08/21 Women's Rights

Women’s Rights National Historical Park, Seneca Falls, NY 13148
In 1848 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and 4 other women invited the public to the First Women’s Rights Convention to discuss expanding the role of women in America. At the end of the 2 days, 100 people made a public commitment to work together to improve women’s quality of life. While women have achieved greater equality with the vote, property rights and education, the revolution continues today.
At this National Historical Park one can view the park film, “Dreams of Equality”, a dramatization of the lst Women’s Rights Convention, stand face to face with the convention organizers at “The First Wave” statue exhibit and explore the park’s permanent interactive exhibit area.
The remains of the Wesleyan Chapel are immediately adjacent to the Visitors Center. This was the site of the First Women’s Rights Convention and one can read the Declaration of Sentiments engraved on the water wall next to the Visitors Center which declared that “all men and women are created equal.” The document goes on to demand equal rights for women in property and custody laws, educational opportunities, and participation in the church, professions and politics. Women’s wages were garnished by their spouses or employers at one time and that the 19th Amendment was not ratified until 1920.
We got introduced to so many women who made this convention possible and some of them I had never heard of such as Martha Wright and Jane Hunt. The key figure, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, I did remember.
This park is definitely worth visiting if one is passing through Seneca Falls, NY.