Mary Emeline Alverson Brace (1846–1930) Attended a Women's Rights Convention in 1948 at the Unitarian Church, Victor, NY with other "prominent and respectable" community women. If you know more about her, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Boughton Hill Cemetery Old Ground, Section B, Row 2, Lot 17, Grave 4 1518 NY-444, Victor, NY 14564 Ontario County Learn More

Crystal Catherine Eastman (1881–1928) Crystal began her reform work by improving labor conditions. She drafted a workers’ compensation law, the first of its kind in the country, requiring employers to cover costs for injuries endured on the job. Several states passed workers’ compensation laws based on Crystal’s model in response to public outcry following the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. In 1912, Crystal spearheaded a state suffrage campaign in Wisconsin. Its failure convinced her that the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)’s state-by-state strategy was too slow, and in 1913 she joined Alice Paul and Lucy Burns to found the Congressional Union (later the National Woman’s Party) to press for a suffrage amendment to the constitution. A committed peace activist, Crystal founded the Woman’s Peace Party (WWP, later the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom) with colleagues Jane Addams and Lillian Wald in 1915. Eastman also contributed to the founding of the the National Civil Liberties Bureau, to protect the rights of conscientious objectors to military service. This organization would become the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Crystal delivered her classic speech “Now We Can Begin” in 1920, following the ratification of the 19th Amendment. She called for equal pay for women workers and an end to employment descrimination; to that end, she co-authored the Equal Rights Amendment with Alice Paul. She argued that women could never be equal without equality in the home, and advocated for women to be able to control if and when they had children, and to have domestic labor recognized, compensated, and shared with men. Valuation and control of reproductive labor and an end to gendered divisions of labor in the household would become central to the second-wave feminist movement. Woodlawn Cemetery Section: 5 Lot: 207 NP 130 N Pearl Street, Canandaigua, NY 14424 Ontario County Learn More

Charlotte Augusta Dickson Cleveland (1818–1901) Charlotte stood strongly for temperance, total abstinence, and the enforcement of law. She was an active member and a liberal supporter of the Women's [sic] Christian Temperance Union, and was especially interested in temperance instruction in the common schools. It is well and widely known that Charlotte was particularly interested in the civil and political rights of women. For many years she had been closely identified with this movement, giving it her most earnest effort, and laboring diligently to secure the fullest suffrage for her sex. She regarded the successful prosecution of many reforms in the light of equal suffrage. Charlotte sought the opportunity to vote, not for itself alone, but as a means to the attainment of many ends, not only for the betterment but the highest good of society and the State. She had read much upon this subject, thought deeply, and of all public questions it was nearest her heart. Cheerfully accepting important official positions, both in the county and the state, and always holding herself for the most strenuous service, she lived to see her hopes realized in the hard won privilege of a limited suffrage for women, and she passed away with an unwavering faith in its future enlargement and complete accomplishment. (courtesy of AlexanderStreet.com) Hope Cemetery ​ East Mill Street, Castile, NY 14427 Wyoming County Learn More

Mary Hillard Loines (1844–1944) Mary spent fifty years battling for women's rights. In 1869 she was elected a secretary of the Brooklyn Equal Rights Association and selected in May of that year as a Brooklyn delegate to the first convention for the American Suffrage Association. Elected as chairman of the Legislative Committee in the New York State Woman Suffrage Association in 1898, Mary helped lobby the legislature from 1902-1905 to allow all tax-paying women in cities with a population of less than 50,000 to vote on all special taxation questions, a campaign that did not succeed. In 1899 Mary was accompanied by the then Governor of New York State, Theodore Roosevelt, to one of the many suffrage conventions which she attended over the course of her lifetime. She was also able to meet privately with Roosevelt, along with a small group of New York activists, to consult about enfranchising women in New York. Mary led the Brooklyn Woman's Suffrage Association between the years 1899 and 1919 and was heavily involved in the logistics of the League of Women Voters after women's enfranchisement. *courtesy alexanderstreet.com Friends Quaker Cemetery ​ Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY 11215 Kings County Learn More

Henrietta Cordelia Ray (1859–1916) Cordelia was an African-American poet and scholar. She is the daughter of Charles and Charlotte B Ray, both of whom were early social activists working to abolish enslavement and win the right to vote for African-Americans and women. She was the sister of Charlotte E. Ray, who was the first female African-American attorney in the US. Cordelia and Charlotte both attended National Women Suffrage Association meetings. Cordelia's ode "Lincoln" was read at the unveiling of the Emancipation Memorial in Washington, DC, in April 1876. Cypress Hills Cemetery Possibly Section 2 833 Jamaica Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11208 Kings 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

