Susan Savion
Radio Interview
About The Book
Though Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are well-known historical names, that of Matilda Joslyn Gage usually evokes the response, "Who?" Yet, this amazing woman contributed equally for many years as part of a triumvirate with Anthony and Stanton. Matilda was involved in the women's movement from 1852 until her death in 1898. She became a noted speaker and writer on women's suffrage. She was born in Upstate New York to an abolitionist family, Indeed, her childhood home and her later long-time Greek Revival home (now a museum dedicated to her) in Fayetteville, New York, were both stops on the Underground Railroad. She was best known for her feminist and suffragist activities but was written out of history because she was considered by her peers to be too radical in all she proposed to accomplish.
Inspired by the Haudenosaunee women who were her neighbors and who adopted her into their Mohawk wolf clan, she was determined to gain the rights of property ownership, governance, and equality of power for her 19th-century sisterhood. She had a life-long desire for justice and equality for all and was connected to the ideas of Theosophy and Unitarianism. This moved her to take on the inequality of women in religious institutions, which her contemporaries seemed too radical. Her book, Woman, Church and State, was deemed as "going too far by many. She championed women inventors and "The Matilda Effect" became her legacy. She was also the inspiration for her son-in-law L. Frank Baum's 14 Oz books. You will find her immensely quotable!
Susan Savion
I am the author of four teacher resource books: "Quotes to Start the Day," "Quotes That Bring History To LIfe," "Quotes to Stretch Your Brain," and "Quotes to Spark Discussion. My books are published by Incentive Publications/World Book. They are most suitable for Middle School students. They consist of a quote and a brief bio of the author of the quote and interactive activities for students. They can be used for character education, writing, and English activities, starters for thematic instruction, and many other uses. Many have found them very useful for homeschooling, as well.
Recently, my latest book, Quoting Matilda: The Words and History of a Forgotten Suffragist, is about Suffragist and Abolitionist Matilda Joslyn Gage. I have also completed a screenplay that is being shopped around currently. It is all about Matilda Joslyn Gage and many of the important people she interacted with as an abolitionist, suffragists, writers, editors and passionate progressive social activists. She authored several books, including "Women As Inventors," and "Woman, Church, and State." The working title is "The Matilda Effect." The Matilda Effect is a real designation for women who have invented or created things but a man gets the credit for it. Though this still happens, it was much more prominent when women did not have the right to get patents.
I have had two of my poems published in Aaduna Magazine. I belong to a Writers Group that meets monthly. Many of my poems and essays are published in their annual publication called Voices in the Key of May. Many of my poems, articles and paintings are on my website: www.susansavionsstuff.com.
For most of my 73 years I have been a teacher. I received my undergraduate degree from Illinois State University. My Masters and Reading Specialist degrees were obtained from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. From rural schools and double-grade classrooms in Grantfork, Illinois, to small towns such as my native Highland, the largest Swiss settlement in the United States, to quaint farm towns like Mulberry Grove, to Keystone Junior College in Pennsylvania and the suburban district of Abington Heights near Scranton, I have taught at every grade level, kindergarten through high school and adult. Then for 21 years in Syracuse, I have managed to teach in every quadrant of the Syracuse City School District. In 1989 I was a supervisor and tutor in the initial year of the Liberty Partnership Program, administered by Lemoyne College. From this position at Nottingham High School I worked with at-risk students and their parents and teachers while supervising tutors from Lemoyne College. I joined the Syracuse School District the next year and was a Reading Specialist at Franklin Elementary on the north side of Syracuse and then at Bellevue Elementary on the west side of the city. Eventually, I landed at Clary Middle School on the south side. I taught there for 14 years until my retirement. Meanwhile, I also was a gymnastics judge and coach for many years. I was drawn into this last field by my daughters who were both excellent gymnasts all through their growing-up years and college.
I have kept very busy in “retirement.” I am a member and former co-chair of the Green Sanctuary/Social Justice Committee at May Memorial Unitarian-Universalist Society. I am also a board member there. For two years I was a part of the roundtable of Interfaith Works. I am a long-time member and editor of the newsletter for the Transpersonal Psychology Association of Syracuse. As I am an avid reader, I truly enjoy the book club in another organization that has been very important to me: Women Transcending Boundaries, a unique group of women representing almost every faith. I am now a president emeritus of this organization as I have just completed two years as its president. Another book group I belong to is Black Lives Matter. In addition, I volunteer for many organizations, including the Eastern Farm Workers, Samaritan Center, NOON (Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation) and Women Transcending Boundaries. A new and important group that I am now part of is the Syracuse Sanctuary Coalition, a group of seven faith groups supporting immigrants.
I grew up on a farm in southern Illinois, about 30 miles from St. Louis. Over the past dozen years I have had the opportunity to travel extensively.
I also am a part-time artist. I paint in the mediums of oil, watercolor, acrylic and pastel.
My daughters, sons-in law and grandchildren live nearby, and it is a joy to spend time with them often. I am a retired teacher who is busier than ever.