Delaware's Women's Suffrage Centennial Commemoration

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Delaware's Women's Suffrage Centennial Commemoration

Women Suffrage Centennial Celebration - join us on September 26, 2020 as we celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

03/01/2021

is shining light on, Elizabeth Piper Ensley! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Ensley was born in New Bedford, MA and after some time in MS and DC, she and her family would make their way to Colorado where she would settle. Colorado is also where she made some of the most notable contributions in the women's suffrage sphere. There, she joined the Non-Partisan Colorado Equal Suffrage Association (NCESA). As its treasurer, she was one of only a handful of Black women leaders nationwide working for suffrage rights within a racially integrated group.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Ensley taught and mobilized Black women, was the Denver correspondent for the national newspaper Woman's Era, which published news about women's suffrage in Colorado, and created the Colorado Association of Colored Women’s Clubs in 1904. When Colorado's voters passed HB 118 in November of 1893, it was the first time in U.S. history that a popular vote had passed women's suffrage into law. Ensley's work was pivotal in this achievement, which had an impact throughout the West, South, and eventually, the entire country. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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11/05/2020

BuildingtheMovement - America’s Youth Celebrate 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage

Check out the student artwork from one of our very own Delaware students! The artwork was selected by for an exhibit outside of the White House.

Title: Igniting the Movement
By Monica, age 15, Wilmington, DE

“My drawing was done in pen, pencil, and marker. The subject is the March 3rd, 1913 Women’s Suffrage Parade. The main focus of the drawing is Inez Milholland, who led the parade on her white horse. I included signs that represent the voices of the women, and the U.S. Capitol, where the parade began.” - Monica

“To celebrate the 100th anniversary of this monumental chapter in American history, the First Lady asked children from all 50 states, and the District of Columbia, to showcase individuals, symbols, or events that represent this significant moment in history. The artwork in this gallery, selected by the First Lady, encompasses the children’s creative and inspiring thoughts. Each artwork represents a location where individuals came together to fight for women’s constitutional rights. The actions of these Americans resulted in a change for all of the women who would follow in their footsteps. Though they were far apart, together, they built the movement. The historic photographs that open and close this exhibit page serve as reminders of all of the suffrage parades, marches, and gatherings that took place outside the White House gates, most of which happened on Pennsylvania Avenue.” - Women’s Vote Centennial

10/30/2020

Recasting the Vote: How Women of Color Transformed the Suffrage Movement.

Thursday, November 19th, 2020 l 7 PM
FREE EVENT! Registration is required. Follow the link below to register.

“While we think we know the story of women’s suffrage in the United States, new research illustrates that the fight for women’s voting rights is a much richer story. A truly diverse group of women from Chinatown, Native American reservations, African American clubs, and Spanish-speakers in New Mexico worked for more than 40 years to build a movement that would eventually include all women. In Recasting the Vote, author Dr. Cathleen D. Cahill recounts the actions of a multiracial group who pushed the national suffrage movement toward a more inclusive vision of equal rights, which remains an unfinished struggle that extends into the 21st century.

Dr. Cahill will be joined by Jessica Renae Locklear for a conversation about 20th century Philadelphia-area native histories and communities’ issues of concern.”

REGISTER HERE: https://tinyurl.com/Recastingthevote

10/21/2020

Fifteen women including, Susan B. Anthony, voted illegally in Rochester, New York, in the US Presidential election of 1872. Anthony was subsequently tried and convicted of violating the 14th Amendment.

In 1872 Susan B. Anthony led a group of 16 women to the polls in Rochester, New York, demanding they be registered and announcing their intention to cast their votes in the national elections. All the women would be arrested and only Anthony would be tried for violating the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed “the right to vote… to any of the male inhabitants” of the United States over the age of 21.

Judge Ward Hunt would not allow Anthony to take the stand in her own defense, ultimately directing the jury to issue a guilty verdict. Anthony refused to pay the court ordered $100 fine and challenged the judge to hold her in custody or send her to jail. Hunt declined knowing this would allow her to appeal her case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The judge dropped the case. Ultimately this case would earn Anthony national recognition.

10/08/2020

Celebrate Women’s Suffrage, but Don't Whitewash the Movement's Racism.

