An American Revolution: Women Take Their Place

Talk about backlashes. It took 72 years for women to secure the right to vote. It took 76 years after that for the statue honoring Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to be returned to the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Only a few days after its original unveiling in 1921, the statue was mysteriously removed to a broom closet in the crypt, where the gilded inscription was whitewashed, and the plaques identifying the women were removed from the front and hidden on the back. With the 75th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, many people thought The Portrait Statue should come out of the broom closet and be moved back upstairs. However, Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.) blocked the $75,000 needed for the move. The National Museum of Women's History then raised the funds privately, and now the statue is back in the Rotunda with Washington, Lincoln, and King. This videotape divides its time between the statue's saga and an overview of the suffrage movement. Given the half-hour format, the producers should have spent more time on the history and less on the various Congresspersons (including Newt Gingrich) basking in reflected glory at the re-dedication ceremony. And shame on the writers for making Lynn Sherr state "you're not likely to find [women's history] in history books." Women's history has been prominent everywhere from academe to grade school for the past 15 years! Still, despite these weaknesses, this tape is an extremely interesting and worthy purchase for school and public libraries. Aud: I, J, H, C, P. (R. Reagan)