helen Hoy Greeley (1878–1965) Helen was an attorney who was an early member of the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women, emphasizing a militant, aggressive form of activism in support of women's enfranchisement. Over her activist career, she was also a founding member of the College Equal Suffrage League of New York and the Original Woman Suffrage Party. Helen held leadership roles in the Nineteenth Assembly District, Borough of Brooklyn and Borough of Manhattan Woman Suffrage Parties, and served on committees of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. She marched in the first New York suffrage parade, and is credited with beginning the practice of intensive district street speaking, demonstrating its effectiveness by speaking 56 consecutive nights on one street corner, 96th Street and Broadway. Albany Rural Cemetery Section 108, Plot 83 Cemetery Avenue, Menands, NY 12204 Albany County Learn More

Gabrielle Stewart Mulliner (1872–1919) A lawyer, Gabrielle advocated for women in the court system and appealed to the Governor to set up separate courts for women and women's issues. Gabrielle was noted as a leader in women's affairs and was referred to as a prominent suffragist. She was reported to have called anti-suffragists "traitors to the home" and "cowards." Gabrielle authored a pamphlet entitled "New York Laws of Interest to Women", read at the November 11, 1908 convention of the New York State Federation of Women's Clubs and published by the Federation in 1908. She was active in the Woman Suffrage Party from its inception in 1909. She served as chairman of the Legislative Committee of the New York State Federation of Women's Clubs, during which time she was successful in establishing a Women's Court, a separate court for the trial of women under arrest. Gabrielle was a member of the New York County Lawyer's Association, Equal Franchise Society, Women's Republican Club, National Civic Association, National Society of Patriotic Women, and Daughters of the American Revolution. *courtesy alexanderstreet.com Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Lot 2617, Section 33 540 North Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591 Westchester County Learn More

Sarah Elizabeth Birdsall Otis Edey (1872–1940) A woman born into the spotlight to political parents, Sarah was considered a socialite and activist; she used her platform for purpose, serving as an officer in a number of county and state suffrage organizations and was most notably recognized for her lifelong work with the Girl Scouts of America. In June 1916, she served on the reception committee for the annual Suffrage County Suffrage Convention in Riverhead, NY. In January of 1917, she and several other women prominent in the suffrage movement attended the opening of the state legislature in Albany and witnessed the introduction of a resolution favoring the resubmission of the ‘votes for women' proposal to the voters of the state next November. On September 14, 1917, Sarah hosted the Campaign Conference of the New York State Woman Suffrage Party of Suffolk County at her family summer home in Near-the-bay in Bellport, Long Island. The delegates celebrated having enrolled 15,005 women for suffrage in the county. Edey announced that, "We must not fail to bring home to the voters of this county the fact that such a tremendous sentiment for Suffrage exists among their own women. We have enrolled almost as many women as the combined vote for and against Suffrage in 1915. We have the indisputable argument in the fact that they want Suffrage to a number as large as the combined 'yeas' and 'nays' of the men in 1915.” In a 1917 letter to the editor of the East Hampton Star, Sarah chastised the women picketing President Wilson and bemoaned that their “misguided doings” be “laid on the shoulders of all Suffragists.” She spoke at a rally in Mt. Vernon that same month and “emphasized the need for persistent, systematic work on the part of every suffragist, saying that New York state may be won over to exhibit the spectacle of democracy that will inspire the sons of American women in the trenches abroad.” After women acquired the vote in New York State, Sarah was active in the League of Women Voters, serving as chair of the intelligence committee of the NYS League. She is reported as stating that she had learned three things during the successful campaign for women's suffrage in New York: “how to organize groups to do a special piece of work; to speak in public; to get along with people.” Sarah also realized that women for whom she had worked to acquire the vote, “were not ready for their enfranchisement, that people needed to be trained to be citizens early in life.” (Bio courtesy of alexanderstreet.com) Woodland Cemetery ​ 193 Bellport Avenue, Bellport, NY 11713 Suffolk County Learn More

