Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Travel and Religion
They made a difference. But neither of them got an obelisk.

They made a difference. But neither of them got an obelisk.

Last updated on: April 7, 2025 at 8:46 pm by Dan Peterson

0 Comments

They made a difference. But neither of them got an obelisk. 2025-04-07T20:46:32-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A 2020 Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph of the grave marker of Susan B. Anthony. Please notice the “I Voted” stickers around and about the marker. A number of such stickers were present today, as well.

My wife and I drove around today to look at the Eastman School of Music, from which two of our friends graduated, and at the University of Rochester and its medical school (where a former next-door neighbor earned his medical degree). We crossed the Erie Canal several times and went to the former home of Susan B. Anthony, in the parlor of which, in 1872, she was arrested for violating the law that prohibited voting while female. She was convicted in a widely publicized trial, but refused to pay the fine — and the authorities prudently decided to let the matter drop. In 1878, Ms. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton arranged for the Congress of the United States to be presented with a proposed amendment that would grant women the right to vote. It came to be popularly known as the “Susan B. Anthony Amendment” and, in 1920, it was ratified as the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Unfortunately, Ms. Anthony had already died in 1906, in the same house in Rochester that we visited and where she had been arrested in 1872 for attempting to cast a ballot. She did, however, live to see women granted the vote in Wyoming (1869) and Utah (1870), before her arrest, and then in Colorado (1893) and Idaho (1896).

Although Ms. Anthony’s home announced its open hours as extending from 11 AM to 5 PM, it was empty and locked up when we arrived at about 2 PM. But we also visited her grave. It is located in nearby Mt. Hope Cemetery, which is effectively enclosed by the University of Rochester and its main medical school campus. (I’ll resist the powerful temptation to offer sardonic comments on the proximity of medical school and cemetery.) The plain simplicity of Susan B. Anthony’s tombstone was a striking contrast to the huge and grandiose obelisk located almost immediately to its right, marking the ostentatious burial place of some apparently once-prominent local family.

We also visited the grave of Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), the escaped slave who became a famous nineteenth-century abolitionist, crusader for women’s rights, orator, and writer, and the founder of the American civil rights movement. It’s amazing to me that two of the preeminent leaders of the two most consequential reform movements in the history of the United States are both buried in the same Rochester cemetery.

One of the Interpreter Foundation’s control rooms for the weekly Interpreter Radio Show (Wikimedia Commons public domain image). Please notice the photograph of the First Presidency wearing astronaut gear to the lower left of the world map.

Up today on the moribund website of the Interpreter Foundation: Interpreter Radio Show — March 30, 2025, including Doctrine and Covenants in Context: “If Ye Are Not One Ye Are Not Mine” covering D&C 37-40

For the 30 March 2025 installment of the Interpreter Radio Show, Terry Hutchinson and Martin Tanner discussed Come, Follow Me Doctrine & Covenants lesson 17 covering D&C 37-40, various biographies of Joseph Smith, and the new temple garments. Their conversation was recorded and, now edited to remove commercial interruptions, has been archived and made available for your delight and edification.

The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard weekly on Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640. Or, if for some reason you can’t access K-TALK (or stubbornly refuse to do so), you can nonetheless listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com.

The Beatles in New York City (February 1964), with John Lennon appropriately at far left
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

In the comments section of this blog, Kenneth Gourdin shared a wonderful comment attributed to John Lennon (of all people): “It will be all right in the end. If it isn’t all right, it isn’t the end.” Very much my sentiment.

In the Sacred Grove, near Palmyra, New York (LDS Media Library)

Some of you are no doubt wondering what this Peterson clown is doing in upstate New York right now, so soon after he was wandering around Hawai’i. Well, the simple answer — very understandable, given my character and personality — is that I found balmy tropical sea breezes unendurable and badly needed someplace cold, gray, and wet. (And, of course, my Malevolent Stalker and his disciples will add the suggestion that I just can’t stand being around brown people.) But that would be too simple. There’s also the fact that, given my toxic persona, I’m obliged to travel long distances in order to find even one or two people who, because they don’t know me yet, are willing to interact with me. Occasionally, folks drop in on me from far-flung areas. The day before we left, for example, the current Istanbul branch president stopped by our home; a few weeks before, we had friends come by from Helsinki, Finland. But, for a radius of about four miles around my house, so many former residents have fled the neighborhood that it now resembles the land of Mordor, where the shadows lie. Lightning flashes in the perpetual gloom, thunder rolls, and only the occasional wailing dog can still be found.

While we’re here, though, we’ll be filming on location for our forthcoming series of short Interpreter Foundation documentary videos, Becoming Brigham. (Our film people should be arriving as I write.) And, for those who wonder — or who, at least, offer hostile speculations — about the finances of it all: No, neither the Interpreter Foundation nor Interpreter donors nor tithe payers covered our sojourn in Hawai’i. Starting today, though, my expenses here in the American northeast (e.g., food and lodging) will be covered by funds donated for Becoming Brigham. Why? Because — owing to the misconceived ideas of the filmmakers — I will be in front of the cameras here at Church historical sites in New York and, later this week, in Ohio. (Just as I was, last month, in Carthage and Nauvoo.). My wife, however, is traveling on our private personal dime. I’m really glad that she’s here; I much prefer having her along rather than traveling by myself. She will be helping out with the movie crew and actors — coordinating lunches and snacks and so forth for long filming days and helping to drive — but she’s doing it as a volunteer. Of course, that won’t necessarily prevent a chorus of indignation and complaints over at the Obsession Board. But then, entertaining those folks is a large part of my raison d’être.

Dr. Thomas Sowell of the Hoover Institution at Stanford

I think that some of you may have noticed that I’ve expressed certain, umm, doubts about the tariffs announced by Mr. Donald J. Trump. For expressing those doubts, and for backing them up with quotations from Milton Friedman, Henry Hazlitt, and Ronald Reagan, I’ve been pronounced a libtard, a Marxist, and a RINO. Well, it seems that I might have been joined in my newly discovered Communist sympathies by a prominent businessman of South African background who, like me, cites the infamous Bolshevik Milton Friedman in support of his position: “Elon Musk Takes Apparent Stance Against Trump Tariffs, Quotes Famed Economist On Merits Of Free Trade: “A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing.”” And — what the heck! — while I’m at it, let’s hear from yet another notorious far-left economist: “Thomas Sowell Discusses The Trump Tariffs.”

Posted from Rochester, New York

Travel and Religion

History and Religion

Previous Post

April 6, 2025

Let them ring!

Next Post

April 8, 2025 Cold hands, warm hearts

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"DP: “But Mr. Sutherland worries about the fact that our time, when we can communicate ..."

Theodore Brandley

Learning more about a region of ..."

"Sutherland's lecture sounds interesting. He seems to restate the Washington consensus that trade brings peace ..."

B. Wilson

Learning more about a region of ..."

"In a meeting today, I learned another important reason why accurate (or at least as ..."

the PROBLEM

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

"I've been watching a lot of video interviews of NDErs and researchers. I think in ..."

brotheroflogan

Accounts of Premortality?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I told my daughter-in-law to uncover a man's feet and lie down at the threshing floor. Who am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Rebekah Naomi Ruth Bathsheba