Category: 2012

Anthony House announces annual birthday luncheon speaker

DHughes

Rochester, NY—The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House™ proudly announces that its keynote speaker for the Annual Susan B. Anthony Birthday Luncheon, to be held Wednesday, February 13, 2013, is Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook, the United States Ambassador for International Religious Freedom.

 

 The Susan B. Anthony Birthday Luncheon is held each year in mid-February to celebrate Susan B. Anthony’s February 15th birthday, to honor contemporary women who continue her legacy, and to raise awareness of the education and inspiration programs that take place at and through the National Historic Landmark on Madison Street. The luncheon takes place at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center.

 

 In making the announcement, Anthony House president and CEO Deborah L. Hughes commented that Susan B. Anthony welcomed believers of all kinds into her suffrage tent and counted Christians, Mormons, Jews, and nonbelievers alike among her strongest supporters. Miss Anthony once stated, “These are the principles I want to maintain—that our platform may be kept as broad as the universe, that upon it may stand the representatives of all creeds and of no creeds, Jew and Christian, Protestant and Catholic, Gentile and Mormon, believer and atheist.”  [speech, 1890, as quoted in Lynn Sherr’s biography, Failure is Impossible, p. 253].

 

 Ambassador Johnson Cook was appointed by President Barack Obama on May 16, 2011. In this position, she is principal advisor to both the President of the United States and Secretary of State on matters of religious freedom around the globe. She is the first African-American and the first female to hold this position since its creation under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act.

 

 Ambassador Johnson Cook has traveled to five continents to promote religious freedom. She has led interfaith delegations to Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and throughout the Caribbean. She worked with World Vision in Switzerland to help its efforts to combat global poverty and traveled to Zimbabwe and South Africa to promote interfaith dialogue and tolerance among Zulu faith leaders.

 

 Prior to joining the State Department, Dr. Johnson Cook has held three presidential appointments, two appointments from cabinet secretaries and a United States Senate confirmation. She advised President Bill Clinton on a range of issues including homelessness, violence, and community empowerment. She worked with the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development on faith-based initiatives in the 1990s. President Clinton appointed her in 1997 to serve on his National Initiative on Race.

 

 Ambassador Johnson Cook is the recipient of several awards, including the Woman of Conscience Award, the Martin Luther King. Jr. Award, the Visionary Leaders Award, the Judith Hollister Peace Award. She also served as senior pastor and CEO of the Bronx Christian Fellowship Baptist Church in New York City. She also held the position of chaplain to the New York City Police Department for twenty-one years, the only woman to serve in that role—she was on the front lines on 9/11/01

 

.Ms. Johnson Cook was a Harvard University President’s Administrative Fellow and has authored ten books. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Emerson College in Boston in 1976 and her Master of Arts from Columbia University in 1978. She also holds a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City and a Doctor of Ministry from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.

 

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 Mission Statement (adopted 4/2010): The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House™ preserves the National Historic Landmark where the great reformer lived for 40 of her most politically active years, collects and exhibits artifacts related to her life and work, and offers programs through its learning center that challenge individuals to make a positive difference in their lives and communities.

 

 

 

The Susan B. Anthony House is supported primarily through the contributions of its members and donors. The Susan B. Anthony House is not affiliated with other organizations bearing her name.

 

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Susan B. Anthony Festival to Commemorate 92nd Anniversary of Woman Suffrage

DHughes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, August 01, 2012

CONTACT:
Ellen K. Wheeler
Public Relations & Communications Director
585-279-7490, ext. 15

Rochester, NY— Come to the annual Susan B. Anthony Festival on Saturday, August 18, 2012 from noon to 5 p.m. in the Susan B. Anthony Square Park between Madison and King streets in Rochester to celebrate the 92nd anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women throughout the country the right to vote.

Music and entertainment will be provided in the park by the Hochstein School of Music and Dance as well as the Rochester Raging Grannies, a group that promotes peace, justice, and social and economic equality through song and dance.

Food vendors and unique crafts vendors will sell their goods in the park.

Authentic nineteenth-century base ball (it was actually two words when it first began in the 19th century!) demonstrations will be provided by Genesee Country Village’s women base ball team, in period costumes, following the rules and etiquette of the game as it was played in the 1800s.

Walking tours of this historic 19th century Historic Preservation District will also be offered. Tours of the Anthony House will be available beginning at 11 a.m. at the special admission price that day only of $5.00 for all ages.

The event is presented by the Susan B. Anthony Neighborhood Association and the National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House. Deborah L. Hughes, president and CEO of the Anthony House, said, “This annual event is close to our hearts because it recognizes the date—August 26, 1920—when the 19th amendment was officially declared law by the Secretary of State after it was ratified by the required 36 states. It honors the women and men who struggled so long—over 72 years—and so hard—often at personal danger—to achieve equality for women. Many of those who worked so fervently in the cause, including Susan B. Anthony, did not live to see the amendment finally ratified. We thank them each year with this festival.” Dawn Noto, president of the Susan B. Anthony Neighborhood Association, said, “The neighbors invite everyone to come visit this incredible preservation district. See the major renovation and construction work that is taking place on West Main Street. See one of the last intact 19th-century neighborhoods in the region. See Rochester history come to life.”

For more information, please go to www.susanbanthonyhouse.org or call 585-279-7490, ext. 10.

Mission Statement (adopted 4/2010): The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House preserves the National Historic Landmark where the great reformer lived for 40 of her most politically active years, collects and exhibits artifacts related to her life and work, and offers programs through its learning center that challenge individuals to make a positive difference in their lives and communities.

The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House is supported primarily through the contributions of its members and donors. It is not affiliated with other organizations bearing her name.