Charlotte M. Beebe Wilbour (1833–1914) Educated at Wilbraham Academy, Charlotte was associated with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton as a worker for suffrage for women, and became known as an eloquent and forceful public speaker. She was a founder of the culture-shifting Sorosis Club – the preeminent all-women’s club in the United States that was closed to men – was elected its president in 1870 and re-elected five times. She devoted much time and effort to securing a permanent foundation for that organization, and was instrumental in organizing the Association for the Advancement of Women that was formed by it in 1873. Charlotte instituted lectures on health and dress reform, suggested and aided in preparing entertainments for various purposes, and assisted many women in obtaining public recognition. She lived abroad with her husband in 1875-1900, but despite living outside America, she maintained her interest in the elevation of her sex and sought every opportunity to labour for it. Originally she had been buried in Rhode Island and then later was moved to Woodlawn Cemetery in New York. Woodlawn Cemetery Arbutus Plot, Section 181 4199 Webster Avenue, Bronx, NY 10470 Bronx County Learn More

Blanche Culbertson French (1870–1924) Blanche is best known for marrying a man against her father’s wishes even when she would be cut out of his considerable inheritance. Such an action was scandalous at the time and widely reported in the newspapers. Most women would have accepted the tenets of the will, but Blanche sued for her right to the inheritance and won a compromise settlement. Her fight for personal rights led to her advocacy for women’s rights. Blanche was President of the Equal Franchise League of New Rochelle, New York. Equal Franchise Societies were being formed in cities and states throughout the country. These societies were led by wealthy women who planned to use their influence and means to support women’s suffrage. She was also a member of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association. She attended the 1912 Westchester Women’s Suffrage Association and read a report from The Equal Franchise League of New Rochelle, New York. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery ​ 430 North Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591 Westchester County Learn More

Julie Regula Jenney (1866–1947) While working as a lawyer, Julie was involved with multiple women's and suffrage organizations in Syracuse, most of which bore the stamp of her mother's tireless activism. Marie R. Jenney was founder of the Ka-na-te-nah Woman's Club, composed of 350 members, and president of the Syracuse Council of Women's Clubs, a 3,000-member organization. She also served as a state or local leader in at least a half dozen other organizations dedicated to advancing the welfare of women, including the Political Equality Club. Following in these footsteps, Julie took on a similar role as a leader in the New York women's movement. She served as director of the Professional Women's League and held membership in the Political Equality Club and the Woman's Suffrage Association. In 1896, Julie delivered a lecture on "Law and the Ballot" before the National Woman Suffrage Association's annual convention, in which she argued that women's legal rights were inextricably bound to the legislatures that approved them. She contended that only the vote would provide women the assurance that any rights they gain would be duly protected in the future. Julie went on to serve the New York State Woman Suffrage Association and spoke at the annual convention in Oswego in 1901. *courtesy alexanderstreet.com Oakwood Cemetery Section 27, Plot 55 940 Comstock Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13210 Onondaga County Learn More

Susan Smith McKinney Steward (1846–1918) Susan was Brooklyn's first black woman physician (who also happened to be the third black physician in the whole country.) Dr. Kinney Steward had a very successful practice with locations in Brooklyn and Manhattan but for her, medicine was more than just treatment. It was a means by which she could further elevate and impact the community she loved and fight for racial inclusion and women's rights. During her life she founded clinics, clubs and suffragette groups. Susan fought daily against the convergence of racism, sexism and professionalization in order to have a great impact on Brooklyn. Green-Wood Cemetery Section 204, Lot 29541 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232 Kings County Learn More

Sarah Frances Norton (1838–1910) Sarah was a great granddaughter of President John Adams. Working with Susan B. Anthony, Sarah campaigned for the admission of women at the Cornell University, which she called "that stronghold of feminine prejudice," and the two women received the support of its founder, Ezra Cornell. The school admitted women in 1870, one of the first American universities to do so. Sarah, a novelist and lecturer, often challenged gender-based economic disparities. She questioned the practice of marriage as the husband’s economic ownership of the wife. As president of the Working Women’s Association, she discovered that about half of New York City rag pickers were female. She wryly concluded, “This is the only business in which women have equal opportunities with men.” Pointing out that children were not the property of their parents, to be denied schooling and forced to work at very young ages, she advocated compulsory education for both sexes. “If, by this means, every boy and girl could both be educated and made self-supporting...would it not be better for both parents and children?” Having lost her fortune, Sarah Norton died at age 72 in 1910, in Troy, N.Y. in poverty. A penciled statement found clutched in her hand illustrated the circumstances in which she found herself as she approached death, stating, "I have spent my life and nearly two fortunes working in the interest of women and this is the end - friendless-dissolution-death. Let no one play at philanthropy who wants peace." Oakwood Cemetery Section P, Lot 590 50 101st Street, Troy, NY 12180 Rensselaer County Learn More

