author
Gertrude Foster Brown
1867–1956
A concert pianist turned suffrage organizer, she brought the same clarity and energy to public life that she brought to music. Her best-known book, Your Vote and How to Use It, helped newly enfranchised women understand how to take part in American democracy.
1 Audiobook
Your vote and how to use it
by Gertrude Foster Brown
About the author
Born in Morrison, Illinois, in 1867, Gertrude Foster Brown built an impressive early career in music. She studied at the New England Conservatory of Music, completed its four-year course in just two years, and continued her training in Europe before making her professional debut as a concert pianist in Berlin.
Brown later taught music and became widely active in the women’s suffrage movement in New York. After women won the vote in New York State, she wrote Your Vote and How to Use It (1918), a practical and encouraging guide for new women voters.
She was also involved in organizing work beyond the ballot, including service connected to women’s wartime efforts and the early League of Women Voters. She died in Westport, Connecticut, in 1956, remembered as a musician, teacher, writer, and advocate for civic participation.