Marching with Aunt Susan

Marching with Aunt Susan, written by Claire Rudolf Murphy and illustrated by Stacey Schuett, makes a parallel between the great civil rights leader Susan B. Anthony and a girl living in the late 19th century named Bessie. Her brothers and father go off to hike, leaving behind the admonishment that such an activity (as well as bike riding) is for boys only, but Bessie has much more subversive things to do. Her mother is organizing a tea in support of Anthony’s rally in San Francisco in May of 1896, and Bessie soon realizes that the unfairness of her life is directly related to the political atmosphere.

Bessie is briefly dispirited by the blow against women’s rights in the election she has worked for, but there are two consolations. One is that the politics in her own home changes, as her father comes to doubt his long-held views on gender roles. The other is that Bessie will be a young woman in 1920 when the Constitution is amended.

There are many good themes put forth here, especially the dangers of political indifference. The backgrounds are beautifully painted, and the inside covers display old newspaper clippings, letters, and posters from the era. A time line of Anthony’s life and beyond to the passage of the 19th amendment is included at the end.

In cold Googling Susan B. Anthony, I was alarmed to see that anti-abortionists had hijacked her with their “Susan B Anthony List” of “pro-life women in our political process.” The audacity of her ideological opposites co-opting a women’s rights activist should probably not be a surprise since of course people do it all the time with Jesus Christ. But I digress… What’s important about this picture book is the clarity with which it illustrates how civil rights do not simply happen because society evolves, but because reformers persist in the face of temporary defeat and danger.

Marching with Aunt Susan is 36 pages long and is published by Peachtree Publishers. The reading level is listed as ages 4 and up. The younger the better, I say.