“Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?”

Hello, everyone!

Today’s post is another book rec for the high school audience! The novel is written in verse and is titled One Step Forward written by author Marcie Flinchum Atkins.

This inspirational novel tells the story of women’s suffragists and the horrors and mistreatment they endured at the hands of men in order to win the right to vote for all women.

The lead character in this novel is Matilda Young who was the youngest suffragist to be imprisoned for picketing. She had always admired the courageous women who had stood up for what they believed in no matter the cost, but she wasn’t sure that she could ever be one of ‘them.’ She would always just be a shy teenager, too shy to speak up for what she believed in.

But all that changed.

One of my favorite quotes in this book was when the Suffragists were picketing and the police were waiting for them. The picketers showed no fear and instead shouted “WE SHALL FIGHT FOR THE THINGS WHICH WE HAVE ALWAYS CARRIED NEAREST OUR HEARTS, FOR DEMOCRACY, FOR THE RIGHT OF THOSE WHO SUBMIT TO AUTHORITY TO HAVE A VOICE IN THEIR GOVERNMENT.”

What these people did was a gamechanger for women of all generations. They completely changed the course of our future and instilled hope and joy in future generations. It’s no small feat.

It’s incredible to think how such a difficult time in history brought people of all ages and races together to fight for the same cause.

Even when they are arrested, some still young teens like Matilda, they never spoke of giving up. They endured starvation, and torture while never uttering a word. Some of them were imprisoned more than once, yet they never broke.

I thought I could never endure jail again. But I can endure- that much I have learned.” -Matilda Young, One Step Forward.

This is a book that I highly recommend to all teens, no matter their gender. It’s about an important cause in history that I feel needs to be addressed more and I want to ensure that the courageous women who took part in this movement get the acknowledgement they deserve.

To Matilda Young, Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and all the fearless people that worked so hard to win the right to vote for women- you will never be forgotten.