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Ring the bell for women’s rights
Women’s History Month 2026 marks 111 years since a band of heroic Pennsylvanian suffragists spearheaded a revolutionary media event that ultimately contributed to the passage of the historic 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote.
Their ingenious publicity campaign – centered around creating an authentic replica of the Liberty Bell – is the topic of the documentary, Finding Justice: The Untold Story of Women’s Fight for the Vote. Since its premiere in 2020 at the National Women’s History Museum, the film has aired on local PBS stations and garnered numerous accolades.
Through dynamic storytelling and archival imagery, the film brings to life the pivotal moments and lesser-known figures who played critical roles in Pennsylvania’s exceptional suffrage movement, weaving together interviews with historians and descendants of suffragists, offering viewers a fresh perspective on the perseverance and determination of the women who led this historic revolution.
As Pennsylvania commemorates America’s 250th anniversary, The Justice Bell Foundation is launching its 2026 tour of the film this month – retracing the bell’s historic 1915 journey across the Commonwealth during the height of the women’s suffrage movement. Through personal appearances with film screenings, public programs, and community discussions, the foundation’s executive director, Amanda Owen, who wrote, directed and co-produced the documentary will highlight Pennsylvania women’s leadership in expanding democracy while reconnecting communities to their own suffrage history.
Quest One: Rediscovering the Pennsylvania’s suffrage story
With Agatha Christie-style verve and Indiana Jones’ flair, Owen is the Justice Bell’s modern-day archeologist.
Her undertaking began in 2015. Owen had just completed a book tour and was about to begin writing another book when her attention was caught by the media buzz about which historic American woman should be placed on U.S. currency. While Harriet Tubman’s image was the undisputed choice for the $20 bill, an image of a group of suffragists was being considered for the $10 bill.
Realizing that she was not at all familiar with these historic women, Owen’s inner scholar catapulted her into research mode. Digging deep into the archives, she discovered a tiny article about something called the Justice Bell, along with a photograph of a woman on the back of a flatbed truck with a huge bell and a sign that said, “Votes for Women.”
Owen leaned in, digging deeper. She soon discovered that the bell had been cast as an exact replica of the Liberty Bell – except for the additional engraved words: “Establish Justice.”
Quest Two: The Justice Bell
Her interest piqued, so Owen began unearthing a bevy of archival imagery – photographs and newspaper articles – verifying that this bell had been cast and carried through countless Pennsylvania towns, villages and counties in what was for its time, a brilliant public relations campaign to secure the vote for women that had been begun decades before by early American suffragists, led by figures like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and Lucy Stone, who had launched the organized movement for women’s voting rights at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention.
“In 1915, suffragists in Pennsylvania were looking for a way to drum up support for an amendment to the state constitution that would give women the right to vote,” Owen tells. “A referendum to approve such an amendment was to appear on the ballot in the November election, so there was no time to waste. They needed to launch a campaign to win the hearts and minds of the male voters who would go to the polls. They needed to create some buzz.”
Anti-suffrage groups had sprung up statewide. Many of these opponents felt that women would destroy the liquor trade by voting for prohibition and would inflict havoc on the textile industry by opposing child labor. Of course, some men simply thought women weren’t smart enough to vote.
Incredibly, women from all 67 Pennsylvania counties united and found a very clever way to fight the coalition of oppositionist men. Chester County activist Katharine Wentworth Ruschenberger hatched a brilliant idea to make a replica of the Liberty Bell! In an example of early public relations on steroids, she suggested they drive this bell around the state on a multi-county tour, complete with parades, brass bands and assorted other attention-grabbing hoopla.
Members of the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association commissioned the Meneely Bell Company in Troy, New York, casting a 2,000-pound bronze replica. The project was financed by Ruschenberger, who covered the $2,000 cost – approximately $64,200 in today’s prices.
Another brilliant aspect of the campaign was engraving the words “Establish Justice” on the bell – implying that while liberty had been won for our nation, there would only be true justice once all citizens were recognized as “being created equal.”
A final piece of the Justice Bell’s publicity show was to chain the clapper to its side with the intention that the bell would not be rung until women were silenced no more. The original Liberty Bell “announced the creation of democracy,” Ruschenberger said. “The women’s Liberty Bell will announce the completion of democracy.”
