Frederick Douglass’s Aria
After becoming increasingly angry about the blatant lack of rights afforded to women in the early 1800s, a furious Elizabeth Cady Stanton began conspiring with other women around the country to fight for women’s rights and, most importantly, women’s suffrage. Our story begins in 1848, as Cady Stanton begins writing her famous manuscript, “The Declaration of Sentiments,” to be read at the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention in the coming days. On the way to the convention, Cady Stanton’s friend Elizabeth McClintock informs her that abolitionist and activist Frederick Douglass will also be attending the convention. Upon their arrival, Cady Stanton leads the convention as Frederick Douglass rallies the men in attendance to support women’s rights and, most importantly, women’s suffrage. Following the convention, the plot accelerates, as tensions surrounding the upcoming Civil War create a divide between some suffragists and abolitionists. This divide builds to the climax of the opera, in which the beloved Cady Stanton advocates for white women’s right to vote instead of black men’s right to vote. In the aftermath of this shocking statement, the narrator, who has been advancing the plot throughout the show, reveals herself as Herstory. In her closing aria, Herstory calls upon the audience to contemplate who is responsible for shaping the stories that become a part of our nation’s history and reminds us that it is our responsibility to discover the complex truth within these stories, both past and present.