Old Songs tells the story of the fight for women’s right to vote
‘Forward Into Light’: Old Songs will present a concert of 19th– and 20th-century songs from the women’s suffrage movement on Friday, Nov. 18, and Saturday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Old Songs Community Arts Center at 37 South Main St. in Voorheesville. Tickets are $25 for adults, $5 for children 12 and under, and are available at oldsongs.org or by calling (518) 765-2815.
“One good song is worth a dozen addresses or proclamations”—Joel Barlow, 1775
With enlightening narrative, and songs that women sang during the suffrage movement between 1848 and 1920, a two-act concert presented by Old songs Inc. tells the story of how American women won the right to vote.
Why did the Suffragists sing? The power of song was used to effect change and convince women to support the cause of seeking equality. Song gave women a voice at a time they were not able to speak in public.
This is the story of one of the most innovative and successful non-violent civil rights efforts in our country. Many voices raised in song carried into the 20th Century when parlor songs became the rage and helped bring the suffrage movement to a vast audience.
With little financial and political power, women printed banners, postcards, and buttons, and marched in parades, stood in silence, and sang to gain the 19th Amendment to the Constitution known as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment.
Many famous and not-so-famous women worked for 72 years across America to educate both males and females that women having the vote would give them a voice in the country as citizens. Fifty-three percent of Americans in the 20th Century were women.
In this concert we bring the suffrage songs back where they belong in American music, as important documents of protest and rhetorical thought, as we, in our lifetime, remember the civil rights movement and songs like “We Shall Overcome.” Here, in this concert, we hear their voices, strong, persuasive, and determined to make a difference in the America of the future.
The cast of nine singers and musicians in this concert are New York residents who have individual lives and careers, and who have gathered together to bring this concert to the public. The women are Toby Stover from High Falls, Terry Leonino from Middleburg, Peggy Lynn from Red Creek, Annie Rosen from Guilderland, and Susan Trump from Schenectady. The men are Dan Duggan from Red Creek, Bill Spence from Voorheesville, George Wilson from Wynantskill, and Greg Artzner from Middleburgh.
The concert is supported by an Action Grant from the New York Council for the Humanities. A preview of the performance is available at: https://youtu.be/D7ChRR-6Q5g.
Editor’s note: Andy Spence, the founder of Old Songs, is directing “Forward Into Light.” Spence has produced three other folk-theater concerts, with song and narrative, featuring what she call’s New York’s “hidden history.”