Southampton Free Library and League of Women Voters of Bucks County are hosting the program “Forgotten Heroes: Women’s Right to Vote” on Thursday, Aug. 13, at 6:30 p.m. The event is available to the public via Zoom, with registration details available at calendar.buckslib.org.
The right to vote is a critical principle of our democracy and a driving force behind LWVBC. August celebrates the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, which was intended to prevent racial discrimination in voting, and the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to our Constitution. A citizen’s right to vote was not to be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex, according to the 19th Amendment, which was passed following a long fight by suffragists. Many women, including black women, played an essential role in the suffrage movement, and a number of them will be the focus of the program.
The 19th Amendment was ratified by Congress on Aug. 18, 1920, reflecting more than seven decades of a struggle. While the Amendment was meant to afford all women the right to vote, black women largely concentrated in southern states were confronted with intimidation tactics, poll taxes, literacy tests and more, which made voting impossible for them and black men. Many American Indian women were excluded from voting until the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, and even then, some local and state laws barred American Indians from voting until the 1940s. Asian Americans were prohibited from voting by restrictions that were not removed until the 1940s and 1950s.
Despite rights which should have been bestowed to black men following the passage of the 15th Amendment, discriminatory Jim Crow laws and a campaign of terror and intimidation waged by the Ku Klux Klan prevented many black men from voting. Discriminatory practices against black men and women were outlawed by the 1965 Voting Rights Act, however, many obstacles exist even today that prevent every eligible voter from voting, and having it count.
LWVBC believes that our democracy is stronger when every eligible voter can cast a vote and have it count, and continues to work as a part of Fair Districts PA to bring reform to the redistricting process in Pennsylvania, looking to thwart efforts to gerrymander voting districts. It works to support expanded and safe voting access for all in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania’s Act 77 of 2019, the historic bipartisan legislation that made no-excuse mail-in ballots available, among other changes, has been an important expansion in access to voting.
The hard work and suffering and loss of life that so many experienced to expand our right to vote, including those brought to life in “Forgotten Heroes,” challenges every eligible voter, according to LWVBC, to register, cast a ballot and make their voices be heard in November.
