"Woman's Rights Convention," 14 July 1848

Let's say today in 1848 you finally get around to reading last Friday's issue of the North Star, the new newspaper by that intriguing Frederick Douglass.  July 16 in 1848 was a Sunday, so you have a little time. 

Oh, look, on page two! So many things to do! The Friends of Freedom in Western New York will be holding their "Freedom's Jubilee," the First of August celebration of West India Emancipation, in Washington Square in Rochester. That must be on the agenda of the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society Executive Committee's agenda for their meeting on July 18th at the Anti-Slavery Office. 

William C. Nell, the executive secretary who placed that notice, is such a nice fellow, and such a witty man. If only you could have attended his lectures on "science, history, and every-day experience." Do you think this long piece on "What are the Colored People Doing for themselves?" is an extract? 

In any case, later, in mid-August, the Western Anti-Slavery Society will be holding their Annual Meeting in Salem, Ohio.  Then, on September 6th, The Great National Convention of Colored Freemen of the United States will meet in Cleveland. "This is a CRISIS and something we MUST and WILL DO!" writes Martin Delany. Very true, that. After all, the war with Mexico is bringing in so much territory to the United States. Look at that article about the "Free Soil Convention in Worcester" on the front page! General Taylor of that war, from a slaveholding state, is running for president, and look at the lengthy report from Delany from the Liberty Party Convention and the excerpts from other papers that follow it to see how disastrous that could be! The Ram's Horn, one of the only other black-edited antislavery newspapers in the country, is moving from New York to Toronto.

But, wait...what is this?

Rights of Married Women -- Mr. Horn of Washington county, has introduced a bill in the Senate to exempt married women's property

Did not that bill pass in April?

And a little above it? My goodness!

A Convention to discuss the Social, Civil and Religious Condition and Rights of Woman, will be held in the Wesleyan Chapel at Seneca Falls, New York, on Wednesday and Thursday, the 19th and 20th of July instant.

During the first day, the meetings will be exclusively for women, which all are earnestly invited to attend.  The public generally are invited to be present on the second day, when Lucretia Mott, of Philadelphia, and others, both ladies and gentlemen, will address the Convention

Who shall attend? Well, you would imagine the editor of the paper, in spite of his sore throat. Do you think maybe Nell would accompany him? Or would he be needed at the paper. You can be sure that a number of the women listed as accepting donations to the Anti-Slavery Fair will be there.

"Wednesday and Thursday, the 19th and 29th of July instant" in 1848 is this Thursday and Friday in 2018, 170 years later. Seneca Falls and the Women's Rights National Historical Park will be holding their annual Convention Days commemorative events all weekend. It will be my own great honor to be speaking of Frederick Douglass and Women's Rights in that very chapel on Friday, 20 July, the very day that Douglass himself spoke in support of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's proposition for woman's suffrage.

Full schedule here.

If only I had a purple bloomer costume to wear! (Although I would probably regret it in this heat.)