Margins
Gilded Suffragists book cover
Gilded Suffragists
The New York Socialites who Fought for Women's Right to Vote
2017
First Published
3.66
Average Rating
240
Number of Pages

Part of Series

New York City's elite women who turned a feminist cause into a fashionable revolution In the early twentieth century over two hundred of New York's most glamorous socialites joined the suffrage movement. Their names—Astor, Belmont, Rockefeller, Tiffany, Vanderbilt, Whitney and the like—carried enormous public value. These women were the media darlings of their day because of the extravagance of their costume balls and the opulence of the French couture clothes, and they leveraged their social celebrity for political power, turning women's right to vote into a fashionable cause. Although they were dismissed by critics as bored socialites "trying on suffrage as they might the latest couture designs from Paris," these gilded suffragists were at the epicenter of the great reforms known collectively as the Progressive Era. From championing education for women, to pursuing careers, and advocating for the end of marriage, these women were engaged with the swirl of change that swept through the streets of New York City. Johanna Neuman restores these women to their rightful place in the story of women's suffrage. Understanding the need for popular approval for any social change, these socialites used their wealth, power, social connections and style to excite mainstream interest and to diffuse resistance to the cause. In the end, as Neuman says, when change was in the air, these women helped push women's suffrage over the finish line.
Avg Rating
3.66
Number of Ratings
167
5 STARS
19%
4 STARS
41%
3 STARS
28%
2 STARS
10%
1 STARS
2%
goodreads

Author

Johanna Neuman
Johanna Neuman
Author · 3 books

Johanna Neuman's latest book, And Yet They Persisted: How American Women Won the Right to Vote, tells the story of how women fought for two centuries—from the revolutionary war to the civil rights era—for the vote. As the nation celebrates the centennial of the 19th Amendment, this book reminds us that the abiding attribute needed for social change is persistence. An earlier book, Gilded Suffragists, tells the story more than 200 women of enormous wealth who joined the fight to win women the right to vote. With names like Astor, Belmont and Vanderbilt, they were the media darlings of their day, covered for every excess of fashion and decor. And when they risked their social standing to win the vote for women, it was like Oprah Winfrey blessing a cause today. It popularized the movement. An award-winning journalist with 30 years of experience in Washington, D.C. covering the news for major national newspapers, Johanna recently earned a PhD in history at American University. She is already at work on her second history book, a look at the fight between militants and moderates during the suffrage struggle.

548 Market St PMB 65688, San Francisco California 94104-5401 USA
© 2025 Paratext Inc. All rights reserved