“Keeping History Strong” Series of Virtual Programs
The first three programs in the newly launched “Keeping History Strong” virtual programming series celebrate “100 Years of Votes for Women” with storybook readings that pay tribute to women whose valiant efforts in the decades-long struggle for women’s suffrage, the right to vote in elections, culminated with the August 18, 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which extended such voting privilege to women and which was formally adopted into the Constitution on August 26, 1920 (now celebrated annually as “Women’s Equality Day”).
The videotaped readings are presented/read by Kenilworth Historical Society board member and historical interpreter Karen DeMaio. They are preceded by a brief introduction to the Oswald J. Nitschke House (c. 1880) “living history” museum and cultural arts center by Kenilworth Historical Society president Shirley Boyden Maxwell followed by comments on the women’s suffrage movement by second vice president and educational programming chair Frances J. Day.
Click Here to view the first such storybook reading, of Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote (written by Tanya Lee Stone, illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon and published by Macmillan Publishers). The colorfully illustrated picture book highlights the life of early women’s rights and suffrage leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902), who helped change America forever by not taking “no” for an answer.
Click Here to view the second storybook reading, of Around America to Win the Vote: Two Suffragists, A Kitten, and 10,000 Miles (written by Mara Rockliff, illustrated by Hadley Hooper and published by Candlewick). The colorfully illustrated picture book relates the story of two brave suffragists, Nell Richardson and Alice Burke, who in 1916 traveled across America in a two-seater yellow car to spread the word, “Votes for Women!”
Click Here to view the third storybook reading, of Miss Paul and the President: The Creative Campaign for Women’s Right to Vote (written by Dean Robbins, illustrated by Nancy Zhang and published by Knopf Books for Young Readers). The colorfully illustrated picture book depicts the extensive work of leading 20th-century suffragist, feminist and women’s rights activist Alice Stokes Paul (1885-1977), whose advocacy for women’s suffrage included an ambitious campaign to garner President Woodrow Wilson’s support in 1917-1918.
Although all three books are geared toward children, the message in each one is relevant, enlightening and appropriate for all age groups.
The Kenilworth Historical Society is grateful to Paolo and Jeizza Andrade, Kenilworth residents and friends of the Society, who generously shared their videographic talents to make the virtual storybook readings possible.
Reading by Victorian Santa (aka Craig Day) of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (Setting: The c. 1880 Oswald J. Nitschke House Parlor; Date: Dec. 14, 2020)
Click Here for the Reading
Virtual Program Remembering/Reenacting Famed Aviator and World War II Hero Jimmy Doolittle’s March 14, 1929 Plane Crash in Kenilworth, N.J. — An Event That Led to Important Advances in Flight Safety
Click Here to View the Videotaped Program (approx. 14 minutes)
Virtual Program Regarding the “Pack Horse Library Project of Eastern Kentucky” — One of the Most Innovative WPA Programs of the 1930s
Click Here to View the Videotaped Program, including a reading of the fictional children’s book on the subject, That Book Woman, by Heather Henson, with pictures by David Small (published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers) (approx. 10 minutes). This program was filmed by the Kenilworth Historical Society at the Oswald J. Nitschke House museum, in the home office of former Kenilworth Mayor Oswald J. Nitschke (1867-1934), with equipment funded by a recently awarded New Jersey Historical Commission COVID-19 grant.
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