Last weekend, I sat in the majestic Academy of Music in Philadelphia with my best friend (since we were budding feminists at 14), Barbara. She had seen the musical SUFFS when it debuted on Broadway a few years ago and was eager to watch it again with me. Created by the multi-talented Shaina Taub, the Tony Award winning SUFFS tells the story, through dialogue and song of the women who fought for, starved for, peacefully protested for and demanded the right to vote for women in the US. The suffragists as they were referred to were a multi-generational group of women, from the seasoned 53 year old Carrie Chapman Catt, to the youthful college grad 27 year old Alice Paul. Although they had the same goal, their methods were diametrically opposed. Catt had a more measured, ‘wait and see’ and rather obsequious manner as she seemed to fawn over President Woodrow Wilson as if to ask his permission to ‘Let Mother Vote’ . Paul’s impatience led her to take greater risks including being arrested for peaceful protesting and suffering abuse at the hands of police. In jail while going on a hunger strike, she and her sister suffragists were force fed. The musical begins in 1913 when women had no voice to elect legislators. Only white men had the right to vote.
The songs were brilliant; emotion evoking, heart felt, tear and laughter inducing as they weren’t just referring to the events of the previous century but clearly addressing, all these years later, what we are up against in 2026. It is deeply disturbing that there are still people who would deny women’s voices and vote. Paul’s call to action song ‘Finish the Fight,’ reminds us that although we may not be alive to see through what we started, it is still incumbent on us to do what we can for the next generations. Taub calls the song ‘a declaration and not a desire’. When I think of my own intentions, I am reminded that in order to be part of positive change, I need to take the first step.
The powerhouse who brought Black women, who were even more disenfranchised than white women, into the fray was Ida B. Wells, a sociologist and journalist. Rather than being relegated to the background, she insisted on being arm in arm with her white sisters. She went on to co-found the NAACP.
An overarching question of the show is “How can we do it if it’s never been done?” The answer is the unfolding, roller coaster ride of planning, orchestrating, protesting, gathering support and finally triumph of the 19th amendment being passed that gave the vote to white women. Black women and men didn’t achieve voting rights until 1965. When I contemplate the historical impact on my own life, I realize that my mother was born four years after the 19th amendment which meant that my grandmother couldn’t vote. I was seven years old when the Voting Rights Act was passed which meant that the parents of some of my childhood friends couldn’t vote until then.
Alice Paul was also a resounding voice for the ERA, the goal of which is to have equal legal protection regardless of gender, which, to date, has still not become the law of the land. In the 1970s I marched in Atlantic City, NJ for it to pass. Still shaking my head at the mindset that is preventing it.
As I looked around the theater during the intermission, I noticed that there were a fair number of men there, as well as young girls who were learning about this history that provided rights that they would not have had if not for the blood, sweat and tears of the ancestors.
One of my favorite pieces was called ‘Great American Bitch’ which reframed the expletive. I like the acronym Being In Total Charge of Herself.
My favorite song from the show is called ‘Keep Marching’ with the lyrics reminding us about the necessity for forward movement.
