NEWS

Walking in the footsteps of Susan Lawrence Dana, suffragette and equal rights proponent

Steven Spearie
State Journal-Register
The Dana-Thomas House was designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright between 1902 and 1904 for Springfield socialite Susan Lawrence Dana.

A walk highlighting two centuries of the women's suffrage movement in Illinois, with a special emphasis on Susan Lawrence Dana, will be held at Southwind Park on Aug. 7.

"Walking in the Footsteps of Susan Dana...From Suffrage to Equal Rights," a two and a half mile walk, will include six different informative stations covering a range of years for each specific time period from 1818, when Illinois came into the Union, up to 2018, when the state passed the equal rights amendment.

See also: Documentary aims to ‘fill a void’ in Black and women’s history with focus on trailblazer Eva Carroll Monroe

Lawrence Dana, a Springfield philanthropist who commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design and build what is now known as the Dana-Thomas House at Fourth and Lawrence, long advocated for passage of suffrage legislation and equal rights.

Actors will portray key historical figures at each of the stops, said Allicent Smith, the walk's coordinator and a member of the Dana-Thomas House Foundation, which is sponsoring the tour.

Carrie Kincaid will portray Lawrence Dana and talk about the 1923 failure to pass the Equal Rights Bill.

Dennis Rendleman will address the state's entry into the Union when only white male inhabitants had the right to vote.

Other actors include Kathryn Harris as Harriet Tubman; Patrick Foster as James Bradwell, whose wife, Myra, was the first woman to be admitted to the Illinois bar to practice law, but was denied admission by the Illinois Supreme Court in 1; Linda Schneider as Catharine Bergen Jones, who at the age of 97, was the oldest woman to vote in the 1914 municipal election here and Ronni Betts as a modern voter reflecting on the suffrage movement.

The Dana-Thomas House is owned by the State of Illinois and operated by the Department of Natural Resources as an historic site.

The Dana-Thomas Foundation, which is putting on the walk, promotes, preserves and protects theouse through educational programs, events and publications.

On April 14, 1909, Lawrence Dana hosted a reception for more than 100 women from Chicago, including social reformer and activist Jane Addams, who were in Springfield drumming up support for passage of suffrage legislation.

Women won the right to vote in Illinois in 1913 and the 19th Amendment was ratified by the state in 1919, though women still did not have equal rights as men, a next step Lawrence Dana was involved with, Smith said.

"When she came back to live in Springfield (in the early 1900s), there was no male figure in her life," Smith pointed out. "She had very few rights as a woman as far as financial decisions, as far as property decisions. It opened her eyes to see the limitations that women had without that male husband figure."

Lawrence Dana's first husband, Edwin Dana, was killed in an Oregon mine inspection accident in 1900. Lawrence Dana was married two other times.

Smith said Lawrence Dana's philanthropy and activism stemmed from her father and mother, Rheuna and Mary Agnes (Maxcy) Lawrence.

Rheuna Lawrence served as mayor of Springfield, president of the board of education, superintendent of public works and president of the State National Bank. 

See also: Central Illinois’ famous: Susan Lawrence Dana

Mary Agnes Lawrence was "personally and financially" involved with the city's Lincoln Colored Home, the first Black orphanage in Illinois and purportedly one of the first in the U.S. Susan Lawrence Dana also supported it financially.

Susan Lawrence Dana

Lawrence Dana held fundraisers or parties for several charities and causes, including the King’s Daughters Home for Aged Women, the Home for the Friendless and several others.

Lawrence Dana was the only woman appointed by Illinois Gov. Edward F. Dunne to a commission marking the 50th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1913.

In 1923, Smith said, the national secretary of the National Women's Party spoke at the Dana-Thomas House. The party, which proposed the Equal Rights Amendment to ban discrimination based on sex, appointed Lawrence Dana its legislative chairwoman of the Illinois branch.

Lawrence Dana helped organize meetings and communications and lobbied the state legislature.

"That was huge," Smith said. "Most of the action was going on in Chicago, but Susan, living in Springfield and having those Chicago connections, really pulled the information and the activity downstate. She was pivotal in doing that."

The Dana-Thomas House Foundation is sponsoring a Zoom webinar "They Are Selling My Things!" on July 28. 

The presentation is a look back at the six-day auction of Lawrence Dana’s belongings in 1943.  Viewers will be able to virtually enter the auction tent, see some of the items sold and hear what happened to them. 

Kathryn Harris will portray Harriet Tubman at "Walking in the Footsteps of Susan Dana" at Southwind Park in Springfield, Ill. on Aug. 7.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

Want to go?

"Walking in the Footsteps of Susan Dana...From Suffrage to Equal Rights"

When: August 7, 9 a.m.

Where: Southwind Park, 4965 S. Second St.

Cost: $20 ($35 with t-shirt, only through Friday); children 12 and under free

For more information, visit the Dana-Thomas House website.