1875: "Only Half a Celebration"
A group of women pose with the Minute Man statue, 1875.
After the celebration, Louisa May Alcott published an article in the Woman’s Journal arguing that the contributions of the women of Concord were sorely neglected during the Centennial. Although women paid taxes to finance the celebration, they were largely ignored during the day’s events. Ironically, it was several women who held up the oration tent’s stage when portions of it collapsed during the literary exercises.
Louisa May Alcott writing at her desk in the Orchard House.
According to Alcott, women wishing to attend the exercises were instructed to wait outside for an escort into the oration tent. No such escort arrived. When they entered the tent, they were met with demeaning comments. Alcott noted that President Grant looked “so bored that I longed to offer him a cigar.”
An article in the Woman’s Journal by Hannah Leighton critiquing the centennial speakers, 1875.
Alcott was not alone in her convictions. Another Woman’s Journal article, written by Hannah Leighton, referred to the Concord and Lexington observances as “only half a celebration.” Leighton notes that not only did speakers fail to acknowledge the contributions of women during the Revolutionary War, they also failed to recognize recent social movements in which women were involved—most notably, suffrage.