Mary Pauline Kirley (1883–1968) Mary was born in Lowville, NY to Dr. Cyril P. Kirley and Pauline Wood. After graduating from Vassar College, Mary returned home and joined several community organizations, working alongside her mother. She was an active member of the suffrage movement, and she became President of the Lowville Suffrage Club in 1914. If you know more about Mary, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Lowville Rural Cemetery ​ Rural Avenue, Lowville, NY 13367 Lewis County Learn More

Romain Hayward Lusk (1859–1945) Romaine, one of the founding members of the Pittsford Political Equality Club, hosted the Club’s meeting at her home on South Main street on December 2, 1902. This meeting memorably followed the sudden death of the Club’s first President, Mary Helen Shepard Light. At the meeting “letters from Mary Anthony (sister of Susan B. Anthony) expressing sympathy for us in our great loss were read and remarked upon. It was cordially agreed that each member would contribute a share of the flowers sent to Mrs. Light’s funeral in the name of the PEC.” Romaine Lusk’s life reflects the hardships women faced at the turn of the 20th century. Her husband died in 1891, leaving her to raise their only surviving child, 5-year old son Stephen, on her own. She supported herself and by working as a housekeeper in various homes in Rochester. Romaine spent her time in a quest for knowledge, taking classes on china painting and physical culture and participating in a Pittsford book club. "I am proud that Romaine Lusk was part of the effort to bring women a voice in the political system, including the right to vote—a right I recently exercised for the first time.”–Riley Jane Lusk (courtesy of www.townofpittsford.org/19thAcentennial) Pittsford Cemetery E 400 38 Washington Road, Pittsford, NY 14534 Monroe County Learn More

Dorothy Kenyon (1888–1972) Dorothy was a New York attorney, judge, feminist and political activist who worked and fought in support of civil liberties. She was a charismatic speaker and she regularly travelled throughout the U.S. lecturing about civil liberties. During the era of McCarthyite persecution, she was falsely accused of being affiliated with 28 communist front organizations. Dorothy graduated from Horace Mann School in 1904, and studied economics and history at Smith College, graduating in 1908. In reflection Dorothy felt that she "misspent" the years 1908 to 1913 as a "social butterfly." After spending a year in Mexico and observing poverty and injustice at a close range, she decided to focus on social activism. She graduated from New York University School of Law in 1917, one of just a handful of U.S. law schools enlightened enough to enroll women. Dorothy gained national prominence as a feminist activist in 1938 when she was named the U.S. representative to the League of Nations Committee for the Study of the Status of Women, a group of seven lawyers charged with studying women's legal status internationally. Although World War II interrupted the committee's work and it was never completed, Dorothy resumed her commitment to improving women's status around the world through her work as the U.S. delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women from 1946–1950. Dorothy had lengthy and intense romantic relationships with various men throughout her adult life. Fiercely independent, she made a conscious decision not to marry. She participated in various aspects of President Johnson's War on Poverty and at age 80, she worked tirelessly and almost single-handedly to establish legal services for the poor on the Lower West Side of Manhattan. A 2018 article in The Washington Post ran with the headline "Ruth Ruth Bader Ginsburg was inspired by a forgotten female trailblazer"; referring to Dorothy Kenyon. Woodlawn Cemetery ​ 4199 Webster Avenue, Bronx, NY 10470 Bronx County Learn More

Dorothy May Day (1897–1980) Dorothy picketed the White House with the National Women's Party in 1917. She was jailed along with the Silent Sentinels and beaten during the infamous "Night Of Terror" at Occoquan Workhouse. She served a 30-day sentence and participated in a hunger strike along with her fellow suffrage protestors. Dorothy detailed her experiences in her memoir The Long Loneliness. She was also the co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, and devoted her life to peace, social justice, and directing aid to the poor. Cemetery of the Resurrection (AKA Resurrection Cemetery) Section 10 361 Sharrott Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10309 Richmond County Learn More

