Swedish immigrants Ingeborg Kindstedt and Maria Kindberg visit San Francisco in the summer of 1915, planning to buy a car and explore the country on their way back to their home in Rhode Island. On impulse, they offer to bring along suffragists heading to Washington DC to demand voting rights for women from Congress and the President. Soon they are plunged into a difficult and dangerous journey that pushes them to the very limits of their endurance. As they travel they encounter unexpected allies, and those opposed to women’s growing independence. Bad roads and harsh weather hinder their progress. Will they overcome these obstacles and arrive in DC at the appointed day and time?
With We Demand, Anne Gass brings the issue of voting rights to life. As we Americans continue to learn, the franchise is something about which American must always remain vigilant. Reader of this historical novel will also enjoy Voting Down the Rose, Gass’ lively historical account of Maine native Florence Brooks Whitehouse’s efforts to win women voting rights in the decisive final years of the campaign, 1914-1920. Considered radical for picketing the White House, Florence helped win women suffrage against a backdrop of conservative views of women’s roles, political intrigues, WWI, and the 1918 influenza epidemic.