Frederick Douglass and the Lady with the Alligator Purse

I just visited Rochester, New York, which was home to Susan B. Anthony.

She lived most of her life in this brick house, sharing it with her mother and sister, while other siblings, in-laws, nieces and nephews lived next door and across the street. An unstoppable group of Rochester women have been working to save and restore the house and reassemble its contents since 1945.

Anyway. I found out a couple of cool facts about Anthony that I had not known.

First is that she lived only a few blocks from Frederick Douglass during his time in Rochester, when he was publishing his abolitionist newspaper The North Star. (I imagine this is well known, but I didn't know it.) In a park-like square a block from the Susan B. Anthony house, and about half way to where Douglass's house once stood, there is a sculpture of Douglass and Anthony having tea, which represents the cordial relationship that they had in real life.




Second, I found out what Susan B. Anthony thought about purses. Well, sort of. First, there was this bit of information and quote in the museum exhibit:


Obviously, Anthony is not talking about purses in the literal sense we would think of them today, but rather what a purse (with money in it) represents in terms of autonomy, but still, it's a quote about a purse.

Then, in the house itself, my guide pointed out Anthony's alligator purse as a particularly significant item. Anthony carried it with her everywhere as she traveled the country and abroad, working for women's suffrage and other causes.


The guide said that Anthony and her purse were such a familiar sight that it's thought she was commemorated in the classic children's jump rope chant:

Miss Susie called the doctor,
Miss Susie called the nurse,
Miss Susie called the lady with the alligator purse.

Mumps, said the doctor,
Measles, said the nurse,
Votes! said the lady with the alligator purse.

As my earlier posts on purses have indicated, I am no fan of handbags.... But my visit to the Susan B. Anthony house makes me see that at one point in time, they may have represented something other than an excess of fashion.

Just one more reason to remember Susan B. Anthony.