EPISODE 3 - “Susan B. vs. The Law”
[Location: 1872, Rochester, New York. West End News Depot]
Susan B. Anthony: My name is Susan B. Anthony. My friends and I are here to cast our votes!
Lotty: (whispered) Susan B. Anthony?!
Isaiah: (whispered) The election of 1872! We’re 24 years ahead of where we were before! L: But why? I: (whispered) Quiet. They’ll hear us! [We hear several of Susan’s group discussing their plan.]
Hannah: Susan, what if they don’t allow us to vote?
Mary: Hannah’s right. What if they don’t allow us to vote.
H: We managed to register, but this is going to garner a great deal of attention. Perhaps from the wrong sort of people.
M: What if they call the police? SBA: Now listen, ladies. There’s the clerk. We’re going to walk up and ask to vote. We will not be turned away. If the police arrive, then so be it.
We’ve just as much a right to be here as anyone, don’t we?
[Florence Whitaker, now 34 years old, is there as well.] Florence: (calling out) We certainly do, Miss Anthony. With you at the front of the line, I feel we can accomplish anything we set our minds to.
SBA: That’s kind of you, Miss Whitaker. I appreciate your words.
L: (whispering) Miss Whitaker? Isaiah, do you think that’s - SBA: (continuing) Now the rest of you could do well to take a page out of Florence’s book.
L: (whispering) Yes! It’s Flo! Red hair and all! She’s all grown up!
I: (whispering) 34 years old, according to my calculations.
L: Wow, thirty-four... SBA: Chins up, Ladies. Here we go ... [We hear the SOUND of the LADIES APPROACHING THE ELECTION OFFICIAL]
Election Official: May I help you, ladies? SBA: I’m certainly hoping you may. We’re here to vote.
EO: (a bit mocking) You ladies are here to vote? SBA: You’re acquainted with the 14th amendment, are you not, sir? EO: Ma’am? SBA: We had to familiarize the inspector at the voter registration office as well. Not to worry. (reciting) “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ...” Shall I go on?
I: (whispered) Lotty, are they allowed to vote?
L: (whispered) I think that’s the whole point, Isaiah. EO: Uhhh ... SBA: You’ll find my name on your registration list under A, for Anthony, if you please.
[Suddenly we hear a DOG BARKING loudly!]
EO: (calling to the dog) Butch! Stop barking at them stairs! Old dog must smell something down there. Let me ...
[We hear more BARKING.]
L: (whispering) Quiet, dog. Nice dog, shhh!
F: (interrupting) No need, sir. You keep doing your job, helping these ladies vote. I’ll be glad to see to Butch. I have a dog myself. Carry on with my friend here.
SBA: Thank you, Miss Whitaker. [We hear FLORENCE’S STEPS. Inspector searches slowly through the names in the background]
I: Uh-oh. L: She’s coming this way! [We hear the DOG WHINE.]
F: Now, Butch, what is it that has you all up in arms?
L: (whispered) Go away dog. Go away.
F: I see you under the stairs. Come out now.
[We hear the DOG BARK. We hear ISAIAH and LOTTY SHUFFLE OUT, GRUMBLING.]
L: Okay, we’re coming out. I: Uh, hello.
F: (she GASPS) Jumping Jehosaphat! It’s you two! L: Uhhh. I: We can explain. You see we - F: Shh! Not another word! Come with me! [ We hear the SOUNDS OF THEM RUNNING ... and then, behind the West End News Depot, we hear them shuffling]
F: Head there, into that gazebo. No one will disturb us in there.
I: (whispering) Remember, Lotty, no talking about the you know...(extra whispered) future.
L: (whispering) I know. I know. [We hear them STEP UP into the wooden gazebo.]
F: It is you, isn’t it? The children who saved me from that fall behind Wesleyan Chapel years ago?
L: How’s it going, Flo? I: Long time no see. For you, anyway. F: Oh, I just knew I hadn’t imagined you! I knew it! When you disappeared, my father insisted you ran off when we weren’t looking, but how could you have ... oh, my. Oh my word. And here you are. Back again. Years later, yet ... you’re both still children?! How is this ...
L: You’d better sit down. [We hear THEM SIT.]
L: What I’m about to tell you doesn’t make any sense. I: Which is why we’re not going to tell you.
L: (blurts) We’re time travelers.
