Elaine Weiss wrote The Woman's Hour because her prior work exploring the lives of women in World War I led her directly to the pivotal story of the women's suffrage movement.
The Genesis of The Woman's Hour
The inspiration for The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote emerged as a natural progression from Elaine Weiss's previous historical research. Her work on women in World War I served as the direct catalyst for her deep dive into the suffrage movement.
- Prior Research Focus: Weiss had previously authored a book titled Fruits of Victory: The Woman's Land Army of America in the Great War, which explored the roles and contributions of women during World War I.
- Connecting Historical Threads: While researching the experiences of women during this monumental global conflict, she recognized the inherent connection between women's wartime efforts and the ongoing struggle for equal rights, particularly the right to vote. This period of history highlighted the significant, yet often unacknowledged, contributions of women to society.
- Shifting to Suffrage: The transition from examining women's roles in World War I to investigating the suffrage movement was a logical step for Weiss. She realized that understanding the fight for the 19th Amendment was crucial to comprehending the broader narrative of women's advancement and political power in America. This intellectual journey led her to focus on the dramatic culmination of the suffrage campaign in 1920 Tennessee, the setting for The Woman's Hour.
Through this meticulous exploration, Weiss aimed to illuminate the final, decisive moments of a decades-long struggle, bringing to light the fierce debates, strategic maneuvers, and deeply personal sacrifices involved in securing women's right to vote.
