08/26/2024
It's ! Women’s Equality Day commemorates the passage of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution on August 26, 1920, when women’s right to vote was confirmed. The theme for Equality Day 2024 is “Equality starts with empowered women.” We know something about empowering women here in Evanston, where Frances Willard long ago said that 'Evanston is remarkable in nothing if not for the ability, individuality, and enterprise of its women.'
Perhaps the young women who attended the new North-Western Female College in 1855 would have been surprised to learn that by 1920 they’d be able to vote (some might have said “it took that long?” while others would be shocked that it happened at all)—but the seeds were planted with that educational opportunity. Influential women—the wives of Northwestern University faculty, of ministers, and of businessmen in the new town, also flourished here, setting examples of social consciousness. By 1900, the idea of women having the right to vote was under serious consideration (with the backing of the WCTU, which had moved its headquarters here—and had endorsed woman suffrage in 1881. By 1904, the Evanston Equal Political Equality League had been established; and in 1913, thanks to the energy of local attorney and suffragist Catharine Waugh McCulloch (who also helped found the League of Women Voters) and others, Illinois women became the first in the country to be able to vote in federal elections; and in 1920, the same right was finally acknowledged for all American women when the Suffrage Amendment was ratified.
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 s*x.
That was 104 years ago—to relive the excitement of the Suffrage Centenary, to review the history of the suffrage movement in Evanston, and to learn about the local women involved, see https://evanstonandthe19th.omeka.net/ on the Evanston Women’s History Project site https://evanstonwomen.org/ at the Evanston History Center
And a reminder to all voters to use their empowerment and VOTE.