Dora Cole Norman (1888–1939) Dora was an educator and choreographer. She is best known for advancing the dignity of African American history through dance and drama. Dora taught in New York City schools and directed the Colored Players Guild at the Harlem YWCA. She worked with WEB DuBois to stage a large scale pageant, The Star of Ethiopia, in 1913. During World War I, Dora was a leader in the Circle for Negro War Relief. This organization promoted the psychological welfare of African American soldiers and provided goods for them and their families. Woodlawn Cemetery Filbert, Section 130, Lot SW12733 4199 Webster Avenue, Bronx, NY 10470 Bronx County Learn More

Irene Corwin Davison (1871–1948) Irene never married, instead devoting her personal and financial freedom to suffrage. She joined her good friend Rosalie Gardiner Jones on her famous marches to Albany and Washington, DC. In 1915, Irene joined fellow suffragist Edna Buckman Kearns in her work as a poll watcher. The two canvassed voters at the polls in Sayville, asking them to sign a slip of paper stating, “I believe that the vote should be granted to the women of New York in 1915.” Irene’s sisters, Amelia and Susan were active suffragists as well. Always seeking unique and innovative activities to garner publicity, Irene and her friends staged an all-night “Aerial Party” on the Hempstead Plains aviation field (which later became Roosevelt Field) in September of 1913. The New York Times reported: “About 200 women and eight men were marshaled for the parade down Hanger Row.” Present were other well-known suffragists including Harriet Burton Laidlaw and Mrs. Rhoda Glover, said to be the oldest suffragist in Nassau County. Once suffrage was won, Irene devoted herself to philanthropic causes and worked with the League of Women Voters to educate women on the importance of the vote. The League named her “the outstanding suffragette in Nassau County” and, in 1931, listed her name on a bronze plaque in Albany honoring the “great women of the State of New York who courageously led the long struggle for the enfranchisement of the women of this nation.” Irene Corwin Davison broke many barriers for women in her life, but her greatest achievement was helping them to enjoy political equality and have their voices heard through the vote. Born in East Rockaway, Irene was the youngest of three sisters whose family had settled there in the early 19th century. She attended the Packer Institute in Brooklyn, graduated from Pratt Institute and taught art in the Jericho schools. Later she became one of the first women to open her own insurance agency. When her father died, she took over his farm and sold the property to create one of the first housing developments on Long Island. Rockville Cemetery 454 45 Merrick Road, Lynbrook, NY 11563 Nassau County Learn More

Elizabeth Best Ford (1869–1953) Elizabeth was the founding mother of the St. Lawrence County League (of Women Voters). She was the chair for several years, and the regional chair for the area. In a letter in the League archive, the author describes being motored to Ogdensburg by Mrs. Elizabeth Ford, to call upon each of the members to rejoin and to recruit new members. Evergreen Cemetery ​ 2455 NY-68 at US 11, Canton, NY 13617 St. Lawrence County Learn More

Asenath Carver Coolidge (1830–1915) Asenath was a well known author who lived in Watertown, NY, serving as a representative to New York State Woman Suffrage Association. She applied her writing skills to drafting letters in support of or against those running for office, and she promoted women continuing to be able to vote in their local school elections. Hillside Cemetery ​ 12 Maple Avenue, Antwerp, NY 13608 Jefferson County Learn More

Harriet M. Lee Rathbun (1840–1929) Harriet was an author and businesswoman, Yet she seems to be an individual whose work on suffrage was not well documented. Google books makes reference to her as someone who supported an amendment to the New York State constitution allowing women to vote. Her name appears often in the records and in several volumes of The History of Women's Sufferage. After her first husband's death, Harriet relocated to Manhattan. Her name appears in a 1924 New York City voters list, so she was able to exercise her right to vote. Rathbunville Cemetery ​ Verona Mills Road, Rome, NY 13440 Oneida County Learn More

Chloe Amelia Peckham Sisson (1841–1923) Chloe was a founding member of the Easton Political Equality Club in 1891, along with her sister Emily Peckham, sister-in-law Mary Eddy Peckham and seven others. Additionally Chloe was the first female Washington County delegate to the Republican State Convention following passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. (Information from "Strength Without Compromise", Teri Gay 2009) Easton Rural Cemetery Possibly plot Q-3 Meeting House Road, Easton, NY 12154 Washington County Learn More

