Sentimental (2014)

Sentimental final165 years after the creation of the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions—a document written in 1848 by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Coffin Mott, Mary Ann McClintock, Elizabeth W. McClintock, and Jane Hunt and adopted by a committee of slightly over 100 men and women at the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY—hundreds of folks of all ages and genders around the world actively engaged in questions of gender equity in the US found that 12 of the 18 original Sentiments still held true as originally worded.

On March 29, 2014, at the Newberry Library in Chicago, a group came together to discuss the findings of the online poll, and address some deeper problems in the wording of the original that may have contributed to the document’s ineffectiveness as an organizing tool in the 166 intervening years. This group, listed below, also presented new Resolutions pertinent to ongoing women’s rights and gender justice struggles in the US.

The Report of the Congress to Address the First Woman’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls is the result, an updated, revised, and expanded version of the original Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, the original having been created exactly 166 years before its publication.

Participants in the March 29, 2014 Congress on the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions included:

  • Gaylon Alcaraz
  • Veronica Arreola
  • Sarah Bradley
  • Cinnamon Cooper
  • Morgan Facemire
  • Nadia Garofalo
  • Debbie Hillman
  • Barbara Koenen
  • Sarah Ross
  • Carrie Ruckel
  • Maya Schenwar (in absentia)
  • Lindsey Smith
  • Cheryl Wegner

Download the The Report of the Congress to Address the First Woman’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls here.

Watch the CAN-TV documentary of the March 29 Congress at the Newberry Library here.

Download the official Sentimental press release here.

Sentimental was installed from June 27 to July 27 at SEX. MONEY. RACE. GENDER. The Ladydrawers (of Chicago, Ill.), a collaborative summer program at the A+D Gallery in downtown Chicago, a part of Columbia College. 

Read about Sentimental on the Dr. T.J. Eckleburg Review.

You can read the full text of the original Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions at this link.

This project was supported by an Arthur and Lila Weinberg Fellowship at the Newberry Library.

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