Women’s Suffrage in Michigan

Woman Suffrage Tent, 1912 Michigan State Fair, courtesy the Archives of Michigan

March is Women’s History Month in Michigan and this month’s Image of the Month from the Archives of Michigan tells of the arduous but eventually successful process that eventually secured the right to vote for women in Michigan with the ratification of the nineteenth amendment in 1919 (Michigan was one of the first 3 states to ratify).

In Michigan, that struggle spanned at least seven decades. In 1846, a woman named Ernestine Rose spoke to the Michigan legislature about the need for woman suffrage. This was two years before the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. In 1849, a Michigan state Senate committee proposed a “universal suffrage” amendment to the Michigan constitution. This would have granted voting rights to both women and African Americans, but no action was taken on the proposal. A woman suffrage bill did not come before the state legislature again until 1866. It was defeated by only one vote.

Click through to read the rest of a struggle that spanned lifetimes.

Boating the Straits of Mackinac with the Stempkis

Mackinac Bridge, photo by Ross Nave.

#737 on the list of Fun Things You Could Do in Michigan This Weekend is Boating with the Stempkis!

Be sure to check this photo out bigger and here’s Ross’s Michigan slideshow.

Hope your weekend is great!!

Blizzard on Lake Michigan

BLIZZARD ON LAKE MICHIGAN, photo by Lara Salonen.

Yesterday when I was looking for photos from the Great Blizzard of 1978, I came across Lara’s photo. You can see it larger here and in her Michigan’s UP set (slideshow).

It’s a picture of the Menominee North Pier Lighthouse, and – as you can see at that link – it’s the second photo of that light of Lara’s I’ve blogged.

It never ceases to amaze me how changeable the Great Lakes are!

fading boundaries

fading boundaries, photo by urban picasso studios

David suggests viewing this photo from Otsego County on black. I agree!

in the woods

in the woods, photo by nicole st. john.

Nicole says that she found some old pictures that she never got around to uploading. See them larger in her slideshow.

Let’s pass on the discussion of bee-keeping for today and dream about that nice warm buzz of spring … something it seems that Mamma Michigan is doing this morning as well.

Enjoy your weekend, folks – maybe a nice museum today?

Abandoned Mill, Ripley, Michigan 1997

Abandoned Mill, Ripley, Michigan 1997, photo by Bill Schwab.

A number of years ago, I built a site for an excellent local photographer, Greg Seman. I remember him praising the work of Detroit photographer Bill Schwab.

It was a pretty cool feeling when I saw some lovely black & white photos roll into the Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr and realized that they were Bill’s.

This photo is part of Bill’s Michigan set (slideshow), but don’t stop there…

A War Worth Waging and A Vote Worth Casting

A War Worth Waging – HFM, photo by MikeRyu

View it bigger on black and see more photos in Mike’s Henry Ford Museum set (slideshow).

Seeing this photo and realizing it’s been less than 100 years that women have enjoyed the right to vote made me think about how tirelessly they worked to secure the right to vote. Here’s a snapshot of women’s suffrage in Michigan courtesy the H-Net Chronology of Michigan Women’s History:

1849 A Senate committee, led by Senator Rix Robinson of Ada, proposes a universal suffrage amendment but it is not acted upon because of the “unusualness” and “needlessness” of the franchise for women.

1866 The state’s first bill on woman suffrage is defeated by one vote.

1867 The Michigan Legislature grants women taxpayers the right to vote for school trustees but rejects total woman suffrage.

1912 Governor Charles S. Osborn successfully urges the Michigan State Legislature to put the suffrage question before the all-male electorate in November. Clara B. Arthur of Detroit leads the campaign and the proposal appears to win. However, the opposition steals the election under suspicious circumstances.

1917 Governor Albert E. Sleeper signs a bill on May 8, granting Michigan women the right to vote in presidential elections.

1918 Michigan male voters approve a state constitutional amendment granting suffrage to Michigan women.

1919 Michigan women vote for statewide offices for the first time.

1920 The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting the vote to women, becomes law on August 26. Women vote for the first time in the presidential election on November 2.

It also made me wonder how something (each of our rights to vote) that has been bought and paid for time and again with far, far too much blood, sweat and tears can be treated with such disdain by many.

Your vote is your voice, please speak up today.

More about voting in Michigan from Absolute Michigan.

Berry Branch and Bokeh

Berry Branch, photo by Voxphoto.

In Bokeh: What it is and isn’t, Ross (Vox) says that although “bokeh” is the Japanese word for blurry, before this useful term degenerates into just another name for “blurry” we should take a stand to preserve its specific technical meaning:

Bokeh refers to the subjective quality of the blur. Is it “jangly” and busy-looking, or creamy and smooth? Do out-of-focus highlights have odd, distracting shapes, or are they unobtrusive circles? Does the blurred area seem to “swirl” around the center of the photo in arcs? These are some of the factors which might be mentioned as aspects of the bokeh for a particular lens. And these may be the reasons why a serious bokeh geek would chose one particular lens over a different brand with otherwise identical specs.

The word “bokeh” officially entered the English language in 1997, in an issue of the magazine Photo Techniques—whose editor Mike Johnston decided to add the final ‘h’ to make the pronunciation less ambiguous. He tells the story here, and includes some interesting photos showing different subjective effects in various blurred backgrounds.

Read the rest for more technical observations on bokeh from Ross’s excellent photography blog silverbased.org and check out this bokeh slideshow from the Absolute Michigan pool.

Victory Eagle, Marshall Fredericks

“Victory Eagle” at Former Veterans Memorial Building–Detroit MI, photo by pinehurst19475.

Anthony Lockhart writes:

This monumental sculptural relief (twenty-eight feet tall) by Marshall Fredericks is on the north wall of what was the Veterans Memorial Building. It symbolizes both sacrifice and victory. The building is now the UAW-Ford National Programs Center. It was designed by the firm of Harley, Ellington and Day and dedicated in 1951.

He has many more statues & sculptures from Detroit (view slideshow)

Editor’s note: I’m always surprised when I find that I’ve never featured a photo from a photographer whose work I follow closely. This is one of those times – if you’re looking for architectural photographs of Detroit and the surrounding area with informed commentary … look no further.

Clare Union Station

tracks pano, photo by scott.gosnell.

Click the photo to see this excellent panorama larger and to see it on a map. Michigan in Pictures often features stories of historical structures that are being preserved. As near as I can tell, this is not one of those.

The Michigan Passenger Stations page on Clare Union Station begins:

The Clare depot was built by the Pere Marquette and Ann Arbor Railroads in 1898 at a total cost of $6585. The Queen Ann style depot has wings paralleling each set of tracks. There are two bay windows, presumably for agents of both railroads. The door and window arrangement suggests waiting rooms and freight rooms for both roads also.

The Pere Marquette built through Clare around 1870. This was part of the original PM land grant railroad…

Passenger service on the Ann Arbor ended in 1950 and after being used for many years for storage, the building was abandoned. Click to read more and see some more views of the station, including historical photos.

For more photos of the station you can check out Clare, Michigan at Michigan’s Internet Railroad History Museum.