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Sister Suffragette
Written By: Deena Bouknight | Issue: | Photograph By: Marjorie Christiansen Photography
A main scene in the 1964 film Mary Poppins focuses on the women’s right to vote when the mother of the story’s two children marches into the home singing the song about “Sister Suffragette.”
This year, 2020 – although it will be remembered for much that is negative – is also the commemorative year of the 19th Amendment, which granted American women the right to vote, a right known as women’s suffrage. One hundred years ago this month, the Amendment was ratified, ending almost a century of protest.
According to history.com: “On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment was certified by U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby, and women finally achieved the long-sought right to vote throughout the United States. On November 2 of that same year, more than 8 million women across the U.S. voted in elections for the first time.”
In modernity, it may be difficult for many people to imagine a time when women were not allowed to vote. In a May 2019 report, Pew Research Center found that in 2018, “women made up about the same share of the electorate as they did in the previous five midterms; 53% of voters were women and 47% were men.”
Both the Hudson Library in Highlands and the Albert Carlton-Cashiers Community Library in Cashiers have had displays this year that bring attention to the 19th Amendment and women’s rights; plus, visitors to the library can be directed to books about the subject by librarians.
In various ways, individuals and organizations throughout the Plateau and in the nation are recognizing the significant centennial. The 2020 Women’s Vote Centennial Initiative, for example, provides plenty of online exhibits in this pandemic era, when virtual tour and education are commonplace.
