Imagine, if you can, wave upon wave of properly dressed women, young and old, gloved and hatted as was expected of them when they were out of their homes, arms linked, their prim and powdered faces raised in song. They march perhaps in front of a state capitol, or down New York's Fifth Avenue, or perhaps it's just a rally for Women's Suffrage in a rented space or a public park. You can read determination in their stride, unity in their faces. They are marching for a cause they called "women's rights." Not yet driven to chain themselves to government property or to commit civil disobedience for their cause (that will come later as patience wears thin), they hope to win supporters among the gawkers, and by persistence and persuasion to make victory eventually theirs. They sing.... Why did the suffragists sing?....Why not simply rant and rave and hack away at male privilege? One reason is tradition: American women's rights were bred on song. There was a hymnal in every Protestant church pew and some kind of musical instrument at home - a piano for those who could afford it - around which family and friends would gather for song and celebration. Then, too, song is spirited, and stirs the heart. Soldiers marched to rallying songs. America's slave population sang to show their solidarity and to survive; union members struggling to make their voices heard did the same.
This book is the first to publish these songs and their music together under one cover....They represent the voices of thousands of people who were part of a significant movement in United States history."
spiral-bound paperback, 144 pages, 8 1/2 by 11 inches.