This was my third week at my internship, so I feel that a routine is starting to be established. I started to write bibliographies for two of the African American suffragettes that Lori gave me. The first woman, Fannie Barrier Williams, contained a great amount of information on her, so writing her bibliography was pretty easy. Williams was born in New York, but mostly completed her suffrage work in Chicago. She was a member of many exclusive African American rights clubs, some of which her husband was also a member. One of her most memorable facts that I discovered was that she advocated that women vote independent, rather than standing behind one political party. She retired to her hometown after the death of her husband. The other woman I researched was named Bettiola Fortson. She was a member of the Alpha Suffrage Club, but was most well known for her work as a poet. She performed many poems for the club, including “Brothers”, which circled around the heroic act of two brothers revenging racist acts against their sister by a white southerner. It seems that most of these women were intertwined in the world of the women’s suffrage movement, but held unique roles and came from different backgrounds. Next week I hope to keep unearthing facts about this understudied group.

This was my second week at my internship, so I was able to dive more into my projects for the semester! When I arrived, I met the other intern who I would be working with on projects for Lori. I found out she went to Loyola, but she is a Women’s Studies major. I started my day by receiving an email from Lori about the tasks I would be working on for the upcoming weeks, which included creating mini biographies for African American suffrage leaders, mapping their suffrage activities, and creating a short history for a few of the African American suffrage organizations. As I started my research, I realized that many other historians had already done a great amount of work on the women that I was given to research, which made my job a lot easier. I was able to gain knowledge from these other sources, including Alexander Press, and created my own piece. I never realized how much amazing work these women did for the African American suffrage movement. Not only were African American women fighting to gain the right to vote, but they were also battling against the racism of the time, which made their journey much harder. Even though they faced these built in obstacles due to their race, these women still achieved a great amount of successes. I had a short lunch break where we discussed the exit of Meghan and Harry, and then I continued with my research. Overall, I am learning a great amount of information that I did not know previously, and I look forward to continuing my process in unveiling the story of the African American women suffrage movement.

As I approached the Evanston History Center, which is located at the Charles Dawes House, I became very excited. The exterior of the house was a nice brown color and the size was enormous. I entered the building through the basement side door, where I was met by my supervisor Lori Osborne. She gave me a tour of the basement level, which included their archives collection. Their archives include clippings from newspapers, which Lori was concerned about because everything is turning digital. I then took a tour of the museum, which included general Evanston history and history of the prohibition period in Evanston. I enjoyed that I was able to explore the exhibits before diving into my research because I was able to gain background of the area before narrowing in on my topic. I then went back downstairs where I began to read a book, Century of Struggle: The Woman’s Rights Movement in the United States. Lori wanted me to have a broad understanding of the suffrage movement before I entered into my research on African American suffrage leaders. The book began describing the suffrage movement during the Revolutionary War and led all the way up to the victory of the 19th amendment. I really felt like I was able to practice my research skills when I looked over this book because I had to pull out the most relevant information and analyze it to help in my research of the African American women suffrage movement. Lori also gave me For the Freedom of her Race: Black Women and Electoral Politics in Illinois, 1877-1932. This book will be a continual source for me as I dive deeper into my research topic. Most of my day was spent gaining background information on the suffrage movement and preparing for my research, which will result in mini biographies of African American women suffrage leaders. Lori told me it may be difficult to map where the women did their work, but I am hopeful I will find information. Overall, I am really excited to get into the thick of my internship, and I think I will learn not only a lot about the African American suffrage movement as a whole, but also gain new skills in museum work!

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.