Century mark celebrates the 19th Amendment
One hundred years ago Tuesday on August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the final state to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving women the right to vote. And ironically, people in many parts of the country were at the time wearing masks to ward off a virus known as the Spanish flu that had killed 650,000 Americans.
Columnist Coleen Hoptak describes the times:
“Racial unrest was roiling in cities throughout the country as the Ku Klux Klan was in full resurgence. Major race riots in the cities of Chicago and New York and anarchist attacks on Wall Street produced fears of radicals and terrorists. …
“There was a massive response against the reformist zeal of the Progressive Era, and most Americans were disillusioned with those in control of government. Immigration was a contentious issue and the public, wary of international entanglements, sought a more isolationist foreign policy.
“A nasty presidential election was underway, pitting Republican Warren G. Harding against Democrat James M. Cox, both of Ohio. Harding ran a “front porch” candidacy in which he campaigned for conservatism and a return to normalcy amid the social and political upheavals of the time. His divisive and nationalistic campaign slogan of ‘America First’ alienated the American electorate but was effective in winning him the White House.”
Sound familiar?
This week as the nation marks a century since women got the right to vote, we are witnessing the presumptive nomination at the Democratic convention of the first Black woman as vice presidential nominee by a major party. Sen. Kamala Harris, the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, is also the first vice presidential candidate of India/ Asia parentage.
And yet, as progress is celebrated, the nation is grappling with a fight for racial justice on the heels of the #MeToo movement, demonstrating that the quest for equal treatment of women and Blacks is an unfinished quest.
The modern-day warriors seeking equal rights of all people regardless of gender or race and including LGBTQ individuals remind us of their predecessors of 100 years ago who endured physical and emotional abuse during a period that began before the Civil War and carried on over seven decades before the 19th amendment was passed and ratified.
Those 19th century suffrage pioneers — Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Lucretia Mott — are remembered this week for leading a relentless and courageous pursuit, a pursuit that has ties close to home.
Lucretia Mott’s legacy in both the abolitionist and women’s suffrage movements was carried out from her “Roadside” farm in Cheltenham Township in Montgomery County.
A Quaker minister who stood just 5 feet tall, Mott was a gifted orator. “There is nothing of greater importance to the well-being of society at large — of man as well as woman — than the true and proper position of woman,” she said in an 1849 speech in Philadelphia. Born in Nantucket, Mass. January 3, 1793, and a cousin of the Pennsylvania statesman, Benjamin Franklin, Mott was an abolitionist before the Civil War and was speaking out for women’s rights some 70 years ahead of the 19th Amendment ratification.
The village of LaMott at the site of Mott’s farm is designated as a National Historic Site as one of the first racially integrated communities in the country after the Civil War and as tribute to Mott’s legacy for equal rights for all persons.
The 19th Amendment reads: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
Securing the right to vote for women came after decades of agitation and protest. This week we honor that milestone while creating new ones in this similarly transformative time. And we honor those women whose courage to risk home, life, and reputation set the stage for the leaders of today to follow in their footsteps.
“A new generation of women is now upon the stage, improving the increased opportunities furnished for the acquirement of knowledge,” said Lucretia Mott in 1849, foretelling a message that rings true today.