Few states witnessed a livelier or more dynamic campaign to win women’s suffrage than Illinois. Illinois suffragists amassed an impressive record, as Illinois was the first state east of the Mississippi to grant women presidential suffrage and the first state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. Who were the women behind these victories and how did they achieve them? Meet some of Illinois’ most famous suffragists through the dynamic Leslie Goddard, including Mary Livermore, Frances Willard, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Grace Wilbur Trout. Learn about the petitions, lectures, conventions, and parades they organized. Sometimes conventional and sometimes audacious, their struggle is full of colorful stories and poignant lessons for today.

Recorded Sunday, March 12, 2006 at Joliet Public Library.