Florida – Performers and Authors

A Circle of Artists. After Mary Cassatt’s breakdown, she became a feminist. Feisty, irreverent and willing to sever her family ties for her beliefs. Cassatt presents women before her time, like Sofonisba Anguissola; women she knew and admired, like Berthe Morisot; women whose work she didn’t respect, like Cecilia Beaux; and women whose work she didn’t understand, like Veladon.

Georgia O’Keeffe: A Dramatic Portrait. Miss O’Keeffe conducts a tour of her world through her sensational flowers, abstracts and cityscapes to the vastness and beauty of the American West. Joyful, irreverent and courageous, she discusses her career, her breakdown, her critics, her “photographic portrait’ by Alfred Stieglitz and their extraordinary relationship.

Lilla Cabot Perry: Impressions of Monet & The American Impressionists Mrs. Perry was a prominent Boston artist, a “Boston Brahmin” and a published poet.  She spent nine summers in Giverny with Claude Monet who encouraged her to paint en plein air. She shares stories about Monet, Sargent, Theodore Robinson, John Breck and Giverny, the “cradle of American Impressionism.”

Anne Morrow Lindbergh: An Extraordinary Life. Anne was the author of thirteen books, an aviation pioneer and a feminist. She shares her joy of flying and the numbing tragedy of her son’s kidnapping, illuminating the life that gave her the wisdom to write Gift From the Sea, which, over fifty-five years later, is still widely acclaimed. The program is set in 1975, at a celebration of the 20th anniversary edition of Gift From the Sea with Anne as the featured speaker.

Lillian Hellman: Memories & Moments. Hellman was a brilliant, passionate, provocative woman and an internationally acclaimed author who wrote Broadway plays and best-selling books. Rude, independent and eloquent, she was renowned as a political activist, a wit and extraordinary hostess and a fabulous storyteller. In an illustrious career spanning five decades she won a permanent place in American Letters.

MABLE RINGLING: This is a 'farm to table" story. Mable grew up on an Ohio farm and ended up at the most beautiful table in Sarasota. Hear her story unfold as she tells of her life and times when she was the woman behind the man who ran "the greatest show on earth."

BERTHA HONORE PALMER: Bertha's life took her from the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, to Washington D.C., to a castle in England and then to the state of Florida to become a rancher and developer. She has a tale to tell about her exploits and her challenges as she becomes one of the most influential women of her life and times.

MARTHA (MARTY) HARTMAN: Martha is best known for founding The Petticoat Painters in 1953, which is the oldest continuously exhibiting women's art group in the United States. In her Life and Times, she tells the story of the development of all of the arts in Sarasota County, Florida with references to the men and women who helped to create the cultural coast of Florida.

ELIZABETH VAN LEW: As a Northern sympathizer in the Confederate capital of Richmond, VA, Elizsabeth became Ulysses S/ Grant's primary spy during the Civil War. Her work helped to turn the victory to the North. She also recounts the aftermath of the Civil War and how the failure of Reconstruction affects us today.

CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT: Hear the story of the fight for women’s rights as told by one of the leaders of the movement. As the president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, it was Carrie's work which got the last state to vote to pass the amendment. Hear her story of her life and times before and after women had the right to vote.

MINA MILLER EDISON: The daughter of an inventor and the wife of an inventor, Mina tells the story of her life and times during the development of the Chautauqua movement and her life and times as the wife of Thomas Alva Edison.

She has given talks, presented testimony, or served as a consultant  on the American revolution in women’s rights throughout the U.S., as well as in Canada, the UK, France, Belgium, Spain, Japan, China, Israel, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. For years, she traveled abroad as an “American specialist” on the women’s rights movement for the then-US Information  Agency. Sonia also gives talks about her exceptional life. She was born in Berlin, Germany of Polish-Jewish parents,  with  whom she fled the Nazi regime, going first to Belgium, and then coming to the U.S. in 1934.  One of six permanent exhibits at the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp, Belgium, dedicated to the Red Star Line and immigration, is about Sonia. She is the author of a memoir, Eat First–You Don’t Know What They’ll Give You: The Adventures of an Immigrant  Family and Their Feminist Daughter.

Martinez has made appearances at universities, corporations, institutions and organizations, including Columbia University, Trinity College, Towson University, The University of Pennsylvania, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The NJ National Guard, The PA Department of Veterans Affairs, The NJ Department of Community Development, The Vanguard Group, Synchrony Bank and J.P Morgan Chase. The artist is available to speak throughout the U.S. Many of the paintings and social commentaries in this socially-conscious presentation are in Martinez’s art book, “Soraida’s Verdadism: The Intellectual Voice of a Puerto Rican Woman on Canvas; Unique, Controversial Images and Style.”

Not all suffragists were Free Lovers by any means; but several prominent Free Love advocates like Victoria Woodhull were strong supporters of women’s rights, so the reputation stuck. This enjoyable talk about the 19th century battle between Free Love and prudery reveals a fascinating side of American society, which affected the struggle for women’s right to vote. The talk is rated PG-13.

Audience Feedback:

 "This unknown suffragist history was enlightening and entertaining. Numerous members' feedback was very positive. One long-standing member said this was the best lecture we've ever had!"- Joan Gill, Chair of Speaker Programs, Canadian Women's Club of San Francisco

"Joe Miller was recently invited by the Sonoma Valley Historical Society and presented his research on the history of the suffragists to a very receptive audience. His presentation was most informative as well as entertaining. He engaged the audience by showing how much of this subject has been completely forgotten or misunderstood."- Peter G. Meyerhof, Historian

Joe C. Miller published an article in The History Teacher, titled “Never a Fight of Woman Against Man: What Textbooks Don’t Say about Women’s Suffrage” (2015). There he argued that college textbooks include many errors and myths about women’s history.