An excellent and readable treatment of the complexity of the long (and continuing) battle for universal suffrage.

The graphic format allows the human side of the history to be more obvious. At the same time, sometimes it means less depth and some interesting choices in what is stressed and what is left out or minimized.

I've spent much time myself trying to research, unravel, and document the racist and sexist betrayals in the long history of the suffrage fight. The key issues are all here, and mostly clearly presented. The author is willing to point out the racism of so many suffragists -- and yet, seems more willing to judge some gently and some harshly. (She clearly prefers Susan B. Anthony to many of her contemporaries and political descendants.) As she says in the introduction, it's complicated. But it's important for our own times to acknowledge these complexities, as we will find them in ourselves and others. Give credit for accomplishments, and look for accountability for the mistakes and harms that were also a part of the history.

Her form of presenting "ghosts" of the past that still haunt is one that is surprisingly effective without becoming literal -- though she rightfully acknowledges some of the connections between spiritualism and the early suffrage movement. I enjoyed that she linked the dress reform and the bicycle, too -- historically accurate and good additions to the "texture" of the history that the graphic format also allows.

There were a few pages that were harder to read with the artistic choices made, but most was very clear and evocative. The timeline shifts were somewhat disorienting, and I imagine would be more so for those not already familiar with a lot of the history.

And even though I spent a couple of decades working with this material myself, the author was able to introduce a few new facts to me. I love that.

Overall, I'd highly recommend this, especially to those who have some familiarity already with the suffrage history of both race and sex.

This is less a narrative about women's suffrage than an illustrated encyclopedia of those involved in the movement in its earliest years. There is a huge amount of text, not all of which is easy to read, and the graphic novel elements are underused. It's less intersectional that it is simply listing women of different races, social statuses, education, and (dis)ability. Overall, a disappointment.

Other reviewers complain that there is too much in here, but I loved that about this amazing graphic nonfiction history of the women's rights movement in the US. I learned about people I didn't know about before, and the stories were so compelling that I was looking up people to see how their lives ended up because I was so concerned for what they were going through.
The best part of this book is the snark, which I think is completely appropriate regarding this subject. How did this even go on for so long? How is this still something we have to fight about? The book ends on a note of hope that people are waking up.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

Suffrage Song is a thorough graphic novel of the suffrage movement. In the introduction the author/illustrator details their struggle in documenting the good and the problematic aspect of the female subjects. At times this dynamic is depicted well and others felt like struggle. The illustrations are excellent but sometimes the pages seem jumbled.

(3.25/5 stars) Overall, I enjoyed this graphic novel about the history of women's suffrage in the USA. Cass includes the leaders you usually think of when you hear about women's suffrage (e.g., Susan B Anthony and her ilk) but also does a good job of including BIPOC leaders and their stories. There were leaders that I learned about that I hadn't heard of, like Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, also known as Zitkala-Ša, which of course prompts further investigation. I also appreciated sections talking about more recent history included newsprint and headlines from the time that are primary sources. However, it felt like the story was a bit disjointed and the panels were very small in some cases and hard to read, even on my large desktop monitor. There are also a few misspellings, which are hopefully caught by an editor before publication.

There is a lot of information in this graphic novel about people involved in the suffrage movement. The subtitle in part refers to the racism many of the leaders of the movements had at the time period. It is hard to judge people for the feelings of the time period in which they lived. This begins with the main leaders I expected like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frances Watkins Harper and Alice Paul. I liked the inclusion of less familiar and especially people of color being included. The inclusion of Jim Crow laws and how small laws can be very restrictive to voting rights of minorities and the poor was informative. One only has to watch news to see continued use of laws, gerrymandering and bullying in use to stop people from exercising their rights to vote. I liked this graphic novel but some of the writing was hard to read even when enlarged on my device. Thank you to Fantagraphics Books for the temporary digital ARC via NetGalley and I am leaving a voluntary review.

Overall, I did enjoy this nonfiction graphic novel about the history of women's suffrage in the United States. There are lots of facts and details to make the point of the struggles women went through to have this milestone changed in our history. I particularly liked the stories of the key women, both white and black, that put their lives on the line to move this initiative forward. We take it for granted how easy it is for women to vote today and I hope I can reflect back on what this book taught me about the importance of voting.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this one. I loved the illustration style and as a history student, I thoroughly enjoyed the inclusion of minorities and race discussion.
However, the narration and formatting was incredibly hard to follow. In my experience, illustrated and graphic novels benefit from "less is more". There was too much information in such a small space.
Nonetheless, the topics discussed were incredibly important.

