WOMEN’S HISTORY IN RIVERDALE

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    • #2684
      COGGINSS
      Participant

        Celebrating Women’s History Month!

        Women’s Voting History March started off at 242nd street, across the street from Van Cortlandt Park, on Dec. 16, 1912, in Riverdale.

        The 140-mile suffrage pilgrimage by “General” Rosalie Jones and her “army” of hikers from Manhattan to Albany, New York to present suffrage petitions to Governor-Elect William Sulzer and draw publicity to the cause.

        Rosalie Jones was a member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association who led a group of NAWSA members on a suffrage pilgrimage from Manhattan to Albany, New York. The “pilgrims” presented the petition to Governor-elect Sulzer three days after they arrived in Albany. It should be noted that although she was in favor of Women’s Suffrage, she refused to allow Black suffragists on her pilgrimages – a decision consistent with others she made throughout her life, and tragically of many white suffragists of the time. https://www.nps.gov/people/dr-general-rosalie-jones.htm

        Two months later, Jones organized another pilgrimage from New York City to Washington, D.C. for the March 3, 1913 suffrage parade.

        I wonder why there is no historical marker at 242d Street.
        There should be.

        For more information:

        The Riverdale Press covered this story in 2019:
        https://www.riverdalepress.com/stories/bronx-women-instrumental-in-suffrage-movement,69021

        https://lewissuffragecollection.omeka.net/items/show/1339

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffrage_Hikes

        https://msmagazine.com/2010/12/31/dec-31-1912-suffrage-mission-accomplished/

        Suffragist Hike - Dec. 1912

      • #2685
        COGGINSS
        Participant

        • #2687
          ndembowski
          Keymaster

            Thanks for sharing this interesting piece of history.  It would be interesting to know if any locals were involved in this march but I am not sure where you could look to get more information.  Lehman College holds the archives of the “Riverdale News,” which published in this period although I do not know if they have issues from 1912.

            Tangentially related to this topic, several of our neighborhood’s local historians were women.  Mary E. Kane published Yesterday in Riverdale and Spuyten Duyvil, which even predates the Kingsbridge Historical Society by two years.  It contains much information that you cannot find in other sources.

            Margaret O’Rourke was an early member of the Kingsbridge Historical Society.  She chaired the effort to save the historic Berrian-Johnson House, which stood in lower Henry Hudson Park on Spuyten Duyvil from destruction:


            Only to receive face this terse rebuke from Robert Moses in the August 23, 1951 issue of the Riverdale Press:


            Sadly, Margaret and KHS were not able to save the house from destruction but she continued to be active in local history.  As late as 1985, she spoke at KHS meetings about her memories of growing up in the area such as hearing the whistle blow at the Johnson Foundry “that started the day and kept the neighborhood on schedule.”

            Not to mention that the Kingsbridge Historical Society was led by a woman, Charlotte Livingston, during the 1960s and into the 70s.  She was a gifted painter and I always appreciated her loving watercolor of the aforementioned Berrian-Johnson House:

          • #2688
            Thomas Casey
            Participant

              Mrs. Daniel Appleton Palmer – ( aka ) AMY  “HERMINIA” HERNANDEZ   PALMER,  born  11/26/1888 was the Bronx Borough Chairwomen of the Woman Suffrage Party 1916 – 1918.  The 1920 census records listed Amy Palmer as living at 442 West 238th StMs Palmer

            • #2689
              Thomas Casey
              Participant

              • #2690
                Thomas Casey
                Participant

                • #2691
                  Thomas Casey
                  Participant

                  • #2692
                    Thomas Casey
                    Participant

                    • #2693
                      Thomas Casey
                      Participant

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