Women have had the right to vote in the United States since the 19th amendment was passed by Congress on June 4th, 1920, and ratified on August 18th, 1920. Although, a hundred years isn’t a very long time if one thinks about it.
The vote at the time empowered around 20 million women with a right to cast a ballot in elections for their local, state, and national leaders. The fight did not end there though. Many women now days have little to no information on the political agenda of government. It’s now up to organizations to help those who want to learn more about our country’s politics.
One organization the League of Women Voters was founded on terms of women’s suffrage, both to empower and defend democracy as well as teach those about understanding policies.
The League of Women Voters, headquartered in Washington D.C., and founded in 1920 a few months before the ratification of the 19th amendment, decided to kick of their hundredth birthday with celebrations around the country.
The league has 700 plus chapters around the country and five chapters in Mississippi, said Linda Bishop, the president of the Oxford and Northern Mississippi chapter.
“All of the leagues all over the country decided to kick off the centennial celebration this week, because it’s the 200thbirthday of Susan B. Anthony, who had a great deal in our cause” Bishop said.
Susan B. Anthony was a fighting voice for women’s suffrage in the 1800’s, who started the revolution to get women to vote, but not until a few decades later was it actually considered. Under the leadership of Carrie Chapman Catt, the two million member National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) became the winning force behind the right to vote.
The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan organization, meaning that they do not associate with parties or endorse candidates, at either level of government.
“We present ourselves to integral to the community, Bishop said, we feel like we have an opportunity to bring the community together because the league is non-partisan.”
Bishop said that they believe the best way for a democracy to survive is if they come together to educate the voters, discuss issues, and respect each other, and that’s what the league is all about.
On February 18th, 2020 – The Northern Mississippi chapter celebrated at the lyric of Oxford with food, birthday cake, local bands such as The Skid Rouges, The Soul Tones, and The Chadwick’s. Prizes, and the premiere of their educational film “Women on The Move were also at the event.
The director of the Oxford and Northern Mississippi chapter, Ruth O’Dell, said during planning the event got very big and they decided they wanted to add an educational component to the event.
“We got a grant, from the Mississippi Humanities Council to produce a multimedia presentation that we could take out to the schools and community so everyone can learn more about women’s suffrage,” O’Dell said.
One concern for the League of Women Voters mentioned by O’Dell was that not a lot of people understand that women of color had a part in women’s suffrage too. The multimedia presentation focused on the struggle’s women suffragists faced, especially women of color, when it came to exercising their right to vote.
“Women of color often haven’t had a place in studies and books about women’s suffrage, but you would notice in our multimedia presentation, we present quite a bit of information about their role in it too. That was one of the major goals we had for our multimedia presentation,” O’Dell said.
The league will be partnering with Oxford Film Festival and the Overby Center with the showing of their multimedia project, and other upcoming events leading to this years’ 2020 presidential election.
“We have a lot of fun activities planned, but really my goal is to have a variety of activities so that we can do different things in the interest of different people. One thing is that we will be having an online book club, so people don’t have to come to a meeting,” Bishop said, “We are going to be partnering with the Overby Center, the Oxford Film Festival, as well as working with the law school in September.”
Overall, the organization as a whole has done numerous amounts of things in the country. The League has gained over 500 thousand plus members and supporters, 10 million voters reached in 2018, and 100s of different voting rights victories. The league challenges people to think about different policies surrounding all steps of government, all to defend democracy, and exercise our rights to vote.
The League of Women Voters is still growing. For more information on how to join or to learn more about upcoming events visit them at LWM.org or through Instagram @theleagueofwomenvoters.
Madeleine Lowe 