Women Will Vote: Winning Suffrage in New York State

by Susan Goodier, Karen Pastorello

Overview

Women Will Vote celebrates the 1917 victory of the women's suffrage movement in New York State. Susan Goodier and Karen Pastorello highlight the activism of rural, urban, African American, Jewish, immigrant, and European American women, as well as male suffragists, both upstate and downstate, who helped secure the 1917 referendum. They contend that this win energized the national suffrage battle, escalating the momentum for the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.

Goodier and Pastorello reveal how thousands of New York's suffrage advocates sparked a major political, social, and legal shift. Diverse women groups collectively built a powerful coalition that extended well beyond New York City's elite white leadership.

Women Will Vote convincingly argues that the organization and agitation led to what one prominent suffrage leader called the "very greatest victory." New York suffragists' 1917 success helped change the course of American history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501785009
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	09/15/2025
Pages:	316
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Susan Goodier is a historian, author, and educator. Her research examines women's social justice activism. She is the author of No Votes for Women.

Karen Pastorello retired as Professor of US History at Tompkins Cortland Community College (SUNY). Her research explores women's political and labor activism. She is the author of The Progressives and A Power Among Them.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Timeline
Introduction
1. Tenuous Ties
2. "Ruffling the Somewhat Calm Comain"
3. The Quest for Industrial Citizenship
4. A Fundamental Component
5. Persuading the "Male Preserve"
6. Radicalism and Spectacle
7. The Great Interruption
8. Rising from the Ashes of Defeat
Conclusion
Appendixes
Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Melanie Gustafson

This fascinating narrative of the struggle to expand women’s rights in New York is a timely reminder about the crucial role grassroots activism has played in changing national politics. Women Will Vote is an important and splendid book.

Devin Lander

Susan Goodier and Karen Pastorello’s new book is a timely and deeply moving history of the several-decade-long struggle women and their male allies undertook in New York State to win the right to vote. Goodier and Pastorello utilize a cornucopia of primary source material to shed light on a chapter of New York’s history that is vital in understanding the national story of women’s suffrage. And, in doing so, Goodier and Pastorello elevate the personal stories of the New York women and their allies whose heroic efforts were finally realized in 1917. An important and compelling piece of scholarship.

Jean H. Baker

Women Will Vote is a well-researched, well-conceived, and well-written study of the long struggle in New York State for women's right to vote. New York has long been acknowledged as having special historical significance to the suffrage movement. But no one has studied its evolution. Now this excellent book, full of new information, fills in the gaps and extends our understanding of women suffrage.

Judith Wellman

At last! We have a fine history of the women’s suffrage movement in New York State. Women Will Vote will make you think about how democracy really works. Read it!

Laura Free

Women Will Vote is an important book that fills in a glaring absence in the literature, ensuring that students and scholars today will have a really strong sense of New York's suffrage experience.

Editorial Reviews

This stellar book... presents new information on the seven-decade struggle that culminated in the passing of the New York State referendum granting women—except Native American women—full suffrage.

Choice

Goodier and Pastorello’s key intervention is their ability to connect suffrage activism in New York City to community efforts across the state, demonstrating that suffrage activism was not exclusive to the city. By placing New York State at the center of their work, Goodier and Pastorello are able to flesh out the movement’s nuance, widening their scope to encompass a breadth of suffrage activists and organizations, like the Jamestown Political Equality Club (1887), one of the many political coalitions for women in upstate New York.

The Gotham Center for NYC History Blog

Highly recommended to those interested in women's history as well as the history of New York State.

Library Journal

The book makes good use of letters and personal papers in general—and I found especially useful the papers and oral history of Mary Elizabeth Pidgeon, who volunteered with the National American Woman Suffrage Association after graduating from college, was invited to speak at a conference, attended a brief training session, and eventually became a paid organizer, working first in Buffalo and later in Auburn. In Buffalo she worked with labor groups in Polish and Italian neighborhoods and attended Parent-Teacher Association and union meetings.

American Historical Review

An important book... engagingly written.

New York History

"At last! We have a fine history of the women’s suffrage movement in New York State. Women Will Vote will make you think about how democracy really works. Read it!"

Judith Wellman

"Women Will Vote is an important book that fills in a glaring absence in the literature, ensuring that students and scholars today will have a really strong sense of New York's suffrage experience."

Laura Free

"Susan Goodier and Karen Pastorello's Women Will Vote is a well-researched, well-conceived, and well-written study of the long struggle in New York State for women's right to vote. New York has long been acknowledged as having special historical significance to the suffrage movement. But no one has studied its evolution. Now this excellent book, full of new information, fills in the gaps and extends our understanding of women suffrage."

Jean H. Baker

"Susan Goodier and Karen Pastorello’s new book is a timely and deeply moving history of the several-decade-long struggle women and their male allies undertook in New York State to win the right to vote. Goodier and Pastorello utilize a cornucopia of primary source material to shed light on a chapter of New York’s history that is vital in understanding the national story of women’s suffrage. And, in doing so, Goodier and Pastorello elevate the personal stories of the New York women and their allies whose heroic efforts were finally realized in 1917. An important and compelling piece of scholarship."

Devin Lander

"This fascinating narrative of the struggle to expand women’s rights in New York is a timely reminder about the crucial role grassroots activism has played in changing national politics. Women Will Vote is an important and splendid book."

Melanie Gustafson

"Goodier and Pastorello’s key intervention is their ability to connect suffrage activism in New York City to community efforts across the state, demonstrating that suffrage activism was not exclusive to the city. By placing New York State at the center of their work, Goodier and Pastorello are able to flesh out the movement’s nuance, widening their scope to encompass a breadth of suffrage activists and organizations, like the Jamestown Political Equality Club (1887), one of the many political coalitions for women in upstate New York."

The Gotham Center for NYC History Blog - Marcela Micucci

"(Starred Review) In 1917, a referendum granting women in New York State full suffrage finally passed, an accomplishment activists had been working toward since the mid-19th century. Goodier (history, State Univ. of New York, Oneonta; No Vote for Women) and Pastorello (history, Tompkins Cortland Community Coll.; The Progressives) explore the people and events that made this milestone possible. The authors primarily focus on the many who contributed to the cause of suffrage, including well-known figures such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton while also introducing readers to Max Eastman, Carrie Chapman Catt, and other equally important but lesser-known suffragists.... Goodier and Pastorello offer a thorough perspective of the long struggle for voting equality in New York—and the first step toward equal rights. VERDICT Highly recommended to those interested in women's history as well as the history of New York State. The work is particularly timely with the centennial of the successful referendum in November 2017."

From the Publisher