Celebrate Susan B. Anthony’s Birthday, Sunday, February 18

The Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum will host a special event featuring a performance of excerpts of Jack London’s novel, John Barleycorn.

Adams, MA (2/5/24)—The Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum will celebrate Susan’s 204th birthday with a special event at the Adams Free Library.

The event, a performance entitled "Are you a friend of John Barleycorn? Temperance, Prohibition, and Women's Suffrage as told by Jack London," will take place on Sunday, February 18 at 3:00 PM in the G.A.R. Memorial Hall of the Adams Free Library, 92 Park Street. The public is invited to attend the performance and a reception afterwards.

What drove the country’s first Temperance Movement in the 1830s and 1840s? What was its relationship to women’s right to vote? What was the societal impact of alcohol in the 19th century? Join us to learn more about those impacted by legal alcohol in the years leading up to prohibition in 1920

Eric Anthony, descendant of the Anthony family, will introduce Jack London, American novelist and short-story writer, and his relationship to the temperance and suffrage movements. Ralph Hammann will then perform two chapters of Jack London's autobiographical novel, John Barleycorn, followed by audience Q&A.

Ralph Hammann is a life-long teacher of film and theater and Williamstown resident. His performance of excerpts from John Barleycorn will express the experience of many authors and artists who have experienced the negative effects of alcoholism.

How does this relate to suffragist Susan B. Anthony?

Susan was a member of the Daughters of Temperance while she was a teacher in Canajoharie, likely inspired by her father's stance on hard alcohol. Her first public speech was at a Daughters of Temperance supper in 1848. She became a leader of the Rochester chapter, where, at a Sons of Temperance meeting in 1852 she was told that "the sisters were not invited there to speak but to listen and learn." Susan left the meeting and was inspired to organize a Woman's state Temperance Convention. Later in the 1870s, Susan attempted to align the Women's Christian Temperance Union with the suffrage movement. She did not support outright prohibition, but recognized the need to ally with the temperance movement.

Jack London (1876 - 1916)was an American author best known for his novels The Call of the Wild and White Fang. He wrote his memoir John Barleycorn in 1913, in which he discusses his alcohol addiction and the relationship between male alcoholism and women’s suffrage. His discussion of temperance and prohibition offers a sense of compassion for boys and young men exposed to alcohol whose addictions negatively impact the lives of those around them.

The excerpts to be performed, chapters 1 and 38, directly reference Jack London’s belief that women voting would finally put to bed the dangerous John Barleycorn by voting for prohibition.

John Barleycorn is the protagonist of an English & Scottish folk song, its written form dating back to 1568. He personifies barley and the alcohol made from it, namely beer and whiskey. The song’s variations feature different failed attempts to kill John Barleycorn, who seemingly cannot die. The manner of attempts parallel the stages of turning barley into beer and whiskey, and he returns as these beverages. In Jack London’s book, John Barleycorn represents the negative side of alcohol and its societal impact.

"Are you a friend of John Barleycorn? Temperance, Prohibition, and Women's Suffrage as told by Jack London" 

Sunday, February 18th

3:00 PM

G.A.R. Memorial Hall of the Adams Free Library

92 Park Street, Adams MA 01220

The Hall is on the second floor, if you wish to avoid stairs please use the elevator Entrance on Melrose Street.

The Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum, located on 67 East Road in Adams, Mass., is open Fridays through Mondays this fall/winter from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. For more information, call the Museum at 413-743-7121 or visit http://www.susanbanthonybirthplace.com.

About the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum

The Susan B. Anthony birthplace was restored, and opened in 2010. The two-story Federal-style house at the foot of Mount Greylock depicts family and work life and the Quaker community in the early 1800s, and includes Daniel Anthony’s store, the room where Anthony was born, a portrait gallery, authentic period pieces, ephemera, and a detailed timeline. The museum has welcomed guests from 16 countries, including all provinces of Canada. Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum, 67 East Road (PO Box 244), Adams, MA 01220, 413-743-7121, [email protected], http://www.susanbanthonybirthplace.com.