Women have been on the march for generations

On a beautiful October day in the autumn of 1915 — the year the Antelope Valley Press was born — more than 25,000 marchers walked up Fifth Avenue in New York to cheers. The New York Times reported there were a quarter of a million spectators.

“The noise of traffic,” the Washington Post wrote, gave “way to music mingled with the cheers of women.”

At dusk, 15 bands joined together to play “The Star Spangled Banner.”

What was the occasion? Just the passage of the 19th Amendment, which would come in time for presentation at the 1920 election — a new day of jubilee accomplishment.

Vern Lawson | Special to the Valley Press

Since the beginning of America, less than about half of the adult population was allowed to vote. Women were not.

It was not until Aug. 26, 1920, that the 19th Amendment officially took effect when Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby signed a proclamation certifying the ratification.

It was a great day in United States history for women and for the democracy.

Now, in the year 2021, we have had another historic event, near the anniversary time of the women’s vote approval.

Kamala Harris is the first woman vice president. She is the first Black to hold the honorable position. She is the first Indian American vice president.

Her parents came to the U.S. from Jamaica and India.

“I realize we’re going to have not only a woman VP, but a woman of color VP,” Leighann Blackwood, a voter from Georgia, told Time magazine staffers in the wake of election day. “She has Indian roots and Jamaican roots and my family is Jamaican. “I can’t believe it’s taken this long, but it’s just truly inspiring.”

But Blackwood’s obser vation is a natural follow-up question to any “first” of the type Harris achieved: What took so long?”

The history in every case speaks to the breaking down of barriers that silenced the voices of people of color and women.