Woman Suffrage Campaign Song Book.
“Let Woman’s Voice Be Heard”:
Suffrage Songs Edited By Nebraska’s First Lawyer
[Suffrage]. Bittenbender, Ada M., arr. Woman Suffrage Campaign Song Book. Lincoln: Tribune Printing Co., 1882.
12mo.; tan wrappers; printed in black; corner of lower cover and last four leaves torn; upper cover soiled; penciled equations on the first page and the rear cover; rubbed. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
First edition; according to the Nebraska State Historical Society, this is one of the earliest printed items published for the Nebraska Woman Suffrage Association; the only other concurrent publication is a periodical titled the Western Woman’s Journal (1881-1882). The songs are arranged by Ada M. Bittenbender, the first female lawyer in Nebraska; and published in 1882, the years she was the president of the NWSA, which she had helped to organize the previous year.
This Journal, while not officially affiliated with the NWSA, certainly shared some of its interests. It was edited by Erasmus M. Correll, who was also involved in the NWSA, and who is quoted on the verso of the rear cover – in a piece titled “Because” – listing ten reasons why women should be granted suffrage rights; noting, among other reasons, that “male suffrage alone means an aristocracy of sex, while impartial suffrage means a true republic.” Bittenbender also wrote for Correll’s Journal; she is noted as a contributor in June, 1882.
Seventeen suffrage songs are included herein, and set to popular music; they were written by several Nebraskan suffragists, including Louise V. Boyd, Catharine A.F. Stebbins, Caroline Mason, Julia Mills Dunn, E. Estabrook and John W. Hutchinson.
The songs chosen are evidence that the women – and men – involved in the Nebraska Woman Suffrage Campaign were dedicated to their cause in a spirited fashion; they include: “Song of Freedom,” set to the tune, “America”; “Unite for Liberty,” set to “Bruce’s Address”; “The Woman’s Cause is Right,” set to “The Girl I Left Behind Me”; “Hail! Nebraska,” set to “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”; “Woman Suffrage Jubilee,” set to “Marching Through Georgia”; “Equality Before the Law,” set to “Yankee Doodle”; “New Battle Hymn of the Republic,” set to “John Brown”; and “Vote it Right Along,” set to “Good News.”
The verso of the upper cover prints that a resolution was passed in Nebraska in 1881, proposing an amendment to that state’s constitution that would grant women suffrage; this amendment was to be voted on in the election of 1882. The bottom part of the page addresses the “Women of Nebraska” and encourages, “It is urgently requested that every woman who desires the adoption of the Amendment be at the polls on election day, and ask here husband, father, brother, son and neighbor to vote the ticket having upon it the words: ‘FOR AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION RELATING TO RIGHTS OF SUFFRAGE.’”
As the lyrics convey, each song is infused with a catchy spirit of nationalism, patriotism, pride and a yearning for equality. “The Woman’s Cause is Right,” unattributed, reflects all of these traits; it reads, in full:
What means this strange commotion now
That’s spreading o’er the land
Which agitates the social world
With some new power’s command?
‘Tis in the golden sunshine’s glow;
‘Tis in the bracing air;
‘Tis creeping into human hearts –
A spirit just and fair.
It means in legislative halls
Must woman have a voice;
That justice, truth and honor’s power
May make all hearts rejoice;
It means for equal hours of toil
An equal wage be given;
It means that scowls and passions wild
From minds of men be driven.
Does a woman teach the youthful mind
To know the nation’s laws?
Does she defend fair Freedom in
A just and holy cause?
She suffers sacrifice, and pays
For national support,
And feels the country’s weal or woe
In spirit and in heart.
Who’s first in Christian life and love?
Who makes the light of home?
Who fights the ‘De
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