Sarah Kirby Hallowell Willis (1818–1914) Sarah was a life-long advocate for abolition, women’s suffrage, and political equality. She became involved in social justice through her older sister, Amy Post, who was an ardent abolitionist and suffrage supporter. They were both frequent guests in the home of fellow abolitionists and suffrage supporters Lucy and Daniel Anthony; Susan B. Anthony’s parents. In 1848, Sarah, her sister Amy, Daniel and Lucy Anthony, Mary Anthony, and Frederick Douglass travelled from Rochester to Seneca Falls to attend the Women’s Rights Convention. At the conclusion of the conference, Sarah signed the Declaration of Sentiments. A few weeks later another convention was held in Rochester, and Sarah was designated as a secretary. In 1853 another convention was held in Rochester. Sarah attended and once again was a designated secretary. When the National Woman's Suffrage Association was formed, Sarah was one of its first members. She was also one of the first members of the Political Equality Club of Rochester. In 1872, she was one of the many women who attempted to register to vote (Susan B. Anthony and fourteen others succeeded in voting illegally). A year later, she was an officer in the Women’s Taxpayer Association--a short lived organization formed to protest the taxation of women without representation. Sarah could be counted on for financial contributions when needed. In 1900, when the fundraising campaign to admit women to the University of Rochester came up short, Sarah contributed $2,000. In 1888, she was invited by Susan B. Anthony to attend her newly formed International Council of Women. Susan proudly introduced Sarah as one of the signers of the Declaration of Sentiments. Sarah was a close friend of Susan and was a frequent visitor at the Anthony home for holidays and birthdays. Sarah died in 1914 at the age of ninety-six. Mount Hope Cemetery Section V, Lot 20 1133 Mount Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620 Monroe County Learn More

Clara L. Payne (1892–1958) Clara was an active member of a small African American Buffalo community. During World War I Clara served at Marin Hospital as a nurse volunteer during the influenza epidemic of 1917 and 1918. She was a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Buffalo Urban League and remained involved from 1927 until 1958. Clara helped initiate the first integrated YWCA in the Buffalo area. In 1926 she was elected to the Board of Directors and served as a member of the Y's Business Girls' Council and the Inter-racial Committee. Clara was also involved in Republican party politics. In April 1920 she was reported as one of two organizers of a Leonard Wood Club among African American women in Buffalo. The newspaper account in the Buffalo Evening News of April 16, 1920 noted, "it is hoped to enroll every colored woman in Buffalo in the league." General Leonard Wood was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican presidential nomination that year. *Courtesy AlexanderStreet.com Forest Lawn Cemetery Section 9, Lot 99, Lot SUBS 1 & 2, Space 3 1411 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14209 Erie County Learn More

Bessye Johnson Banks Bearden (1893–1943) Bessye was a journalist and civic leader known particularly for her work with the Democratic Party. She wrote as a correspondent for the Chicago Defender and was the first black woman elected to the New York City Board of Education, a position she served in for seventeen years. Bessye was tapped to work for the IRS as an auditor while continuing to be an active community leader. She served on the executive boards of the Urban League, Council of Negro Women and the Harlem Community Council and was the first president of the Colored Women's Democratic League. Bessye and her husband, Richard Bearden, opened their Harlem home to artists and intellectuals. The Jazz Cadence of American Culture described Bessye as a political force, someone you came to to cut through red tape and get action. Her son, Romare Bearden, became a famous collage artist. On the community level, Bearden served on numerous boards, including the Citizens Welfare Council, the Harlem Community Council, the NAACP, and the Utopia Neighborhood Club. She received a number of honors for her devoted service, including medals from the Citizens' Welfare Council and Veterans of Foreign Wars. Bessye accomplished a lot in her 52 years. Woodlawn Cemetery ​ 4199 Webster Ave, Bronx, NY 10470 Bronx County Learn More

Hannah Francisco Babbitt (1850–1931) Hannah was born in Canada. Her husband was a minister at the Gorham Presbyterian Church and Hannah was active in church affairs until her death. Hannah, along with her daughter and daughter in law, were members of the Ontario County League of Women Voters in 1919. If you know more about her, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Gorham Cemetery ​ Route 245, Gorham, NY 14561 Ontario County Learn More

Lucretia A. Freeman (1866–1946) Lucretia was consistently involved in civic and community affairs, primarily supporting black women. In 1913 she was a delegate to the Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs. 1921 found her as the director of the Red Cross Women's Auxiliary for Harlem Hospital, a hospital she had been employed by. A few years later, she was named a deaconess of her church, Nazarene Congregationalist. In 1931, she was elected vice president of the Northeast Federation of Women's Clubs. Ten years later, she represented the Brooklyn's Mother's Club at the annual convention of the New York Federation of Colored Women's Club. Examples of their work include caring for Harriet Tubman until the time of her death in 1913. This group corresponded with presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman on civil rights topics such as unequal treatment of black Americans in the Armed Forces and housing discrimination. Lucretia did her part to have her community be a place where children could thrive. Saint Michael's Cemetery Section 13, Plot 20, Grave 11 7202 Astoria Boulevard, East Elmhurst, NY 11370 Queens County Learn More