"American Woman," the true story of women's fight to vote, set for March 14 in Bartlesville
"American Woman: A Brief History and Exciting True Story of the Women Suffragists," an hour-long production presented by the Bartlesville Women's Network, is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, March 14, at Theater Bartlesville, 312 S. Dewey Ave.
Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. The performance will be followed by a brief reception in the lobby. Seating is general admission.
The script was adapted by Shelby Brammer from a full-length play written in 2020 by Jan Dreiling and the late Joan Dreisker (Celebrate! 100 Years of Woman Suffrage) for the Bartlesville Women’s Network. The Women’s Network had planned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, with a performance at the Bartlesville Community Center. However, the arrival of Covid-19 caused that original production to be canceled.
Then in 2023, the Bartlesville League of Women Voters decided it might fulfill its educational mission by producing a one-act version of the Dreisker/Dreiling full-length play during National Women’s History Month in March of the 2024 election year. The adaptation is co-directed by Shelby and Sidney Brammer, and features actors Shelly Holdman, Eric Jaekel, and Shelby Brammer.
"American Woman" charts the course of the decades-long struggle of American women to push for the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave American women the right to vote, by stating that “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
The remarkable history of that struggle for suffrage (the right to vote) is full of unforgettable characters, such as Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, Olympia Brown, Ida B. Wells, and others.
Their struggle was marked by steadfast friendships between extraordinary women leaders, and enormous fortitude in the face of hardship among the rank-and-file suffragists (such as beatings in jail, and forced feedings during hunger strikes). Their struggle continued throughout the Civil War and World War I.
President Woodrow Wilson became both enemy and ally to the Suffragists, until he finally, near the end of his life, supported passage of the 19th Amendment.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: "American Woman," on fight for the right to vote, set for March 14
