Age of Bronze: Matilda Joslyn Gage

Showing posts with label Matilda Joslyn Gage. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Revisiting Matilda Joslyn Gage

A few years ago, I wrote and drew a short comics biography about Matilda Joslyn Gage, one of the foremost 19th century fighters for women's rights. My story centered around Gage's erasure from history by Susan B. Anthony. The story was published in the graphic novel Mine!, an anthology published by ComicMix as a benefit for Planned Parenthood.

On Friday, October 4, from 4 PM to 5:30 PM, I'll be at the Matilda Joslyn Gage Center in Fayetteville, New York, to sign copies of my comics and books. You see, both Gage and I have a close connection to L. Frank Baum, author of the Oz books. I've followed in Baum's footsteps for much of my life and career. Gage was Baum's mother-in-law.

So, stop by the Gage Center, 210 East Genesee Street, Fayetteville, NY 13066, on Friday to see me. The Gage Center is Matilda Gage's former home and now a museum. I've visited it before and found it an inspiring place. Here's the Gage Center website: Matilda Joslyn Gage Center

Monday, May 10, 2021

Mail Voting

On July 4, 1876, one hundred years after the United States of America declared its independence from Great Britain, more than half the population could still not vote in a federal election. White male landowners had the vote from the beginning of the country. In 1870 the Constitution granted black men the right to vote. But all women were still denied voting rights.

At the great centennial celebration of the USA in Philadelphia, the National Woman Suffrage Association was denied the right to speak. So Susan B. Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Sara Andrews Spencer, Lillie Devereux Blake, and Phoebe W. Couzins stormed the podium during the proceedings to present the Declaration of the Rights of Women of the United States. The women were shooed from the stage. Another fifty-five years passed before women in the USA could vote in federal elections.

Syracuse Cultural Workers issued a postcard commemorating the July 1876 issuance of the women's rights declaration. I drew the artwork for it and Laura Martin colored it. I originally drew it for a short comics biography of Matilda Joslyn Gage, perhaps the most fascinating figure in the women's rights movement of her time. I highly recommend her book Woman, Church, and State first published in the 1890s. I suspect it will never go out of style.

If you're interested in ordering the postcard with my drawing of Matilda and her compatriots, it's available here: https://www.syracuseculturalworkers.com/products/postcard-protesting-inequality-at-us-centennial-1876

Monday, December 2, 2019

Votes for Women

Syracuse Cultural Workers has issued a new illustrated 2020 wall calendar, Hear Us Roar. This new calendar celebrates the 100th anniversary of the federal acknowledgement of US women's right to vote. Each month features a different image connected with women's suffrage. I drew the image for the month of June, an illustration of Matilda Joslyn Gage and Susan B. Anthony storming the stage of the US Centennial Celebration in Philadelphia.

Today—for Cyber Monday—the 2020 Calendar is on sale at the Syracuse Cultural Workers website. Click here for details.

Saturday, June 30, 2018

Mine! Nominated

Mine!, the anthology I contributed a story to, has been nominated for Best Anthology in the Ringo Awards. Comicmix published Mine! late last year as a benefit for Planned Parenthood. I wrote and drew a four-page story about Matilda Joslyn Gage, the nineteenth century activist and mother-in-law of L. Frank Baum.

The Ringo Awards are the comics awards that the general public may vote on, so if you'd like to cast a vote, go here.

And if you'd like a copy of Mine!, it's still available from your favorite comic book store or bookseller.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Get Your Mine!

Mine! is a new comics anthology published to benefit Planned Parenthood. An immense array of comics creators have contributed stories about Planned Parenthood as well as women's empowerment. Mine! is published by ComicMix and is now available.

I contributed to Mine!, a four-page story titled "Matilda Who?" Matilda Joslyn Gage was a major US figure in the 19th century women's movement. She was a thinker, a writer, an activist, and an organizer. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were her colleagues. But Matilda became marginalized and history largely forgot her. My story "Matilda Who?" tells why.

It's colored by award-winning comics colorist Laura Martin.

Lots of other comics creators contributed work to Mine! You can find a full list of contents here.

Mine! is on sale now at your local comics shop and online comics retailers. All profits go to benefit Planned Parenthood. I hope you'll enjoy reading Mine!