Annie Doughty (1857–1945) Although Annie had only a grade school education, her involvement with the Women's League of the All Souls Universalist Church led her to become a political activist and leader in the Suffrage Movement. Using the academic skills she gained through the Church, she taught Suffrage History and Argument, Organization, Publicity and Press, Money Raising, and Parliamentary Law to potential women voters in Detroit. This program was so effective that it expanded to 385 schools across 25 states. In 1919, Annie became the Fourth Vice Chairman of the New York City Woman Suffrage Party, a branch of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association. Its purpose was to unite all the New York City suffrage and equality organizations. It had 500,000 members, 20 city officers, 50 borough officers, 63 leaders of assembly districts and 2,127 captains of election districts. The party was so well led and organized that it became to be known as a “political machine.” Annie was an instructor with the party’s “Suffrage School” organization that sent educators throughout the country to train women on how to organize, work with the press, raise funds, canvass voters, and handle objections. There were 385 Suffrage Schools in 25 states. She also served on a committee that interviewed candidates for public office and then publicized their stance on vital issues. This activity continues to be carried out today by the League of Women Voters. The Evergreens Cemetery ​ 1629 Bushwick Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11207 Kings County Learn More

Ella Hastings (1856–1924) Ella was an innovative thinker and social reformer. She served on the executive board of the New York State Federation of Women’s Clubs. In 1908, she led an effort to lobby the New York State legislature to pass a suffrage amendment to the New York State constitution. Ella was a member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and served on the Peace and Arbitration Committee. She was active in the New York State Woman Suffrage Association (NYSWSA) and served on their committees for legislation and education. She addressed the issue of child labor by founding the Society for the Study of Child Nature, an organization dedicated to gaining an understanding of child labor and its impact in childhood development and education. Following World War I, New York Governor Al Smith appointed Ella and five other women to a commission tasked with planning the reorganization of state government as it reconverted to peacetime. (Source: Alexander Street) Green-Wood Cemetery Section 174, Lot 19749 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232 Kings County Learn More

Fannie Barrier Williams (1855 –1944) “I dare not cease to hope and aspire and believe in human love and justice…” Frances (Fannie) was born in Brockport, NY, to one of only a few black families residing in the overwhelmingly white community. Fannie would look back on her youth as a time of innocence, also believing that these childhood experiences of “social equality” ill-prepared her for the racism that she faced later in life. Her growing awareness of the unfair treatment African American women received led her to pursue a lifetime of activism and strengthened her commitment to improving their lives. In 1870, Fannie became the first African American woman to graduate from SUNY Brockport, then Brockport State Normal School. After graduation, Fannie Barrier went to teach in the Washington D.C. area, hoping to help the freedmen. Life there was very different from what she had experienced and she was “shattered” by the discrimination she encountered. In 1887, she married Samuel Laing Williams, and the couple moved to Chicago where Fannie’s husband opened a law practice with Ferdinand Barnett, husband of Ida B. Wells Barnett. It was in Chicago that Fannie Barrier Williams became one of the most celebrated figures of her time. No longer teaching, Fannie became very active among Chicago reformers. She was director of the art and music department of the Prudence Crandall Study Club, formed by Chicago’s elite African-American community. She worked for the Hyde Park Colored Voters Republican Club and the Taft Colored League. An associate of both Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, she represented the viewpoint of African-Americans in the Illinois Women’s Alliance and lectured frequently on the need for all women - but especially black women - to have the vote. Recognizing the lack of services available to women, Fannie helped to found the National League of Colored Women in 1893 and its successor, the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) in 1896. When she became aware of the lack of African-American physicians and nurses in the hospitals, she helped to create Provident Hospital in 1891, an inter-racial medical facility. Fannie was instrumental in the creation of the Frederick Douglass Center in 1905, and the Phillis Wheatley Home for Girls. The latter became part of a national movement, and the hospital and settlement house still serve the Chicago community today. Fannie was the first African-American and the first woman on the Chicago Library Board, waging a battle for the representation of African-Americans at the Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. She succeeded in having two staff appointments designated for African-Americans. Fannie herself was appointed as Clerk in charge of Colored Interests in the Department of Publicity and Promotions. She was also invited to present two major addresses, one to the World’s Congress of Representative Women and the other to the World’s Parliament of Religions. In the first, The Intellectual Progress of the Colored Women of the United States Since the Emancipation Proclamation, followed by a discussion and words of praise from Frederick Douglass, Fannie disputed the notion that slavery had rendered African-American women incapable of the same moral and intellectual levels as other women and called on all women to unite to claim their inalienable rights. Brockport Cemetery (aka High Street Cemetery) Lot 415 (West Entrance to the end on right) 79 High Street, Brockport, NY 14420 Monroe County Learn More