The 1915 movement featured “parades and gatherings seen by more than a million people during a months-long tour through Pennsylvania and later to other states,” Owen reiterates on a podcast hosted by Montgomery County Community College Assistant Deam of Academic Affairs Jared Brown with MCCC Director of Libraries, Nicole Maugle.
“These events drew crowds, headlines, and the widespread curiosity of individuals who came to see the Justice Bell and to listen to women orators who spoke passionately, eloquently of women’s long denied right to cast their votes in elections,” Owen emphasizes.
INTERVIEW: After Misogyny: How the Law Fails Women and What to Do About It, with Julie C. Suk
Alas, the 1915 state referendum failed, but the suffragists carried on the fight over the next years, including staging the first ever silent protest outside of the White House. Finally, in 1920, after the passage of the 19th Amendment that granted women the right to vote, the Justice Bell was proudly rung 48 times in a massive celebration at Independence Square in Philadelphia.
“This bell was clearly a symbol of the women’s suffrage movement, and I thought if the bell was so famous not that long ago, why have I never heard about it?”
So, in a final piece of detective work, Owen embarked on her secondary quest to find the actual bell. Ironically, she finally located it residing, entirely unacknowledged, in a chapel located in historic Valley Forge National Park – just 15 miles from her home. The documentary also highlights that mission.
Amanda Owen – a born civil rights advocate
Owen was raised in a family engaged in movements for equality. Even as a child she says, “I attended marches for civil rights and women’s rights.” Although her family moved frequently, they participated in marches and boycotts wherever they landed.
“Raised primarily in California,” she continues, “I did not taste a grape until adulthood because of the United Farm Workers boycott led by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta. The importance of voting was instilled in me early, and I registered as soon as I turned eighteen.”
Owen’s road to championing women’s rights was varied. “I grew up surrounded by the arts, which led me first to acting and songwriting,” she explains. “My parents were drama teachers and directors, and my uncle was a cofounder and longtime emcee of the Monterey Jazz Festival.”
A detour led her into automotive mechanics, attending Denver Automotive and Diesel College. Later, Owen worked as a social worker, providing housing for unhoused women and children in Philadelphia, eventually pursuing a B.A. in Psychology from Union Institute & University in Cincinnati. Finally, writing became her professional focus.
Early in her career, Owen published books in the self-help field: The Power of Receiving: A Revolutionary Approach to Giving Yourself the Life You Want and Deserve (Penguin Random House, 2010) and Born to Receive: 7 Powerful Steps Women Can Take Today to Reclaim Their Half of the Universe (Penguin Random House, 2014). Both were grounded in years of research and in the workshops and retreats she led throughout the United States.
Though diverse, all of the elements add up to Owen’s passion for and leadership of The Justice Bell Foundation. She has spent more than a decade researching her recently released book, The Justice Bell: Tracing the Journey of a Forgotten Symbol – an apt companion of the documentary.
Owen is looking forward to touring Pennsylvania this year, sharing this important chapter of American history with communities across the state. As a historian of the suffrage movement, she is mindful that earlier generations of women fought for voting rights and for meaningful access to participation.
“The historical record reminds us of that access to the ballot has long required vigilance and reform within our democratic system,” she emphasizes.
Voting rights still under threat
Owen’s words never rang truer. Shockingly, exactly one hundred years after the 1915 Pennsylvania suffragists campaign, in 2025, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed the stringent Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act that purportedly aims to block non-citizens from voting, which is already illegal and is very rare.
The bill would require an individual to present in person a passport, birth certificate or other citizenship document when registering to vote or updating their voter registration information.
According to THE 19th, an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics, policy and power, “Millions of American women have a different last name than what’s on their birth certificates.” This bill could make it harder for them to vote, “creating a barrier for millions of American women and others who have changed their legal name because of marriage, assimilation or to better align with their gender identity.”
An estimated 69 million American women and 4 million men do not have a birth certificate that matches their current legal name.
The Justice Bell Foundation
In addition to its historical focus, the Justice Bell Foundation encourages civic participation, particularly voting. Throughout American history, struggles and debates over access to the ballot have shaped the evolution of our democracy and remain part of an ongoing national conversation.
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