F: Time travelers... L: Yes, we’re from the future. I: Well, I guess we’re talking about the future. Okay...We live in 2020. F: 2020 what? I: The year. Two thousand twenty. But don’t ask any questions about it.
F: (nervously laughing) You can’t be ... I: Oh, we’re serious.
L: It seems that this suffrage sash I’m wearing holds incredible power.
F: A suffrage what?
L: Sash. You’ll get one one-day... I: In like 40 years. F: May I see it? L: I’m sorry, but, no. If I take it off ... we’ll disappear again. F: I see. No, actually, I don’t. I don’t see at all.
L: Truthfully, we don’t really either. And we can’t give you details. But I’m pretty sure I am your great-great- great-great-great granddaughter. Lotty Whitaker Eldridge.
F: You’ve got the family name. I: No relation over here. Just along for the ride.
F: But this is ... this is impossible. L: I agree. And yet ... here we are. F: Prove it. L: Sorry? F: I will sit right here. You take off that sash and “disappear” as you say. And then you put it right back on and reappear. Then I’ll know that what you say is true.
I: It’s not that easy. L: Last time I took off the sash it was 1848 and when I put it back on, well ... here we are now in 1872. And we don’t know why.
F: That’s a risk we’ll have to take. But first ... hold on a minute. [We hear the SOUND of PULLING OUT PAPER AND PEN, SCRIBBLING.] F: I’m giving you my address here in Rochester. Should you return to a moment other than this one, find me, if you can. Now go! L: Okay. We’ll give it a try. Goodbye, Granny Flo.
F: I’m only 34 years old! I’m far too young to be anybody’s grandmother!
L: Right. Goodbye, then. Isaiah? The sash? I: Okay, removing the sash in 3...2...1...
[WHIZ - BAM - BANG - WHOOSH!] I/L: Whoaaaaaaa! [Place: LOTTY’S BASEMENT. We hear a THUD! THEY GASP! (”Ow,” “Ooo,” Etc.)]
I: The basement! Hey, can we grab a snack before we go back?
L: We don’t have much time. Maybe if we go back right away, we’ll find Flo right where we left her.
I: You gotta be kidding me. You really wanna go back now?
L: Hold my hand! Sash is going ooooon! [WHIZ - BAM - BANG - WHOOSH!]
I/L: Whoaaaaaaaaaaa! [Place: 1872 - THIRTEEN DAYS LATER - THE GAZEBO OUTSIDE THE WEST END NEWS DEPOT. We hear a THUD! (”Ow,” “Ooo,” Etc).]
I: (recovering) Ya know, I’d really like to have more of a say in when the sash goes on and off.
L: (gasping) The gazebo! We did it! We’re right back where we were.
I: Only ... where’d everybody go? [A moment. We hear BIRDS CHIRP in the distance.]
L: Yeah. It is awfully quiet. C’mon. [We hear THEM WALK to the front of the depot. CRICKETS.]
I: Nobody’s here. L: The address! [We hear HER REACH IN HER POCKET and UNFOLD A SLIP OF PAPER.]
L: Got it! 1822 Wyoming Court. Let’s go to Flo’s house! C’mon.
[We hear THEM RUNNING ...]
[Location: 1848 - FLORENCE WHITAKER’S HOME. We hear the SOUND of a KNOCK at the DOOR.]
L: Please be home please be home please be home. I: Nice house. L: She’s coming! I can see her red hair through the glass. F: (muffled through the door) Who is it? L: (hushed) Flo! It’s us! [We hear a LOCK UNLOCK and a DOOR OPEN.]
F: God Bless America, so it is. Quick! Come in! [We hear them WALK INSIDE. The DOOR SHUTS. LOCKS.]
F: My husband and children aren’t home, thankfully, so we’ll be safe here for the time being.
L: You’re married, but you kept the name Whitaker?
F: Ah. Yes. Quite the controversy ‘round these parts, but I just don’t see why I should have to give up a perfectly good name.
L: Ah - that’s why all the girls in my family have Whitaker as a middle name. I get it now.
F: (amazed, touched) You think...you think that’s because of me? What did I do to earn that honor?
L: Well, I think...I think maybe it’s what you’re doing now. Women’s rights.
F: I see...Well, that’s quite something. But even more importantly...you’ve returned. L: It was just a few seconds for us, but you were gone by the time we got back to the gazebo.
F: Thirteen whole days have passed since you were last here.
I: Thirteen days? That seems random. L: Maybe not. It seems like the sash is taking us to important events connected to women voting.
