The right to vote didn’t come easy for the majority of people who now make up the citizenry of the United States. That’s to say, in our history — the histories of people of color, women, and young people — there has been a struggle, a fight for the right to vote.
The League of Women Voters was born from such a struggle. Wisconsin was the first state to ratify the Amendment in 1919 that would give women the right to vote by August 26, 1920 when the 19th Amendment was finally included into the US Constitution. In 1920, the League was formed on the premise that a nonpartisan civic organization could provide the education and experience the public needed to assure the success of democracy. Founder Carrie Chapman Catt born in Ripon, WI exclaimed the League was formed to “finish the fight” to win national woman suffrage. Yet within the struggle for the right to vote, we left some of our sisters behind when the 75-year fight for votes for women didn’t include securing these rights for women of color. And that struggle continued for decades until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
And now today, across the states, barriers to voting are being erected to disenfranchise communities of color, people of low-income, students, and people with disabilities. Yet all eligible voters should be able to cast a ballot confidently, proudly, and without additional requirements that prevent them from voting. It is clear that the “fight” remains unfinished. From this vantage point, looking back while planning ahead, we’re committed to remembering and commemorating the accomplishments of all those who fought for our right to vote while advocating for voting reforms and defending democracy. And that the work of the League is needed as much now as it was at its founding.
In this spirit, local Leagues throughout Wisconsin are planning educational and commemorative Centennial events and activities in their hometowns and regional communities in 2019 and 2020. LWVWI is engaged in similar commemorative Centennial event planning at the state level. The League’s Centennial Events Calendar will keep everyone informed and aware of what is happening, where and when.
