America 250 in WNY: Women's suffrage movement

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - As the United States celebrates 250 years of independence in 2026, WBEN is taking a look back on Buffalo and Western New York's role in the history of the country.

Buffalo and Western New York played an active role during the decades-long women's suffrage movement that, eventually, led to the 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote.

While other parts of New York played more of a role in women's suffrage earlier, such as the women's convention in Seneca Falls or with Susan B. Anthony in Rochester, Buffalo's involvement comes a little bit later, much closer to World War I.

"There are six women from Buffalo - we call them the 'Buffalo 6' - who were engaged directly with the protests in Washington that surrounded World War I, and that seemed to really energize the movement in a different way to be more vocal, protesting outside the White House," said Doug Kohler, Erie County historian with WBEN. "This 'Buffalo 6', these Buffalo women were all arrested and served time in a workhouse in Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C. That's really important."

The "Buffalo 6" consisted of Margaret and Janet Fotheringham, as well as Edith Ainge, Amy Juengling, Hattie Kruger and Ada Kendall. All of them went down to Washington, D.C. to picket the White House, and they were arrested and had food strikes to make their point of affording women the right to vote in equality.

"A lot of them were at the encouragement of Alice Paul, who was big in the suffrage movement at the time with the National Women's Party (NWP), so she had invited some of leaders down," Kohler noted. "There was a woman from Jamestown named Edith Ainge, who was there and actually after her time in the workhouse at Occoquan, actually stayed on within the administrative structure of the National Women's Party. But what's interesting is that two of them - Margaret Fotheringham and Amy Juengling - were teachers in Buffalo. They lost their job, they had made efforts to work with the district to say, 'We're in Washington, we may miss time,' and the district just refused to hold their spots. They appealed to the New York State Department of Education, and their dismissal was eventually upheld. For all these six... all of them wound up serving time in really miserable conditions in this workhouse in Occoquan Prison in Virginia.

"The food was horrendous, one of them brought back a piece of salt pork to show the type of rations that the women were given. Ironically, one of the things they did at the workhouse was they ran a farm, but the produce was sold and the women were given - when you read the reports - peaches with worms in them and cereal with worms floating on the top. One of the women from Buffalo was put into solitary confinement and given one slice of bread and one cup of water three times a day. So these 'Buffalo 6', along with other women involved, really convinced that the righteousness of their cause was important, and really sacrificed a great deal. And I think it's important in putting Buffalo within that framework of what suffrage and women's voting rights meant."

Sheri Scavone, CEO of the WNY Women's Foundation agrees that the work of the "Buffalo 6" played a huge role in the national movement to secure the women's right to vote in equality.

"When we look at our history, there's a reason. And I think when we forget that women fought for years-and-years, and what they gave in times when there wasn't social media, there wasn't ways to easily communicate, getting from Buffalo to Washington was a task in and of itself, you certainly get on an airplane. So when we forget that, I think we take for granted our opportunities and our freedoms and our rights," said Scavone in an interview with WBEN.

"We know women generally turn out to vote in higher numbers than men - typically about 56% of women 18-and-older voted in the last presidential and national midterm elections in this state. But 100% of us have that right to vote, and I think when we forget from where we came and we don't pay reverence to that, it becomes something we take for granted. Right now, we see a lot of efforts on a federal standpoint to roll back a woman's right to vote, and to require multiple forms of ID that many women would not have, and they would lose that vote. So when we think about the incredible history, the incredible effort that these women put forth in the early 1900s, if we don't remember that, I think we take for granted our opportunities."

Another significant figure in Western New York who challenged the mainstream suffragette movement to also include Black women in the fight was Mary Talbert.

"Mary Talbert, within the African American community, is a huge figure... her work is transcendent," Kohler said. "If you talk to people in Buffalo's African American community, she's hugely important - winner of the Spingarn Medal - she stands alone in a different way. Perhaps a little bit more known in Buffalo history, at this point, because of some of her other engagement as well, but certainly important nonetheless."

The significance of women's suffrage takes center stage - pun intended - next week when the touring Broadway musical "Suffs" makes a six-day stop in Buffalo at Shea's Buffalo Theatre. The show is about the American women who fought tirelessly for the right to vote, and offers a fresh new perspective on the fight for equality and the ongoing work of democracy.

With the historical ties between Western New York and the women's suffrage movement, both Kohler and Scavone are thrilled to see the show making a stop to the City of Buffalo.

"To have the show coming off Broadway to Buffalo, to really highlight that in, what we understand is, a fun and uplifting and serious way really elevates the opportunity we have to bring this to the forefront at a time when we're moving closer to November and some major elections," Scavone said.

While the show is in town next week, the WNY Women's Foundation will hold a talk back with some of the cast of "Suffs" and talk about the importance of this movement, and the importance of the right to vote for women.

For Kohler, he hopes this musical has a similar impact on theatergoers that a show like "Hamilton" had for many.

"You've got musicals that are - I don't wanna say reimagining, because that's perhaps not fair - taking stories like this one of Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt and Ida Wells, and putting it into a vehicle that's really accessible to a wider public. Like with 'Hamilton', it gets people to say, 'Now I want to know more.'" Kohler said. "One of the scenes they recreate in 'Suffs' is the famous women's suffrage postcard that, for years, I had in my classroom. So it becomes that springboard. People will enjoy their time at Shea's, and I'm undoubtedly sure will be impressed by the performances. But you leave the theater thinking, 'What else can I find out now?' And that, to me, as a public historian, is the best possible tool to get people wanting to know more."

Gretchen Shope, who plays the role of Mrs. Herndon in the show and is an understudy for the roles of Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, she, too, feels "Suffs" is a show that can captivate the minds of both musical theater and non-musical theater fans alike.

"I think in a lot of our history classes, the women's suffrage movement and women's involvement in history - in general and beyond the suffrage movement - is generally just kind of looked over, or discarded and not really given a lot of credit. So I think the opportunity to just really highlight it, to focus solely in on a women's story is a privilege and a gift, and just to be able to give them the credit that so often is ignored," said Shope with WBEN.

While Shope is no historian, she admits she's a bit of a history nerd and loves learning about the historical significance of the show. She's also hoping this will be an engaging and positive learning experience for all in the audience.

"I know, in doing IB and AP classes in high school, I only learned about Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt. I never learned about Alice Paul or Lucy Burns, any of the other main characters of our show. So I think the opportunity to actually educate people beyond what their history classes is telling them, especially young girls who wouldn't get the opportunity otherwise, is really, really powerful," Shope added.

"Suffs" is a Tony Award-winning musical for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical back in 2024. The show will be on the Shea's Buffalo Theatre stage for eight performances from Tuesday, June 2 through Sunday, June 7. You can find remaining tickets available at Sheas.org.