STORIES FROM SUFFRAGETTE CITY

Narrator Tavia Gilbert transports listeners with this engaging short story collection honoring the American women's suffrage movement. The stories recount the lives of women, children, and men over the course of a fateful day in 1915. Lisa Wingate, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, and other contemporary authors illuminate their characters' aspirations, frustrations, and hopes, alongside issues of classicism, racism, and sexism pervading the era. Gilbert's vocal versatility provides rich characterizations for both fictional and actual people who range from Irish, Hungarian, and Armenian immigrants to artists, students, orphans, and well-heeled widows. Discrimination and exclusion experienced by historical figures like Ida B. Wells-Barnett, in "American Womanhood,"are juxtaposed with stories featuring privileged white activists. These thoughtfully composed and performed tales provide meaningful connections between the past and today's listeners. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2021]