90th Anniversary - 19th Amendment

Congratulations, Sisters - and Brothers, too!  Ninety years ago today a bunch of very brave women succeeded in helping our country take a giant step forward in equality for women.  On August 26, 1920, women of great courage - after a long, bitter, hard and torturous struggle - achieved something amazing - the women's right to vote.  It began in 1848 and continued beyond the end of Susan B. Anthony's life in 1906.  (It is said that she traveled throughout the U.S. and Europe and gave 75-100 speeches a year for 45 years on women's rights during her lifetime.)


In the end, though, it was women like Lucy Burns, Alice Paul, Dora Lewis and many others who picketed the Wilson White House, were jailed and tortured for weeks, just for exercising their first amendment rights.


The 19th Amendment to the Constitution says, simply:



The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any States on Account of sex.
The Congress shall have the power by appropriate legislation to enforce the provisions of this article.


Check this link to read more:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf
  
The last state to ratify the amendment was Tennessee, and that vote only went in our favor when a Tennessee legislator - Harry Burns - who had been anti-suffrage until that time changed, because his mother asked him to, and voted with the pro-suffragists.  That was on August 18th.  The anti-suffragists used parlimentary tactics to delay until when, on August 26, 1920, the Amendment became the law of the land.

Hallelujah and our eternal gratitude to our sisters of the last two centuries who fought that fight for us!  Let's say a prayer of thanks to them when we all go to the polls on November 2nd to vote for Robert Hurt and oust Tom Perriello!


God Bless America!