Voice of Liberty

by Angelica Shirley Carpenter, Edwin Fotheringham

Overview

In 1886, the Statue of Liberty came to America.
If Liberty had been a real woman, she would have had no voice in her new country. She could not vote or run for office.

The men in charge of unveiling the statue in New York Harbor even declared that women could not set foot on the island during the welcoming ceremony.

That did not stop New York suffragists Matilda Joslyn Gage, Lillie Devereux Blake, and Katherine (“Katie”) Devereux Blake. They wanted women to have the liberty to vote and participate in government. They were determined to give the new statue a voice. But, first, they had to find a boat.

Matilda, Lillie, and Katie organized hundreds of people and sailed a cattle barge to the front of the day’s ceremony—making news and raising their voices for LIBERTY.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781941813249
Publisher:	South Dakota State Historical Society Press
Publication date:	09/15/2020
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 12.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Angelica Shirley Carpenter loves to read. She is active in the International Wizard of Oz Club, the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She served as director of the Palm Springs Public Library in Florida and the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at California State University, Fresno. The South Dakota Historical Society Press also published her acclaimed biography, Born Criminal: Matilda Joslyn Gage, Radical Suffragist in 2018.

Edwin Fotheringham is an award-winning illustrator, whose numerous picture books include The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy), Mermaid Queen, and What to Do about Alice. He graduated from the University of Washington School of Art in Seattle, where he resides with his family. Fotheringham has worked in nearly every publication medium from punk rock record covers to the New Yorker.

Editorial Reviews

2020-06-03
When unveiled in New York Harbor in 1886, the statue of a woman became the symbol of American liberty. At the time, real women had few freedoms.

Here’s the little-known fictionalized saga of three New York suffragists, fiercely determined to give Lady Liberty a “voice”—by fighting for women’s voting rights. First, they decide to attend the statue’s welcoming ceremony. No matter that women are forbidden to make speeches on the day or appear on the island where the statue stands. The suffragists—Lillie Devereux Blake; her daughter, Katherine “Katie” Devereux Blake; and Matilda Joslyn Gage—manage to commandeer a smelly cattle barge and join the naval flotilla on the Hudson River. The women chant slogans, some observers hurl insults, and the barge sails right up to the statue. The women’s efforts result in news stories and donations that fund additional suffrage campaigns. This lively account of the events should appeal to readers interested in the Statue of Liberty or women’s history. The clipped prose and vigorous efforts of the stalwart women promote fast-paced reading and dramatize some particulars of the momentous celebration. Bold, colorful, energetic illustrations capture time and place well. The suffragists are depicted as white; some characters are racially diverse. Extras include facts about these suffragists and Lady Liberty, a timeline, bibliography, author’s note, and dialogue sources.

A fine tribute as 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. (Informational picture book. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews