Suffrage Centennials

by Marguerite Kearns

The 19th amendment to the US constitution in 1920 is attributed to the hard work, determination, and actions of tens of thousands of women who smiled and dialed and didn’t give up for generations. See https://billmoyers.com/story/the-mother-of-all-celebrations/

The so-called failure of the 100th anniversary to the US constitution didn’t come easy in the first place. Votes for all women. We can wax lyrically about the pandemic in 2020 and how US women are still considered second-class citizens. But let’s get real. There are many reasons to celebrate this enormous nonviolent accomplishment. In 2010, it appeared as if the US civil war would take over the nation’s attention in 2020, not the 100 years that American women have been voting.

In 2010 and for the next decade, a handful of highly motivated women and their allies persisted. I was one of them. We pounded on invisible drums until the word was spread, high and low, in and out. There wasn’t one face representing what many refer to as the first wave of the suffrage movement. There were hundreds of votes for women organizations at the turn of the 20th century. My grandmother Edna was among them. My mother was in the first generation of women who voted. She recruited her entire family to support women voting, as this website demonstrates. We have been publishing since 2009.

When I was ten years old, few in my elementary school ever heard the word “suffrage” or had any idea what it meant. I describe this in the book “An Unfinished Revolution: Edna Buckman Kearns and the Struggle for Women’s Rights.” It was published by SUNY Press in 2021. The first wave of US women’s suffrage leaders were aware that their struggle would be conducted in the midst of a slowly evaporating racist future.

We still live in a racist culture, although it’s substantially different than the one Edna Buckman Kearns faced when she smiled and dialed from the desk of her Rockville Centre home in 1915. See photo above.

The 2020 celebrations of the long and agonizing and miserable struggle to win the right to vote for US women may not have held a candle to other celebrations of noteworthy struggles to increase human and civil rights but we persisted. Sure, we’re still considered second-class citizens, but we’re standing on the shoulders of those who have come before us, we’re carrying on the work, and we’re passing a torch to the future. It has always been this way. And we support a front-line struggle stretching into the future.

Support an equal rights amendment to the US Constitution. In 2023 we’re observing the 100 years that US citizens have devoted to this task.

Make sure that you celebrate August 26th in some way. It’s Women’s Equality Day. It isn’t a national holiday yet, but it should be. Stay tuned!

Suffrage centennials didn’t come about by accident! on Vimeo.

The 2017 suffrage centennial celebration at the New York State Museum was magnificent. The completion of the draft of the equal rights amendment to the US Constitution was in 1923. This means another VERY important centennial ahead of us. We reach the 100th anniversary of US women busy on this task in 2023.

And we’re reaching the end of our patience here at SuffrageCentennials.com. Those volunteers who fainted at the computer met the deadline so that we can continue a little longer while waiting to hear about the results of the grant application recently submitted. We’ll never forget the accomplishments and sweet victories of the past decade when we were optimistic and our eyes were filled with delight during moments when we published regularly about the future ahead.

We’re partners in the ERA Coalition. Watch for our posts on SuffrageCentennials.com or go directly and sign up there: https://www.eracoalition.org

Continue to relive these moments by watching the videos associated with these times on Vimeo:

vimeo.com/kearnsmarguerite

One of many accomplishments of the past decade was the publication from SUNY Press (State University of New York) of the book, An Unfinished Revolution: Edna Buckman Kearns and the Struggle for Women’s Rights.

For bookings and interviews, leave a message for Marguerite Kearns (855) toll free 553 3666.

Who will carry the torch of freedom and equality into the future? We’re all ready. And we’re doing the work now, and we’re committed to the future. Social change does not happen overnight. It is incremental. It is layered. It is complicated. It is essential.

It’s clear that grassroots organizing makes a difference. Make a commitment to the passage of equal rights for all citizens. The list of exceptions is challenging the most patient of us activists who have committed ourselves to freedom and justice.

Join the ERA Coalition. It’s free. And the staff is waiting to hear from you.

We stand on the shoulders of those who have come before us. We carry on the tradition the best we can. And we pass a torch to the future.

Onward.

2023 and the ERA “natives”are getting restless

Suffrage Centennials has been publishing since 2013. Our work is never finished.

JOURNEY FOR EQUALITY AND THE ERA

Lisa Sales, President, Virginia NOW is your “Journey to Equality” Cruise Director and  should you have questions during our ride/hotel stay or should issues arise, she can be  reached at: 703.624.0387. 

The ERA Centennial Bus Send Off to Seneca Falls 

• Where: U.S. Senate Swamp, East Side of the U.S. Capitol Building, Senate Side • Date: Thursday, July 20th, 2023 
• Time: 1:

Del Lago Hotel & Casino 

• Hotel Address: 1133 Route 414 Waterloo, NY 13165 
• Hotel Phone: 315.946.1824

2/6 

Departing Seneca Falls on Saturday, July 22nd 

• Please be prepared to check out of your hotel room first thing Saturday morning and load your luggage into the “Party-for-the-USA Bus” as we will depart for  Washington, D.C.’s Union Station immediately at the close of the program 

Seneca Falls Convention Free and Paid Programming Sources 

• Convention agenda which includes free and paid events:  

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/era-centennial-convention-tickets-461810366237 • Activities and ongoings which include free and paid events: 

https://www.womenofthehall.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/175ERA Weekend-Calendar-3-2.pdf 

• Note: You will see overlapping events reflected in both

SEND US YOUR PHOTOS OF ERA SUPPORT WORK!

When you have an event, send us your photos that can be posted on the national ERA Coalition site.

After a year of publishing on an irregular schedule, I am passing the torch to the future. Just as my parents and ancestors passed the torch to me, I am passing it on. In the time allotted to me, I accomplished a great deal, and now it is time for a new generation to carry on.

COMMENTS FROM Marguerite Kearns

Last week I experienced “a beloved community.” It felt wonderful, and there was an acceptance of everyone for who they are and what they bring to a larger community. These are shifts based on horizontal values stuffed into a vertical structure. I’d like to think that this is different than what I thought and believed decades ago.

And the door is opening to SuffrageCentennials.com completing its grassroots mission.

The Kingian nonviolenee training is terrific. But don’t sign up before y9u give it serious thought.

It’s free to enter your organization as a member and work toward the passage of an equal rights amendment for the US Constitution.

In 2023, US women have spent 100 years working for an ERA.

Join us!