The Women’s March

Jennifer Chiaverini

Publication date: July 27, 2021 by William Morrow

Genre: Historical Fiction

Rating: 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Twenty-five-year-old Alice Paul returns to her native New Jersey after several years on the front lines of the suffrage movement in Great Britain. Weakened from imprisonment and hunger strikes, she is nevertheless determined to invigorate the stagnant suffrage movement in her homeland. Nine states have already granted women voting rights, but only a constitutional amendment will secure the vote for all.

To inspire support for the campaign, Alice organizes a magnificent procession down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, the day before the inauguration of President-elect Woodrow Wilson, a firm antisuffragist.

Joining the march is thirty-nine-year-old New Yorker Maud Malone, librarian and advocate for women’s and workers’ rights. The daughter of Irish immigrants, Maud has acquired a reputation—and a criminal record—for interrupting politicians’ speeches with pointed questions they’d rather ignore.

Civil rights activist and journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett resolves that women of color must also be included in the march—and the proposed amendment. Born into slavery in Mississippi, Ida worries that white suffragists may exclude Black women if it serves their own interests.

On March 3, 1913, the glorious march commences, but negligent police allow vast crowds of belligerent men to block the parade route—jeering, shouting threats, assaulting the marchers—endangering not only the success of the demonstration but the women’s very lives.

Inspired by actual events, The Women’s March offers a fascinating account of a crucial but little-remembered moment in American history, a turning point in the struggle for women’s rights. 

My Thoughts: The stories of the Women’s Suffrage movement in the United States usually consist of focusing on the efforts of several women: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott. While these women were certainly pivotal to the cause, their actions were not the only ones that generated awareness and change. Chiaverini has composed a remarkable book focused on the 1913 Women’s Suffrage march in Washington D.C. This book has been meticulously researched and Chiaverini has very successfully taken that research and delivered it in an easy to follow format. The book introduces readers to other influential women of the suffrage movement including Alice Paul, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Maud Malone. It showcases how women vying for suffrage in the United States incorporated lessons learned by suffragists in other countries and chose a more docile approach. By utilizing 3 main characters with distinctly different backgrounds, Chiaverini was able to touch upon the varying views of how inclusive the fight for suffrage should be. Even with just focusing on this one major event, Chiaverini provides a comprehensive history of the suffrage movement. This is my first book by this author and it certainly won’t be my last.

I received an advance copy of this title via NetGalley.