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, OH
Women’s suffrage–the right for women to vote–was part of the women’s rights movement in the United States from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s. In 1912 and 1914, women’s suffrage was on the state ballot in Ohio. Both times, the issue failed statewide but passed in Lakewood. Led by Bernice Pyke, Lakewood women participated in the Suffrage Party of Greater Cleveland and gained support for their cause. Lakewood’s City Council put the suffrage issue on the local ballot in 1917. The male voters of Lakewood passed it, allowing women to vote in municipal elections. In 1919, Ohio ratified the Nineteenth Amendment, which was added to the U.S. Constitution in 1920 and granted women the right to vote in all elections. The Lakewood League of Women Voters was chartered in 1922 and remains active a century later.
, OH
Here in 1963 congregants of Beth Israel-The West Temple, led by Louis Rosenblum, Herb Caron, and Rabbi Daniel Litt, founded the Cleveland Committee (later Council) on Soviet Anti-Semitism, the first American organization created to advocate for freedom for Soviet Jews. In 1970 this work led to the formation of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ) under the leadership of Louis Rosenblum. The UCSJ, whose national office was located here 1970-1973, became the largest independent Soviet Jewry organization in the world. By the turn of the 21st century, the efforts begun here helped 1.6 million Jews leave the former Soviet Union. (Continued on other side)
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In 1930, nine women from Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights formally organized The Village Garden Club and set as its goal the beautification of Shaker Parklands with trees. At a time when women were excluded from environmental activism, the club’s careful planning allowed members to lead civic improvements. Since its establishment, the club has planted and maintained flowering trees at Horseshoe Lake Park, pausing only during World War II. In the 1960s, The Village Garden Club and 34 other local organizations successfully fought the construction of the Clark-Lee Freeway. Club member Mary Elizabeth Croxton chaired the Park Conservation Committee that won the battle and established the Shaker Lakes Regional Nature Center. The Village Garden Club continues its stewardship over the flowering grove with “civic and environmental responsibility” as its focus.
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