Art Exhibit: "Suffrage Song" by Caitlin Cass

Suffrage Song is a graphic novel and art exhibition that seeks to understand how the radical call for universal suffrage led by the American Equal Rights Association after the Civil War became caught in a mire of racist and sexist ideas that privileged one group over another. From Frances Watkins Harper’s early criticism of white feminist hypocrisy to Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s shift from universal suffrage to educated suffrage, to Fannie Lou Hamer’s testimony at the Democratic National Convention, this project presents a nuanced history that follows women in their quest to vote from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Era. 

Suffrage Song will be on view in the Main Library Gallery from July 23 through August 24. Artist Talk and Book Signing: July 25, 7-8:30 pm: Register here »

About the artist 

Artist and author Caitlin Cass was a 2005 Oak Park-River Forest High School graduate. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Lily, and The Nib. For the past 13 years, she has self-published a bimonthly comic periodical called The Great Moments in Western Civilization Postal Constituent. Her art has been supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (2020), New York State Council on the Arts (2020), The University of Nebraska (2023), and the Nebraska Arts Council (2024). Suffrage Song (2024) is her first book with a publisher. https://www.caitlincass.com/