Suffrage Song: The Haunted History of Gender, Race and Voting Rights in the U.S.

Caitlin Cass

Book cover for Suffrage Song: The Haunted History of Gender, Race and Voting Rights in the U.S.
Book cover for Suffrage Song: The Haunted History of Gender, Race and Voting Rights in the U.S.

Suffrage Song: The Haunted History of Gender, Race and Voting Rights in the U.S.

Suffrage Song: The Haunted History of Gender, Race and Voting Rights in the U.S.

Caitlin Cass

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Description
"She put in her work, but there's so much left to do." Begun in the Antebellum era, the song of suffrage was a rallying cry across the nation that would persist over a century. Capturing the spirit of this refrain, New Yorker contributing cartoonist Caitlin Cass pens a sweeping history of women's suffrage in the U.S. -- a kaleidoscopic story akin to a triumphant and mournful protest song that spans decades and echoes into the present.

In Suffrage Song, Cass takes a critical, intersectional approach to the movement's history -- celebrating the pivotal, hard-fought battles for voting rights while also laying bare the racist compromises suffrage leaders made along the way. She explores the multigenerational arc of the movement, humanizing key historical figures from the early days of the suffrage fight (Susan B. Anthony, Frances Watkins Harper), to the dawn of the "New Women" (Alice Paul, Mary Church Terrell), to the Civil Rights era (Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Baker). Additionally, this book sheds light on less chronicled figures such as Zitkala-Sa and Mabel Ping Hua-Lee, whose stories reveal the complex racial dynamics that haunt this history.

The interiors include 4 foldouts, most notably a 4-page map detailing where women could vote in the US in 1919, leading up to the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Impeccably researched and rendered in an engaging and accessible comics style, Suffrage Song is sure to spark discussion on the vital issue of voting rights that continues to resonate today.

Critical Reviews

Refreshingly comprehensive and brightly told in a rustic caricature art style... Cass catalogs the struggle for enfranchisement through a loosely organized, interlinked series of overlapping character portraits.-- "Publishers Weekly"

Suffrage Song is a stunning account of the ongoing and unending struggle for voting rights in US history. Caitlin Cass's writing and illustrations bring new insight about the connections between race and gender to the conventional story. A compelling read with contemporary relevance, it ought to be a required text in every history class in the land.--Joan W. Scott, author of Gender and the Politics of History

Suffrage Song not only tells the stories of the women involved with the Women's Suffragist movement, but it also humanizes them. ... I loved the pencil drawings and classic cartoon styles.-- "Backshelf Books"

Anyone with an interest in the fights women had to be able to vote will discover how smartly Cass has co-ordinated such a vast amount of information.-- "The Slings & Arrows"

With this fabulously informative book, Caitlin Cass gleefully joins Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'damn mob of scribbling women, ' depicting suffragettes--warts and all--through the ages and chronicling the exasperating history of voting rights in America.--Emma Allen, New Yorker cartoon editor

The haunted history of voting rights is full of messy contradictions, but when you finish this creative and inspiring tale, you will want to tell everyone what you have learned: nobody is free until everybody is free.--Susan Ware, author of Why They Marched

Caitlin Cass's lavishly illustrated Suffrage Song utilizes the idea of hauntology and ghosts to unpack the unseemly history of voting rights in the U.S. Don't pass up the opportunity to experience the stories of these spirits. The decision will haunt you.--John Jennings, Eisner Award-winning comics creator and Media scholar

These artfully presented, thought-provoking comics uncover complexities of the popular historical narrative and emphasize how the fight for voting rights continues today.--Sarah Hunter "Booklist"

Publishing Information

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Pub date: 2024-06-04
Length: 264 pages

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