Susan B. Anthony’s gravesite on Election Day and the day after

Posted by [email protected] | Nov 9, 2016 | Cultural Life | 0 |

Ashley Edlund covering the event for News 8, Mt. Hope Cemetery, 11/08/16

Yesterday on Election Day, according to the Democrat and Chonicle, over seven thousand people gathered at the gravesite of Susan B. Anthony in Mt. Hope Cemetery for a day long tribute on the 96th anniversary on the first election in 1920 when woman could cast their vote nationwide. People came early, lined up all day, and stayed well past the scheduled 9 p.m. closing time.

Patrice Walsh of WHAM Channel 13 News 11/08/16

The event was covered by multiple media outlets. Channel 8 News and a RIT student group live-streamed all day. The New York Times ran “Voters Gather at Susan B. Anthony’s Grave in Rochester.” Newsweek wrote, “How the Susan B. Anthony Tombstone Became a Monument of Hope for Hillary Clinton Supporters.” National Susan B. Anthony House & Museum Executive Director Deborah Hughes was interviewed by the BBC.

On the 65 degree day, the normally placid cemetery felt buoyant and life affirming as person after person left “I Voted” stickers and other tributes at Anthony’s gravesite.

I met Ashley Edlund covering the event for News 8. For Ashley, the day was very emotional. As Ashley said, women of her generation (she is 27) grew up in a world of equal rights. Ashley was thrilled to see so many of her peers come to Mt. Hope to pay homage to the previous generations who have advanced the cause.

With Representative Louise Slaughter (center) and friend [Photo: member of Louise’ staff] 11/08/16

This drizzly and damp morning a few people were back at the gravesite, including Susan B. Anthony House Executive Director Deborah Hughes. The mood was somber. The large majority of the 7,000 who had gathered the day before had voted for Hillary Clinton to be the first woman president of the United States.

The morning after. National Susan B. Anthony House Executive Director Deborah Hughes, 11/09/16

The morning of November 9th. Photo by Gia Liol

No doubt Susan would have been there voting if she could. From Passing the torch at the Susan B. Anthony House

SEE

Passing the torch at the Susan B. Anthony House

About The Author

[email protected]

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones. So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.