For Immediate Release — Thursday, Feb. 16, 2006

Contact:

Mary E. McCrank

Media Relations Officer

(585) 245-5516

mccrank@geneseo.edu

SUNY Geneseo to commemorate Susan B. Anthony's life work

GENESEO, N.Y. — The State University of New York at Geneseo will hold two events this spring as a kickoff to its 2006-07 theme year, "Susan B. Anthony: Women's Rights, Women's Power."

Carol Faulkner, associate professor of history, and students will deliver a talk and presentation titled "Susan B. Anthony: The Individual and the Movement" at 3:30 p.m. Friday, March 3, in 214 Newton Hall. The talk is free and open to the public.

Following the presentation, participants are invited to a reception at 5 p.m. at the Lockhart Gallery, located in the McClellan House at 26 Main St. in the village of Geneseo. The gallery's new exhibit, "The Legacy of Susan B.," opens Friday, Feb. 24, and will run through March 31. The gallery is open from 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m. daily, with extended hours of 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Fridays. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

A committee of SUNY Geneseo faculty, staff and students—led by chair Celia Easton, professor of English, associate dean of students, and director of orientation and first year programs—are planning activities for 2006-07. Although the year of commemoration officially begins on campus in September 2006, these events launch the theme.

Anthony, who was born in 1820 and died 100 years ago in 1906, changed the way Americans thought about women, democracy, civil rights and politics. She began her career as a public school teacher, fighting for equal pay for female teachers. After making her home in Rochester in 1849, Anthony advocated for the temperance movement, but found that male leaders excluded women's voices. She met Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1851 and joined the women's rights movement, linking her fight for women's rights with the struggle to abolish slavery. Anthony quickly became a leading speaker, writer and organizer for the women's suffrage movement.

Following Anthony's intellectual path, Geneseo students, faculty and staff will be encouraged to examine the way people throughout the world continue to work for human rights, women's rights, political access and democracy. Through courses, lectures, a common reading book, art and history exhibits, concerts, performances and other special events, the Geneseo community will celebrate the work, life and legacy of one of America's greatest political, social and economic activists.

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