Horizons: Women’s Right to Vote

The path between the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention and the women's right to vote nationally was so long that it involved two very distinct generations. Dutchess County contributed many important men and women who were Quakers such as Lucretia Mott was first a student and then a teacher at the Nine Partners Boarding School in Millbrook. Fighting not just as a matter of principle of equal treatment and opportunity, the women of the early 20th century had reforms they wanted to vote in. Show is Laura Wylie (right photo, left) and her partner Getrude Buck, both of whom were active for suffrage. With the victory in 1917 Wylie switched from being head of the local suffrage league to being head of what became the Women's City & County Club, an activist group fighting for changes in laws to improve the condition of women and children.