Page 15 - August 2020 - The Castle Pines Connection

CastlePinesConnection.com 15 A century of suffrage By Lisa Nicklanovich; courtesy photo Like many of us, community resident Karen Welden admitted that she has pretty much taken for granted women’s right to vote. “I had forgotten how tough the ght was to get me here but still, I take seriously my current ability to vote,” Welden said. 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the rati cation of the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing and protecting women’s constitutional right to vote. The right to vote is the heart of our democracy, yet it took a seven-decade campaign to get to this historic event. The road to get women the right to vote was tumultuous. There were disagreements, protests, alliances and arrests, which has led some to say women “fought” for the right versus it being “given.” The campaign began in July of 1848 at the rst women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. The U.S. women’s su rage movement was launched there when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott led 300 women and men at the gathering. Seventy-two years later, in 1920, some 10 million women voted. The movement split in 1869 over the 15th Amendment, which granted voting rights to African American men but not women. The National Su rage Association lobbied for a federal amendment, while the American Woman Su rage Association pursued a state-by-state strategy. Recognizing that a divided movement was hurting their success, the groups merged in 1890 as the National American Woman Su rage Association (NAWSA). It is worth noting that on November 7, 1893, Colorado was the second state to enact equal su rage through popular vote; Wyoming being the rst in 1890. In 1913, Alice Paul organized NAWSA’s rst women’s su rage parade in Washington D.C., creating more awareness about the organization and its cause. In a speech titled “The Crisis” at NAWSA’s 1916 convention, President Carrie Chapman Catt outlined her plan to focus e orts on a federal amendment while encouraging women to work in their states for the level of su rage that could be achieved. The National Woman’s Party held protests outside the White House in 1917 to pressure President Woodrow Wilson to support women’s su rage. For several months, su ragists protested in silence six days a week. Known as the Silent Sentinels in distinctive purple, white and gold sashes, the group was one of the rst to picket outside the White House. Thirty-three su ragists picketing outside the White House were arrested and jailed for “obstructing tra c.” Despite abusive and terrorizing treatment, Paul and other women undertook a hunger strike and were brutally force fed. They were released after the Washington D.C. Court of Appeals declared their arrests unconstitutional. The term “su rage” derives from the Latin word “su ragium,” meaning the right or privilege to vote. Even though the term has nothing to do with the word “su er,” the centennial anniversary is a good time to acknowledge what some endured to get women the right to vote. To learn more, watch both “Iron Jawed Angels,” a 2004 historical drama available on HBO and on DVD and “The Vote” on PBS’s American Experience. Visit www.2020centennial.org for the Women’s Vote Centennial Initiative, a collaboration of women-centered institutions, organizations, and scholars from across the U.S., who are working to ensure that this anniversary, and the 72-year ght to achieve it, are commemorated and celebrated throughout the U.S. August 2020