Ask a Suffragist: Stories and Wisdom from America’s First Feminists channels the wisdom of the first generation of American feminists as exemplars and advisors to help us find solutions relevant to our modern world. Feminists with urgent causes to support don’t have time to read dull history textbooks, but ignorance about the past can lead to wasted efforts to reinvent the wheel and repeating past mistakes. Ask a Suffragist shares the radical lives and prescient wisdom of our activist foremothers in a way that is riveting and relevant for modern activists. Instead of droning on like an encyclopedia entry about dates, meeting minutes and genealogy charts, Ask a Suffragist emphasizes collaborative relationships, strategies, and activism—pressing concerns for modern activists.

Ask a Suffragist focuses on how suffragists addressed challenges that activists worry about today such as balancing activism with work and personal life, choosing their battles and getting their voices heard. Each chapter raises a question modern activists might want to ask their forebears, answered by the words and wisdom of a variety of suffragists.

Ask a Suffragist celebrates diversity instead of neatly pointing readers into one right way of living, highlighting the stories of famous suffragists as well as rank-and-file workers. Many of the suffragists featured are of racial minority background. Ask a Suffragist acknowledges the racism that plagued the suffrage movement and discusses building a more intersectional feminist movement today.