Voting - how we got where we are

 

A post from Sydney.

This year marked the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote.  The 19th amendment, which provides that the right to vote "shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex," was passed by Congress in 1919, and became part of the U.S. Constitution in August, 1920, after being ratified by 36 states.  It took more than 70 years and multiple generations of women to make the dream of women's suffrage a reality.

In our library this year, we marked the anniversary with some special programs.  We were lucky enough to host a pop-up exhibit from "Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote," from the National Archives. We shared it outside on our walkway or our front porch as often as the weather allowed all month long. We hope that many of you got the chance to check it out when stopping by the library in August.  

Our book club read The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote, by Elaine Weiss.  We thoroughly enjoyed this book--even though we all knew how it was going to end (of course!), we were really impressed at how the author conveyed the incredible drama of the final push for ratification in the summer of 1920 in Tennessee.  That was one hot, contentious summer in Nashville, Tennessee, as all interested parties converged on the city to make their case for or against ratification.  What a political thriller this was, complete with illicit liquor and guys jumping off trains and sneaking out windows.  How is this not a movie?  

Susan B. Anthony tells her story

Finally, actress/historian Marjorie Goldman brought Susan B. Anthony to life for us in a program in August, telling us about the highs and the lows of her role in the struggle for the right to vote.  

With so much focus on the upcoming election, we decided to bring "Ms. Anthony" back to the library for a return visit on Tuesday, October 27 at 7:30PM.  If you missed her appearance in August, please join us!  You will never take your right to vote for granted again.

Many of us have strong feelings about who we plan to vote for, how we want to do our voting, and what issues are the most important to us.  In this context, it's important to remember how fortunate we are at this time in history to even have the right to vote.  Let's remember how hard some people fought to make sure that we have it at all.