I: But what’s special about today? [We hear the SOUND of an 1872 POLICE BELL. THEY GASP!]
F: The police! Jumping Jehosaphat! Stay here! I’ll bet they’re coming for Susan. Don’t go away. I’ll be right back!
[We hear FLO RUN OFF. She UNLOCKS the DOOR. OPENS. SHUTS.]
L: C’mon let’s go! I: She told us to wait here! L: But if Susan B. Anthony and those other women are going to be arrested for voting, Flo could be in trouble too. C’mon!
[We hear them RUN OFF. DOOR OPENS and SHUTS.]
Aly Raisman: Well, that doesn't sound good. Hi again. I’m Olympic gymnast and advocate Aly Raisman.
As you just heard, on November 5th, 1872, Susan B Anthony and a small group of women cast their ballots for president in Rochester, New York. It was almost 50 years before women had the constitutional right to vote.
The New York Times only wrote one paragraph about it under "Minor Topics" and even referred to the women as "a little band of nine ladies."
But thirteen days later, Susan B. Anthony, her three sisters, and eleven other women were arrested for the crime of voting while female.
In what was clearly a rigged trial, the judge instructed the 12 men of the jury to find Anthony guilty! He fined Susan B. Anthony $100, but she promised that "not a penny shall go to this unjust claim." And she never did pay it. Instead, she used the publicity from her arrest and trial to get more people to pay attention to her cause.
But right now...I’m kinda worried that Lotty and Isaiah are gonna end up in jail, too.
[Place: 1872 - OUTSIDE SUSAN B. ANTHONY’S HOUSE]
[We hear the POLICE BELLS and the HUBBUB of a CROWD. ISAIAH and LOTTY are BREATHLESS from running.]
L: (breathless) There’s Susan B. Anthony! And look! Granny Flo is right behind her!
I: Here, hide behind this buggy! [We hear THEM RUN AND HIDE.]
Deputy US Marshal: Susan B. Anthony, deputy U.S. Marshal Donavan, here at the behest of Commissioner William Storrs who has issued a warrant for your arrest and the arrest of the other women... L: (whispered) Oh no! That includes Granny Flo! DUSM: ... who cast a ballot without having a lawful right to vote, a violation of Section 19 of the Enforcement Act of 1870.
SBA: Oh fiddlesticks, Marshal. Unlawful, my foot.
DUSM: I’d like you to come with me, please. SBA: If you’d like me to “come with you,” then you ought to arrest me properly, handcuffs and all, and take me straight to this Mr. Storrs, wherever he may be.
L: Does she...want to get arrested?
I: Why would anyone want to get arrested?
SBA: It is a downright mockery to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty, while they are denied the use of the only means of securing them provided by this democratic-republican government ... the ballot!
L: You go, Susan B.
SBA: If you want to arrest me, and the rest of the women, you’ll have to handcuff us yourself!
DUSM: (disgruntled) Let’s bring ‘em in! [We hear the SOUND of MAYHEM. OFFICERS ARRESTING SUSAN AND OTHERS.] L: We’ve got to help them! I’m going out there.
[We hear LOTTY RUN towards the CHAOS.]
I: (calling out) Lotty! Come back! You’ll get arrested, too! Look out behind you!
[We hear the SOUND of LOTTY being SNATCHED! SHE YELPS!]
DUSM: And who’s this little hooligan? You’re coming to the station with me.
L: (defiantly) Let me go! DUSM: Hey, Murphy, you got room in the wagon for this little ragamuffin?
Officer Murphy: Sure thing, Marshal. [We hear LOTTY being DRAGGED OFF, STRUGGLING.]
L: You can’t arrest me! I’ve done nothing wrong! I have rights too!
DUSM: Yeah, sure, kid, don’t we all. L: (desperately calling out) Isaiah! Isaiah?! Where is he?! Oh no! We can’t get separated or we’ll never both get back. Officer! I have to find my friend! OM: Quit your whining, kid. Take it up with the chief of police. [In the background, we hear the women shouting at the police. Above the chaos, we hear:]
F: (calling out) The future is coming!!! [We hear SOUNDS OF CHAOS.]
DUSM: (calling out) Not today it isn’t. Move ‘em out! L: (screaming) Isaiah!!! [END OF EPISODE 3]
Susan B. Anthony House
Coloring Page: Susan B. Anthony House
Susan B. Anthony Birthplace