100 years of voting rights for California women!

South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild celebrating the Woman's
Suffrage Centennial at Satori Tea Bar!

San Jose joins the rest of California in celebrating an important milestone: the centennial anniversary of women being granted the vote in California!  In 1911 the Women’s Suffrage Amendment was finally passed by both houses of the California Legislature, and it was signed into law on October 10, 1911 by the governor, under the eye of Clara Foltz, the first female lawyer on the Pacific coast of North America, who lived and practiced in San Jose.

The work began in 1840, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, along with other female American delegates to the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, were not allowed to sit in the convention hall and participate, because of their gender.  They realized the many similarities between the conditions of racial slavery and gender inequality, and resolved to address the issue on their return to the U.S.

Celebrate 100 years of California women's right to vote!

Chicago Woman's Suffrage parade marching
costume, 1916.  Library of Congress.

California was one of the early western states that paved the way for the national amendment, and California's woman's suffrage amendment was passed on October 10, 1911 after many years of work and education on the part of the state's suffrage supporters.  This wonderful centennial anniversary is being marked all over the state throughout 2011, and the celebrations are especially numerous this month, the anniversary month of the event.  The South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild will be celebrating in San Jose this coming weekend!  Gentlemen and well-behaved children welcome to attend. 

Date: Sat., October 8; noon march, tea at 1 p.m.
Location: march from the Knox-Goodrich Building @ 1st and S. Santa Clara St.; tea at Satori Tea Bar in San Pedro Square.
Cost: $7 per person (for a "Votes for Women" sash and to pay our re-enactor); pay for your own tea and refreshments.
Suggested Costume: day dress from the 1840s through 1911, "suffragettes."

A tempest in a teapot ...

photo of Susan B. Anthony is from Designed to a T.
Some Internet friends just reminded me that March is Women's History Month, with posts about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, and it made me think about the Woman's Suffrage Tea that I gave back in 2007. Did you know that the battle for women's rights -- especially voting rights -- in the United States began at a tea party in New York in 1848? That meeting led to the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls, NY, on July 19, 1848.

I wanted to honor Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and the other ladies who saw the need and led the struggle to do something about it, by hosting my own tea party in their memory. If you wanted to do the same thing, here are some notes I made from my tea, for your inspiration:

Decor and colors for the table and the food: Red, white and blue; Suffragist colors -- green, purple and white. Small American flags on the table, plain white cups, saucers and plates. Favor: a homemade “Votes for Women” badge?

Menu:
Cottage Cheese and Green Onion in Green Pepper cups
Peas, Onions and Prosciutto Turnovers
Basil-Lavender Egg Salad Sandwiches
Cold Chicken Sandwiches with Sauteed Mushrooms and Onions

Cream Scones
Strawberry Preserves
Clotted Cream
Blueberry Toast Rounds with Blueberry Cream Cheese
Grape Jelly
Lime Curd

Toasted Pound Cake with Rose Cream
Lavender Shortbread
Lime Bars or Lime cookies
Japanese Green Tea Cookies
Blackberry Custard tarts
Green Tea ice cream
Lime Sherbet

Also, PBS put out a documentary about the lives of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and their involvement with the Women's Rights movement; it has been released on DVD, and it's really interesting. You could watch it as you drink your tea!