Event, Post, Suffragents, Video

Nassau County Historical Society – The Suffragents – April 22, 2018 – Jericho Library

April 22, 2018

 

 

April 22, 2018

 

I felt sure that the gorgeous day—a Sunday, and at 2pm, no less,  the first day to snap a long, miserable cold spell—would have meant a tiny turnout for the Suffragents event, organized by the Nassau County Historical Society at the beautiful Jericho Public Library. So, Alex and I steeled ourselves for same as we made the trek from Manhattan, salved by the chance to try a Portuguese restaurant, the Lisbon Cafe, which happens to be around the corner from the library, not a minute away.

 

 

All cares disappeared upon sight of the welcoming amuse-bouche on every table: freshly fried homemade potato chips and a selection of olives. Well, that alone was worth the 40-minute drive.

 

 

Alex ordered viño verde, which we decided after two sips to make our summer aperitif of choice this year.

 

 

The meal was just that good, too. For me, it was grilled octopus, followed by house salad and the restaurant’s tenderly delicious goat.

 

 

I should have known better than to worry about what would happen at the library, another superb Long Island public center of community life.

 

 

With arrangements for the historical society meeting in the charge of the organization’s extremely able president, my friend, Dr. Natalie Naylor, Hofstra professor emerita, (with an able assist from her aide de camp, Den Collins), it was clear that no long-yearned-for burst of warmth was going to stand in the way of her ability to summon a crowd.

Side note: You can read more about Dr. Naylor and her interest in the Long Island suffrage movement in this March 21, 2018 write-up in the Long Island Weekly (during Women’s History Month, of course.) The lovely portrait of Natalie by Jonathan Heisler is reproduced just below. The writer is Betsy Abraham. 

 

Natalie Naylor (Photo by Jonathan Heisler)

 

Natalie is an accomplished historian and the author of several books, including Women in Long Island’s Past: A History of Eminent Ladies and Everyday Lives.

Now, how about the 170-seat auditorium at the Jericho Public Library? It really is state-of-the-art spectacular. On the stage, in the photo below, is Carlos, the library’s crackerjack AV expert. He did the set up and saved the day at least once during my time on stage.

 

 

I was thrilled that in the audience was one of my other great Long Island suffrage buddies, Antonia Petrash, head of the Long Island Woman Suffrage Association and author of Long Island and the Woman Suffrage Movement. I’ve known Antonia since the Long Island suffrage planning event she organized at the Walt Whitman House, back in November of 2016. There, I also met Arlene Hinkemeyer of the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, with whom I’ve also joyfully collaborated in this period.

In fact, it was at Antonia’s 2016 event that I first got to try out my Suffragents research—happily, before a warm and like-minded group. The photo below was taken that day. Natalie and Antonia are both to my left as you face the photo. Arlene is at the far right, in the “Votes for Women” sash.

 

 

And here are Antonia and Natalie at Sunday’s event, looking mighty swish.

 

 

 

And here’s Den Collins:

 

 

 

 

And a few shots from a warm and receptive crowd and the reception and book signing that followed.

 

 

And the presentation itself, minus the introductory remarks and thank yous and the first bit of the reading. The reading is from a major suffrage campaign planning meeting in Saratoga Springs, which took place two months before the New York referendum vote on November 6, 1917.

 

 

 

 

Warm thanks again to Natalie and the Historical Society for inviting me, to the Jericho Public Library for hosting, and to everyone who came for being such a receptive and responsive audience.