Washington – Performers and Authors

SUFFRAGE MUSIC:

Visit Linda’s web site for both traditional and contemporary songs about Suffrage.

Here’s to the Women! Commemorating Women’s Journey to Justice

Original and collected songs that celebrate women’s history with a special emphasis on the battle for the vote. Meet Native weavers, quilters, suffragists, labor leaders, domestic workers, and Rosie, the Riveters. Available as download or hard copy.

Failure is Impossible: Traditional Songs of the Suffragists

Eight traditional songs recorded by Linda and her daughter, Kristin Allen-Zito, for the documentary “Courage in Corsets”.

COMMENTS:

“Linda Allen breathes life into the 19th Amendment story through song and story that is totally charming as well as instructive. Goose bumps and joy were the response of the day”.                                                                                                                                 — Muffy Francke, Co-Chair, The 19th Amendment Centennial Committee of the Renaissance Society

“A vibrant voice in this important struggle”

--Robert P.J. Cooney, Jr. author of Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement and Remembering Inez: The Last Campaign of Inez Milholland, Suffrage Martyr.

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Spend some time with some extraordinary women! Together, Barbara Callander and Toni Douglass have been touring original plays about women’s history for almost 20 years. Programs include:

Scott Free – Abigail Scott Duniway, who fought for women’s rights and the vote in Oregon and throughout the Northwest for over 40 years. (Both adult and children’s versions available.)

May’s Vote – Prim Emma Smith DeVoe and outrageous May Arkwright Hutton, who worked side by side – but seldom eye to eye – to win the vote for women in Washington State in 1910.

Winners – A portrait gallery of women’s rights trailblazers, “extremists” who helped to make today possible, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Dr. Mary Walker, and Febb Burn, the mother of the Tennessee legislator who cast the deciding vote in the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

I Cannot Think: An Anti-Suffrage Monologue – Satirical suffrage propaganda piece, written by pro-suffragist Marie Jenney Howe in 1913. Mrs. W. Winslow Crannell shares her views on “the woman question” and the terrible disasters that will befall the country if women become voters. She’s serious . . . and hilarious.

Daisy with Asters – Juliette Low, the late-blooming eccentric who founded the Girl Scouts, opening doors for millions of girls in her time and beyond.

“I learned more history tonight than I learned in years of history classes.” – audience member at a performance of Scott Free

“It should be seen by every woman of every age.” – Donna Nylander, League of Women Voters

“An inspired script and two equally inspired and inspiring actors . . . a stellar production.” – Victoria Kill, Wismer Women’s Center, Seattle University

All performances include post-play discussion. Other characters and custom-designed programs also available. Nationwide touring possible.   Availability: WA, OR, MD

With presenters based on both coasts and in between, Living Voices programs are developed to be presented in a variety of school and community settings and for a range of audiences, from K-12 students through adults. The adaptable and flexible format of the programs was designed to be effective in both large and small venues, from a single school classroom in Alaska to a thousand-seat theatre space at Universal Studios, and anything in between.

Winner of the 2017 Governor’s Arts & Heritage Award for Education

Here is a link to our preview video: https://vimeo.com/291746980

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.