ARC Review: We Demand The Right To Vote: The Journey to the 19th Amendment by Meneese Wall

Posted July 16, 2020 by Stephanie in Reviews / 5 Comments

Title: We Demand The Right To Vote: The Journey to the 19th Amendment
Author & Illustrator: Meneese Wall
Publication: August 1st 2020 by Paxton Press
Genre: Nonfiction, History
Rating: 5/5
Ever wonder what our foremothers were doing while our forefathers were making recorded history? And what did these women do to claim their social and political power to change their circumstances?

We Demand the Right to Vote: The Journey to the 19th Amendment introduces readers to American women’s civil rights movement known as “Women’s Suffrage”—women’s 72-year struggle for social and political equality that culminated in their winning the right to vote via the 19th Amendment. With that right well in hand, women could change their worlds.

Written in a conversational, easy-to-read style, this illustrated historical account commences with Native American cultural influences and continues with women’s conventions, arrests, trials, petitions, battles won, and those lost to reveal society’s slow acceptance of women’s involvement outside of their socially prescribed realm. Throughout the book’s journey, enchanting artwork—inspired by historical events, people, quotes, and memorabilia—visually illustrates the various pivotal moments chronicled in each chapter.

We Demand the Right to Vote is an overview from the national perspective of this defining period in women’s history. It empowers readers with the big picture about women’s journey to enfranchisement, thereby allowing them to better choose the areas of this history in which they wish to delve deeper or to be satisfied they now understand this important chapter in our collective history which is not taught in schools.

Both a history book and an art book, We Demand The Right To Vote is ideal for audiences of all ages—an enjoyable, beautiful, and rousing read worth further exploration.

 
It’s often easy to take the right to vote for granted. I think these days most people (including myself) don’t think about it very frequently. That’s why We Demand The Right To Vote: The Journey to the 19th Amendment is such a great and important book, especially during this day and age because it reminds its readers that change doesn’t happen with a snap of a finger. It takes time, resilience and courage. And that’s exactly what the real-life women in this book had in spades.

This was quite the unexpected book, I must admit. When I read the synopsis and what it was all about I knew it would be right up my alley since I love nonfiction history and art but I hadn’t anticipated it ending up as a five star read (which I don’t easily hand out) but it turned out to be such a beautifully illustrated, engaging and worthwhile book that I couldn’t give it anything other than five stars. It was definitely earned!

I really loved reading about all these amazing women from history that paved the road for American women to be able to have the right to vote today. I knew about a few of them already but the majority of them were unfamiliar to me and I loved reading and learning about what they did. It was also a much more diverse read than I initially thought it would be. For example, the book starts out with the influence of Native American women. I loved this.

Of course I also have to talk about the incredible art. It was really some very gorgeous art and was added at the start of each chapter. There were also various quotes included in the book that I really enjoyed reading. 

We Demand The Right To Vote Meneese Wall is an insightful and outstanding book where art and history come together to take its readers through American women’s civil rights movement and the journey to to the 19th Amendment. You definitely won’t want to miss out on it!
About the author:
When Meneese Wall’s daughter asked why her American History classes were all about men, Meneese decided she had to help write women back into our sphere of historical influence. She believes curiosity and aesthetics matter. Understanding history helps inform our present and our future while beauty, in its many forms, makes our journey all the more enjoyable. Writing and illustrating We Demand The Right To Vote is Meneese’s contribution to each American’s history education, with the hope for a more egalitarian society through knowledge of how, in part, we arrived at today’s realities.
Website | Goodreads


5 responses to “ARC Review: We Demand The Right To Vote: The Journey to the 19th Amendment by Meneese Wall

  1. Ktrig

    I hate the phrase, women’s civil rights movement. It’s just another euphemism for the word, feminism.

    Feminism is a great word.

Leave a Reply

(Enter your URL then click here to include a link to one of your blog posts.)