Ann Dexter Gordon | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1944 (1944) Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Died | March 19, 2025(2025-03-19) (aged 80–81) |
| Education | Doctorate[which?] |
| Alma mater | Smith College University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| Occupation(s) | Historian,author,editor |
| Employer | Rutgers University |
| Known for | Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony |
Ann Dexter Gordon (1944 – March 19, 2025) was an American research professor in the department of history atRutgers University and editor of the papers ofElizabeth Cady Stanton andSusan B. Anthony,[1] a survey of more than 14,000 papers relating to the pair of 19th century women's rights activists.[2] She was also the editor of the multi-volume work,Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, and has authored a number of other books about the history of thewomen's suffrage movement.[3] She worked with popular historianKen Burns on his 1999 book and appears in his documentary film about Stanton and Anthony. From 2006, Gordon repeatedly weighed in on theSusan B. Anthony abortion dispute stating that "Anthony spent no time on the politics of abortion. It was of no interest to her."[4]
Gordon was born inProvidence, Rhode Island in 1944.[5] She received aBachelor of Arts degree atSmith College in Massachusetts,[when?] then went to theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison for post graduate work.[when?] While there, the editors ofThe New York Review of Books published a letter she wrote in May 1967 as a sharp response to aPaul Goodman piece sympathetic todraft-card burning by isolated individuals.[6] She earned aMaster of Arts degree and adoctorate in American history,[3] writing in 1975 adoctoral dissertation entitledThe College of Philadelphia, 1749–1779: Impact of an Institution.[7]
Between 1975 and 1982, Gordon worked on the editorial staffs of two projects, one publishing the papers ofJane Addams, the first American woman Nobel Peace Prize winner, and the other the papers of PresidentWoodrow Wilson.[1]
In 1982, Gordon joined theElizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Papers project which was then forming at Rutgers, and helped the project produce a microfilm volume in 1991 of 14,000 relevant historical documents cataloged and described, composed equally of published texts and of manuscripts.[2] Since then, more texts have been received and cataloged.[2] Led by Gordon as editor,[1] the project determined to produce six volumes ofThe Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, to "record the first half century of women's campaign for political rights in the US and provide the primary reference point for examining women's political history in the nineteenth century."[8] All six have now been published:[9]
ScreenwriterGeoffrey Ward helped bring Gordon's work into the 1999 documentary film,Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony, directed and produced byKen Burns. Gordon appears in the film and assisted Burns and Ward in writing an accompanying book, which includes a section by Gordon titled, "Taking Possession of the Country".[10]
In 1971, Gordon joined withMari Jo Buhle and Nancy E. Schrom to author "Women in American Society: An Historical Contribution", an article that appeared in the journalRadical America. The article was "conceived as a response to the conceptual problems confronted by all who seek to comprehend the historically rooted sources of today's oppression" of women in America.[11]
WithBettye Collier-Thomas, professor of history and the Director of theTemple University Center for African-American History and Culture, Gordon editedAfrican American women and the vote, 1837–1965, a book describing major turning points for women in African-American history. Gordon wrote in the introduction that the 1997 book originated as papers submitted in 1987 at the University of Massachusetts for the conference "Afro-American Women and the Vote: From Abolitionism to the Voting Rights Act". Gordon noted that the milestones set down in the book differ significantly from similar ones marking the history of white American women, including 1837 in New York City as the first time African-American women formally "define[d] their roles independent of men", predating the 1848Seneca Falls Convention as the touchstone used by Stanton and Anthony to mark the start of the American woman suffrage movement.[12]
In 2000, Gordon reviewedSpectacular Confessions: Autobiography, Performative Activism, and the Sites of Suffrage, 1905–1938, a book by Barbara Green about British suffragists, the review published inBiography journal.[13]
Gordon wrote two electronic books, published online:The Trial of Susan B. Anthony andTravels for Reform: The Early Work of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1852–1861. The 2005 workThe Trial of Susan B. Anthony was completed in collaboration with theFederal Judicial Center, as a training aid for students of legal history. The book discussesAnthony's trial and felony conviction in 1873 for her 1872 vote cast illegally in that year's presidential and congressional elections.[14][15] Earlier in 1999, Gordon worked with Ann Pfau, Tamara Gaskell Miller, and Kimberly J. Banks to editTravels for Reform: The Early Work of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1852–1861, a book about the first decade of Anthony's partnership with Stanton and their travels around New York State to promote women's rights causes, primarily women's right to vote. The book was prepared with Model Editions Partnership,University of South Carolina, from microfilm documents, images of original documents, and portions of Volume I ofSelected Papers.[16]
From 2006, Gordon wrote and spoke out against pro-life organizations such asFeminists for Life (FFL) andSusan B. Anthony List (SBA List) that maintain that 'Anthony was an outspoken opponent of abortion'.[17] Gordon held that Anthony "never voiced an opinion about the sanctity of fetal life" and that "she never voiced an opinion about using the power of the state to require that pregnancies be brought to term."[18] In October 2006, Gordon stated that she was beginning to see college students who only knew Anthony as an activist opposed to abortion, a view she said was "based more on fiction than fact".[18] Gordon stated that "comparing the debate over abortion today with the debate that was taking place in the 19th century is misleading."[18] For theNorth Adams Transcript in February 2010, Gordon said "I've watched the anti-abortion movement make these assertions since 1989. It's pretty far fetched".[19] In a May 2010 opinion piece inThe Washington Post's "On Faith"blog, co-authored withLynn Sherr, Gordon noted that Anthony's statements on abortion are limited to a single, ambiguous diary entry, and concluded that, "Anthony spent no time on the politics of abortion. It was of no interest to her, despite living in a society (and a family) where women aborted unwanted pregnancies."[4]
Gordon died on March 19, 2025.[20]
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