Sybil Downing’s newest historical novel, “The Vote,” vividly reminds readers just how far women’s rights have come in America. The beginning of the story depicts the treatment of suffragists at the hands of President Wilson’s minions in 1918. This cavalier and sometimes brutal treatment is reminiscent of the current situation of many of the world’s women, especially those in Third World countries.
The facts of this struggle read as a fascinating adventure.
The opening scene in the book in 1918 is taken from the first picket line at the White House in the history of the country. While President Wilson’s attention is focused on World War I and America’s imminent entry into the conflict, women are on the streets battling for their rights. Downing does a service by bringing this issue to the attention of the nation’s conscience and alerting those who are unaware of this recent battle for equality of the sexes within our borders.
The fight centers on the passage and ratification of the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, granting women the right to vote. Due largely to the efforts of the suffragists, the amendment was passed and ratified on Aug. 26, 1920 when Tennessee signed it into law. After the amendment had been approved by three-quarters of the states, 26 million women gained the right to go to the polls.
Downing introduces real-life Alice Paul (1885-1979), who founded the radical National Woman’s Party in 1916 and organized this momentous first picket line. She and Lucy Burns (1879-1966) were instrumental in the women of America getting the vote. Both were incarcerated for their actions and were sent to Occoquan workhouse where they were force-fed when they went on a hunger strike. Their experience led them to be called the Iron Jawed Angels.
This phrase was used as the title to the HBO special produced in 2004. Viewing the film is a good companion to reading “The Vote.” Paul spent more time in jail than any other suffragette. It is likely that her 19-day hunger strike, causing a public outcry, forced the president to finally accept the right of women to vote.
Downing’s fictional heroine, Kate Brennan, is an upper-class young woman from Denver. A recent college graduate, Kate is visiting the nation’s capital and staying with her friend Millie. She inadvertently gets swept up in a demonstration by the National Woman’s Party across from the White House and is mistakenly arrested with the demonstrators. Kate comes from Colorado, where women already have the vote. But after being unfairly imprisoned and subjected to the horrors of the Occoquan Workhouse, she joins the fight.
Downing, a fourth-generation Coloradan, is well grounded in Colorado history. She has written three previous novels and 13 books for young readers, including 10 books in the Colorado Heritage Series and two in the Women of the West series. Downing also co-founded the Women Writing the West literary group.
Downing aptly blends the real life struggles and accomplishments of Paul and Burns with her fictional character’s awakening as a suffragist. She has done painstaking research into the events highlighted during the course of “The Vote.”
Downing’s intimate knowledge of the political process, then and now, also strengthens this book. In addition to holding office herself, she has written a biography of Tom Patterson (leader of the Democratic Party in Colorado in the late 19th century and Downing’s great-great grandfather).
As Kate’s story unfolds, she becomes more involved at the national office of the Woman’s Party in Washington. In a last-ditch effort to get the amendment passed, the party sends Kate back to Colorado to defeat family friend John Shafroth’s attempt at re-election to the Senate. Because he failed to help pass the amendment and because Republicans have vowed to support the fight, they are determined that Shafroth must be replaced.
During her efforts to convince Democrats to vote against the popular senator, Kate alienates her traditionally Democratic family and meets Mary Daly, a strong working woman with ties to the community. Together they pursue the quest, and their lives will never be the same.
As fascinating and well written as “The Vote” is, the fictional aspect seems somewhat slight. Kate’s response to the triumphs and struggles at the end of the book seems unexpected. She chooses a path that any privileged young woman of the times did, a good marriage and children. That her life seems untouched by the drama is a disappointment.
Details about the origination of the Susan B. Anthony amendment, how it was introduced and the previous effort to get it passed, would have been welcome here.
As it is, the story begins toward the end of the fight to gain the vote. Also, Downing does not tell the readers just who Anthony is and why the bill is named for her, though many might already know. A brief synopsis would ground all readers equally in the backstory and let them go forward in the action. Despite these observations, “The Vote” is enjoyable. Students, especially, should read it as a reality check on how far we as a nation have progressed in less than a century.
Leslie Doran is a freelance writer in Durango.
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The Vote
By Sybil Downing
University of New Mexico Press, 294 pages, $19.95
