That’s the second site in a row that I visit that day, it turns out, that wasn’t the original one. The meeting was held in 1866, so it couldn’t be the same building! Sigghhh. what!?! I exclaim to myself, when I’m at the New York City Public Library the next morning, doing more research for this piece. 130th St near 5th Ave, Harlem, a neo-Gothic style church that looks very like it originally did when it was built in the 1870’s…. The Church of the Puritans I visit is at 15 W. The AERA was formed in order to focus on a broader agenda: to seek expansion not only of women’s rights, but to equal rights ‘irrespective of race, color, or sex’. The AERA would hold its first annual meeting the next year there in 1867. This time, I’m seeking the Church of the Puritans, site of the first Women’s Rights convention after the Civil War in 1866, where both Elizabeth and Ernestine Rose were featured speakers, Elizabeth’s campaign as the first woman to run for Congress in 1866 was discussed (she received 24 votes!) , and the American Equal Rights Association was formed. Next, I go to Harlem, the northernmost of my destinations planned for the day, to work my way south since I want to end up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (for a lovely art-filled evening though I inquire, I find no images or artifacts associated with Ernestine or Elizabeth at the Met). Anthony’s, once the Church of the Puritans, Harlem, NYC At this birthday celebration, however, Elizabeth could have no doubts any longer at the instrumental role she played, and the gratitude of countless women for the freedoms she had helped them win. While she was widely published and she wrote prodigiously on its behalf, she had often felt removed from the movement, a ‘caged lion’, as Susan would say. Anthony through several decades, writing speeches, letters, and articles, and devising campaign tactics to introduce and pass legislation to expand the rights of women. In the early years of her activism, when she was obliged to stay home with her seven children, she was often frustrated that she was unable to be present in person as the women’s rights movements progressed and grew. On the first day of my trip, I pass by this spot, since I walk to the Lower East Side from Chelsea via Broadway, but I take no pictures of it since I only learn later that the Met had been relocated from its original site.Įlizabeth was deeply moved to be honored in such spectacular fashion during this event. Old Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, image public domain via Library of Congress

Met opera schedule april 2015