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January 29, 2023

Historical Marker for Jesse Washington

Peg Johnston 1916 NAACP

Patricia Bernstein, author of the First Waco Horror, detailing Elisabeth Freeman’s efforts to investigate the lynching of Jesse Washington sent this news: I just wanted to let you know that a historical marker will be dedicated Feb. 13 in Waco commemorating the lynching of Jesse Washington in 1916. https://wacotrib.com/news/local/history/jesse-washington-lynching-marker-ready-to-be-dedicated-at-waco-city-hall/article_f5cb0b12-8bc9-11ed-99e4-cfbe8455ecd4.html. I think Jesse’s terrible […]

November 6, 2022

Ye Pilgrime Shoppe

Peg Johnston 1920-1942 Out of the Limelight Provincetown, The Advocate

A recent trip to Provincetown revealed some new information about Elisabeth Freeman’s “retirement” occupation, an antiques store on Commercial St. For one thing I had the wrong building; matching up pictures of the store with existing establishments was off. A check in the archives of the town’s newspaper, The Advocate, put the address as 407 Commercial […]

October 24, 2022

Filling In the Gaps

Peg Johnston 1911-1916 Media Stunts Rosalie Gardiner Jones and the Long March for Women's Rights, The Pilgrim's Hike of 1913, Woodrow Wilson Inauguration, Zachary Michael Jack

Book Review: “Rosalie Gardiner Jones and the Long March for Women’s Rights” (McFarland) By Zachary Michael Jack Even with my hundreds of clippings of the “Pilgrim’s March” in March of 1913, there are always gaps in our understanding. In the Elisabeth Freeman collection there are precious few personal references that would help us understand how […]

April 18, 2022

By George!

Peg Johnston Family Life Edmund Freeman, Freeman, George Freeman, John Francis Freeman, Shubael Freeman, Skeff Freeman

The elusive father of Elisabeth has been found! Genealogically speaking. For the longest time it was a mystery what his name was, why his wife and kids separated from him, and who his people were. My parents traveled to England and consulted records there, pre-internet, but they were assuming his name was John Francis like […]

January 23, 2022

The Women’s March: A Review

Peg Johnston 1911-1916 Media Stunts Alice Paul, Ida B Wells-Barnett, Jennifer Chiaverini, Maud Malone, NAWSA, Pilgrim's Hike 1913, Rosalie Jones, The Women's March, Women's Suffrage 1913, Woodrow Wilson Inaugural

I love fiction. Historical fiction is one of my favorites and I suspect that a lot of people get their history facts from these books. The good thing is that most historical fiction authors are pretty good about sticking with the facts although they make up dialogue and personalities, hence the fiction. But if you […]

December 5, 2021

Dress Up

Peg Johnston 1905-1911 London, 1911-1916 Media Stunts, Family Life Beachcombers Ball Provincetown MA, Elsie McKenzie militant suffragette, Rosalie Jones, Suffrage Coronation March 1911, Suffrage Hike 1913

Who doesn’t love playing dress up? Well, me for one, but not so our heroine Elisabeth Freeman. She loved fancy dresses and used her fashion sense to draw attention to her cause. Take the “Pilgrim’s Hike” from NY to DC in February 1911 to join the Women’s March the day before Woodrow Wilson’s Inaugural. (Talk […]

September 26, 2021

Cowboy Hospitality

Peg Johnston 1916 Hughes Campaign Charles Evans Hughes, Frances Kellor, Miles City MT 1916

On Board the Women’s Hughes Campaign Train, 1916 Imagine, if you can, a cross-country–both ways– train trip with a bunch of elite women, stopping several times a day to campaign for the Republican presidential candidate. OK, you probably can’t imagine because it was 1916 and the Republicans were the “good guys” in favor of women’s […]

August 16, 2021

EF in the Talkies

Peg Johnston 1911-1916 Media Stunts talkies, Thomas Edison, woman suffrage

Talk about Elisabeth Freeman as a footnote in history!! Thomas Edison was perfecting the first “talkies”–film and sound recordings synced. Casting about for a popular topic he turned to Votes for Women, which was then most controversial. Freeman’s mission was to generate so much awareness of the cause that it became dinner time conversation in […]

July 1, 2021

In the Top 25 History Blogs

Peg Johnston General

Thanks to Feedspot.com, an aggregator site, for making this blog one of their top 25 American History blogs. 24 out 25, but still up there. It is always difficult to let people know about niche blogs like this one, so we appreciate it. If you like an article, we would be grateful if you share […]

May 23, 2021

Video on Elisabeth Freeman

Peg Johnston General, Overview

I had a nice virtual presentation with the Historical Society of Woodstock about Elisabeth Freeman. I made this video as part of that presentation and here it is: Enjoy!!! Thanks to Stephen Schweitzer for videography.

May 10, 2021

Presentation on EF

Peg Johnston General, Overview

The Historical Society of Woodstock is sponsoring a talk on Elisabeth Freeman’s career as an organizer for several social justice causes. On May 19th there will be a zoom presentation and video showing the Freeman scrapbook which details English and US Suffrage, women’s garment workers and other labor issues, the anti-lynching campaign, and resistance to […]

March 14, 2021

The Privilege of History

Peg Johnston General Finding Your Roots, Henry Louis Gates

One of my favorite TV shows is Henry Louis Gates’ “Finding Your Roots” where a couple of celebrities get the benefit of genealogical tools and DNA tracking to discover who their ancestors are and where they came from. Needless to say, it’s transformative for his guests, particularly black and brown people, whose histories were quite […]

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