NEWS RELEASE                                                          U.. department of the interior

national park service

Contact: Vivien Rose, C, VS&CR
telephone: 315-568-0007
e:mail: Vivien Rose

For Immediate Release

Exhibit "Standing Before Us: Unitarian Universalist Women and Social Reform" On Display at Women's Rights National Historical Park

SENECA FALLS - How did the women of 1848 develop the courage, speaking skills and organizing talents they needed to hold the first women's rights convention and begin the continuing struggle for equality and justice?

For many, the answers were found in service to their church. The connections between the Quakers, abolition and the women's rights movement are well known. Less known are the contributions of the women of the Unitarian and Universalist churches. The churches, which joined in 1961, led reform efforts in religion, education, anti-slavery and racial justice causes, and the struggle for women's
rights.

In April, Women's Rights National Historical Park will feature an exhibit, "Standing Before Us: Unitarian Universalist Women and Social Reform" to illustrate the work of these women. The exhibit will be accompanied by a Saturday lecture series featuring prominent leaders and historians of the Unitarian Universalist church.

The exhibit will open at 2 p.m. April 1 in the Visitor Center, 136 Fall St, Seneca Falls, NY.

It is co-sponsored by Women's Rights National Historical Park and the Unitarian Universalist Women's Heritage Society, and was first shown in Boston in March, 2000.

"Unitarians Universalists believe that they have not only a right, but an obligation to use their talents to make the world a better place. Their central role in the early women's rights movement continues in social movements today." said Dr. Vivien Rose, Chief of Visitor Services and Cultural Resources at Women's Rights National Historical Park, who is coordinating the exhibit and lecture series.

Featured speaker at the opening will be Rev. Dorothy May Emerson, executive director of the Unitarian Universalist Women's Heritage Society and the education director of Rainbow Solutions, which provides financial and educational services. She is an editor, educator, curriculum developer, artist and activist and organized this
traveling exhibit, based on her book of the same title.

In July 1848, Amy Post and Mary Hallowell of Rochester attended the Seneca Falls women's rights convention and signed the Declaration of Sentiments. Less than two weeks later, the second women's rights convention was held in the Unitarian Church in Rochester. Through the efforts of Post, Hallowell and Sarah Fish, members of the church who served on the Committee of Arrangements, the church was "filled to
overflowing."

For these women, the second women's rights convention was a natural outgrowth of their religious expression, which is described in the exhibit's four panels.

Call to Reform describes a time when women had few rights of their own and the women who dared to dream what the world would be like if women shared the rights and responsibilities of full citizenship on an equal footing with men. These women, who also are featured in the park's permanent exhibits, include Abigail Adams, Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Fuller and Lucy Stone.

The Struggle for Racial Justice describes the key roles played by Unitarian and Universalist women in the struggle to end slavery through speeches and writings, fund raising and organizing. It describes their aid on the battlefields of the Civil War and
continuing work for racial justice by providing education for those who had been released from slavery. These women included Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, and Julia Ward Howe, who wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

Reform in Religion describes the innovative contributions to religious thought and practice by Unitarian and Universalist women who took radical steps of speaking in public, publishing their writings on spiritual subjects and even becoming ministers in keeping with their belief that they had an obligation to use their gifts to help create a
better world.

The Search for Education describes the efforts of women to educate themselves and their families in a time when that was not common. Speakers at subsequent 11 a.m. Saturday seminars will include:

April 7, Dr. June Edwards, "Unitarian Universalist Women and Social Reform," on women's work challenging legal and social barriers, and expanding educational and career opportunities for women. Edwards is professor in the Division of Education at SUNY-Oneonta.

April 14, Richard Gilbert, "Not Praise But Justice," on the religious life of Susan B. Anthony. Gilbert is parish minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Rochester where Anthony and her family were members.

April 21, Audrey and Ken Mochel, "Against the Tide: Unitarian Universalist Women and the Valiant Few." Audrey Mochel is visiting professor at Cayuga Community College in English Literature and specializes in American Transcendentalism. Ken Mochel is minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Auburn, and has been active in civil rights, peace and economic justice movements.

The opening reception and admission to the special exhibit and lectures are included in the entrance fee.

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