I thought this was a solid and nuanced look at the good done by women leaders in history while also being transparent about steps taken that hurt others. I don’t think there’s an easy answer because assessing people’s actions from 100+ years ago under today’s lens is easy because of some of the less ethical choices they made. We don’t know if we’d have the same rights today if they hadn’t had to make difficult choices. Of course maybe we’d be better off. I think this does a good job of giving the objective facts and letting the reader decide where they stand. It also shows how far we’ve come and yet how much work we still have to do.

I enjoyed this but I feel like there are some sections that have too much information presented in the small panels. It becomes a bit jumbled and crowded, which made it a bit difficult to focus on the content. I enjoyed the art style and the way that the author utilized historical art styles to present the history.

Caitlin Cass presents the long campaign for women’s suffrage in the United States from the 1800s to the present. Along the way we are introduced to many of the key figures of this movement and that they were complicated, human people, capable of holding ideals of equality alongside deeply held racist beliefs.

The book is structured some-what chronologically, with most chapters advancing a few stories in parallel. After an introduction detailing the authors rationale and personal junior to create the work the content begins with the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention and a timeline of key events that are going to be explored in greater depth. From there the narrative unfolds, a chapter at a time, with biographies of important figures, transformational even and the scene setting of societal expectations.

In telling stories of multiple individuals, a multi-page ‘cast of characters’ begins on page 8, Cass moves beyond the single key figure to show that a wide range of people with different backgrounds and experiences took part in the movement for voting rights. Cass also shows how over time the movement strained, splintered and fragmented, with partial success although it is still under threat.

There is a lot of information to detail, and specifically choice to present it fragmented, Cass “wanted to recreate the experience of looking through the archives.” (Page 6). This goal is amply accomplished by insertions of news clippings and informational panels stylized as period advertisements (for example Godey’s Lady’s Book in chapter 1). However, there are a few sections that drag with a single setting and lots of dialogue (the beginning of chapter 9 in particular).

A well presented historical work that mostly keeps the reader engaged with varied art, locations and time periods. It both celebrates the accomplishments of the suffrage movement, while holding the leaders accountable for their comprises and problematic ideals.

This was unfortunately one of my very very very few DNFs. Ironically enough i thought the introduction was the only part that kept my attention. The story/timeline was hard to keep up with, there was too much information dumped into each cell, which at that point I felt like it lost the point of being a graphic novel. Also, while I did appreciate the author acknowledged her own personal bias and the oppressive role white women have held against BIPOC women, she still mostly referenced white women in the movement, and still tokenized the BIPOC. Which for me, cheapened the introduction and made it feel performative. Also, the “song” part of it just…. i don’t even know how to feel about that that was fit into the story.

I like the drawing and how it was told and the information. However sometimes it was hard to read due to type of text or the colour of the background. Did find sometimes the text didn’t make sense and I was reading. But I do love the concept.

More like 2.5 stars. I very much appreciated the inclusion of BIPOC suffrage leaders and their stories. Because, as the book points out, so many names have been lost to history.

However.

There are a couple of misspellings that need to be fixed (p164, lower left box | p182, middle left box). There could be more that I just didn’t catch due to the fact that several sections were just difficult to read (particularly the one starting on p 162 - that was an eye chart). Because of these errors, it was difficult try and take this book seriously. Spelling errors of any type automatically make something much more juvenile in tone and this book does not need that vibe.

The “ghosts” look like sperm. If this was a style choice, it feels patriarchal, be it blatant or subconscious.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for providing a free copy of this title for review.

#NetGalleyARC This was a great read and I will for sure be adding it to my hs library. I love the drawings, especially the ones that look pencil drawn. This was a great trip through female history and it has a lot of great lessons to share.

It was an amazing book! An anthology of stories telling us the history of equal voting rights, this book is something I feel is needed. Especially considering today’s social climate. This book is a monumental on how far we came.

as someone who is involved in studying things to do with women's rights at college, i thought this comic was super informative and i adored the art style!!