Marshall University is celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing and protecting women’s right to vote, on Wednesday, Aug. 26, with a motorcade of decorated vehicles, and the public is invited to participate.
According to the American Bar Association, the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution “marked the largest expansion of democracy in the history of our country.”
The August 26th Women’s Suffrage Centennial Celebration: Driving for Democracy event at the St. Mary’s Center for Education, 2853 5th Ave., is being hosted by Marshall in partnership with the League of Women Voters of the Huntington Area and Delta Sigma Sorority, with support from The Drinko Academy and Marshall University’s Student Affairs, College of Arts and Media, School of Music, School of Theatre and Dance, Women’s and Gender Center, Women’s and Gender Studies, and the city of Huntington.
Online registration, along with further information about the motorcade parade, is available at https://marshallusuffragecentennial.eventbrite.com
The first 50 cars arriving in the St. Mary’s Center for Education parking lot will receive a gift bag with women’s suffrage sashes, car flags, buttons, and other items including grape juice boxes so that participants can join – from the safety of their vehicles — in the national “Toast to Tenacity” that will be featured across social media platforms from around the country. The toast honors the tenacity of women’s suffrage activists who struggled for over seven decades to secure the right to vote in the U.S. Grape juice will be used because the vast majority of suffragists were supporters of the Temperance Movement and, by virtue of Prohibition, alcoholic beverages were illegal at the time of the 19th Amendment’s ratification.
“The 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage is certainly an occasion to celebrate, but it’s also an opportunity to educate ourselves and others about the work still to be done. It takes sustained effort to protect the vote and make sure every single American has access to the polls,” said Claire Snyder, program coordinator for the Women’s and Gender Center at Marshall. “We’re thrilled to be collaborating with women who have really been doing the work of furthering democracy in our own community – women like Huntington League of Women Voters Past President Helen Gibbins, who will serve as our parade’s Grand Marshall.
“We hope that students will join us in celebrating this day by decorating their cars, joining the Motorcade Parade, and – above all – registering to vote.”
Participants are asked to arrive by 3:30 p.m. in the east parking lot of the St. Mary’s Center for Education. At 3:45, participants can click on a YouTube link with their devices and watch, while in their vehicles, the preview of special program developed for the event that features a performance by the Marshall University Opera Workshop, student recitations of historical speeches delivered by Sojourner Truth and Alice Paul, and comments on the significance of the women’s suffrage centennial by Marshall University’s President Jerry Gilbert and Huntington Mayor Steve Williams.
The motorcade will depart for downtown Huntington via 29th Street at 4 p.m. A march had originally been planned to celebrate this centennial, but the motorcade and online presentation were organized as a safer option due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Marshall had hosted a variety of women’s suffrage programs in 2020 before the pandemic hit, and this fall, the university will continue efforts to encourage voter registration in honor of this landmark anniversary.
“The passage of the 19th Amendment was an important milestone in our country’s democracy. Many Americans have forgotten or simply do not know of this struggle in history and therefore neglect to relate its impact on the election process,” said Wendy Thomas, vice president of the League of Women Voters and program coordinator for Delta Sigma Theta. “Women make up 51% of the population. It is important for women to recognize the power of their vote. It is their voice and their vote counts.”
“Women’s historian Gerda Lerner once said, ‘Nobody gave us anything. It took 72 years of unrelenting, unbroken organizing grassroots efforts to get women’s suffrage. It took 113 years to get rid of child labor, by law,’ and this celebration is a chance to encourage other women to keep fighting,” said Helen Gibbins, former president of the League of Women Voters.
“Our celebration of the passage of the 19th amendment encourages us to keep on fighting on issues that affect all of us — against blocks to voting; for laws to undo the effects of climate change; for health care for all, etc.,” Gibbins said. “Our right to vote mandates that we work for a society that provides liberty and justice for all.”
See more about Marshall’s efforts to recognize the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment at www.marshall.edu/womenvote.