“When suffragists gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, in July 1848, they advocated for the right of white women to vote. The participants were middle and upper-class white women, a cadre of white men supporters and one African-American male — Frederick Douglass. The esteemed abolitionist had forged a strong working relationship with fellow abolitionists and white women suffragists, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. No Black women attended the convention. None were invited.”

Follow the link to read the full article:
https://www.aclu.org/blog/womens-rights/celebrate-womens-suffrage-dont-whitewash-movements-racism

Written by Tammy L. Brown, Associate Professor of Black World Studies, History, and Global and Intercultural Studies, Miami University.

10/05/2020

Need to brush up on some of your Women’s Suffrage history? Follow the link below to learn about the journey to Womens Suffrage.

To test your knowledge, take our Suffrage Quiz! If you are teaching young ones, don’t worry! We have a Kids Suffrage Quizz too.

https://archives.delaware.gov/women-vote-history/.

10/01/2020

President Woodrow Wilson speaks in favor of female suffrage

On September 30, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson gives a speech before Congress in support of guaranteeing women the right to vote. Although the House of Representatives had approved a 19th constitutional amendment giving women suffrage, the Senate had yet to vote on the measure.

Wilson had actually maintained a somewhat lukewarm attitude toward women’s suffrage throughout his first term (1913-1917). In 1917, he had been picketed by suffragists outside the White House who berated him for paying mere lip service to their cause. The protests reached a crescendo when several women were arrested, jailed and went on a hunger strike.

Wilson was appalled to learn that the jailed suffragists were being force-fed and he finally stepped in to champion their cause. Suffragists and their supporters agreed that Wilson had a debt to pay to the country’s women, who at the time were asked to support their sons and husbands fighting overseas in the First World War and who were contributing to the war effort on the home front. In his September 30 speech to Congress, Wilson acknowledged this debt, saying “we have made partners of the women in this war…Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?”.

Wilson’s stirring words on that day failed to drum up the necessary votes to pass the amendment. The bill died in the Senate and it would be another year before Congress finally passed the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote.

09/26/2020

Have you had the chance to visit our website? We provide so much more than just the history of our the Womens Suffrage Movement! From the history, to various events throughout the state, educational materials for teachers, PLUS books for people of ALL AGES, etc.

Marching with Aunt Susan is one of the many children’s books we recommend! If you haven’t read it, it’s a great read.

It is an inspiring story of the fight for women’s suffrage, based on the experiences of a real girl. All Bessie wants is to go hiking with her father and brothers. But it’s 1896, and girls don’t get to hike. They can’t vote either, which Bessie discovers when Susan B. Anthony comes to town to help lead the campaign for women’s suffrage. Stirred to action, Bessie joins the movement and discovers that small efforts can result in small changes—and maybe even big ones.
Inspired by the diary of the real Bessie Keith Pond, a ten-year-old girl who lived in California during the suffrage campaign, author Claire Rudolf Murphy and illustrator Stacey Schuett offer a thought-provoking introduction to the fight for women’s rights. A story of hope and determination, Marching with Aunt Susan reminds readers that society cannot evolve unless people—even young people—dare to take a stand.

09/23/2020

New Yorker Mrs. Frank Leslie donated more money than any other individual to the woman suffrage movement, leaving her entire estate to Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to win the right to vote for women.

Although she was not an activist, Leslie consistently supported the suffrage movement with small donations for well over two decades before leaving her estate to Catt. Moreover, she demonstrated through her life choices and business acumen that women were capable of economic independence. Together, Leslie’s love life and business achievements reveal that she took control of her own life and her finances, despite the steady stream of men in her life — men on whom she could not rely. This independent spirit was probably the source of her dedication to woman suffrage.

To read more about Leslie’s story, head to Gothamcenter.org.

08/26/2020

Today we celebrate Women’s Equality and commemorate the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

02/19/2020

A 1915 illustration by Henry Mayer, titled “The Awakening,” suggested the geographical force behind the suffrage movement.

Credit...Cornell University, The PJ Mode Collection of Persuasive Cartography.

02/14/2020

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of our beautiful and compassionate followers. May today and everyday, we lead and love with grace in our hearts.

Address

Dover, DE
19901

Telephone

+13027445000

Website

https://archives.delaware.gov/women-vote-contact/

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