Although the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution – giving women the hard-earned right to vote https://www.wagmag.com/20-acts-toward-the-20-womens-vote/
– was ratified on Aug. 18, 1920, it was not formally adopted until Aug. 26, Women’s Equality Day. To mark the occasion, the Women’s Rights National Historical Park (NHP) has announced Equality Weekend-Seneca Falls, a series of online programs Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 22 and 23. The weekend is named for the Seneca Falls (New York) Convention, July 19 and 20, 1848, that is considered the beginning of the suffragist movement in the United States.
First Lady Melania Trump will honor the centennial with the exhibit “Building the Movement: America’s Youth Celebrate 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage,” showcasing artwork by young Americans and going live Tuesday, Aug. 25.
Then on Wednesday, Aug. 26, buildings and landmarks across the country will be lit in purple and gold for the Forward Into Light campaign, named for the suffragist slogan, “Forward through the Darkness, Forward into Light.”
You’ll find information on these events and more at 2020centennial.org.
We at WAG and Westfair Communications Inc., WAG’s parent company, wish to take this opportunity to salute all those women – and more than a few good men – whose courage and persistence in the face of ridicule and even physical deprivation and violence gave us this victory. (In particular we acknowledge the often unsung contributions of black Americans. It was the African-American abolitionist, author and orator Frederick Douglass who, along with suffragist leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton, reminded women at Seneca Falls that without the vote all their efforts toward equality would mean nothing. And it was black women who would prove key in securing that vote.)
We honor the dead in this world by serving the living. We can think of no better way to honor the suffragists than by rocking the vote this year, whether by mail or in person.
For more, visit https://www.usa.gov/absentee-voting.
– Georgette Gouveia
