World War I was almost over.  The Allies were advancing on Germany.

November was election season.  Although the 19th Amendment to the Consitution was not passed until 8/18/1920, in November 1917 a referendum to enfranchise women in New York passed by a substantial margin. This gave Women in NY the right to vote.  As such considerable effort was given to get City women registered to vote.

At the University of Rochester, an employment-management class was cancelled and brought to a close due to the influenza pandemic.  The class graduated 11 men and 26 women.

Tomorrow was election day, but it was reported that due to the influenza epidemic and the war effort there were no big campaign events or even many events. It was also the first time women could vote in NY, and their vote was seen as being able to decide the election for either candidate.

Locally the Republican party was pushing hard for the support of colored women and for the support of colored men.

It was felt the influenza epidemic was “spent” in Rochester although it was expected that there would be new cases over the course of the winter.

 

 

 

© words by Daniel DeMarle 5/21/2020