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AUGUST
26
WOMEN'S
EQUALITY DAY
August 26 is the day our Nation celebrates Women's Equality Day in
remembrance of the 19th Amendment to our Constitution (also known as
the "Anthony Amendment" in honor of suffragist leader Susan B. Anthony)
which, in 1920, guaranteed American women the right to vote.
In 1872, Susan B. Anthony attempted to vote, with the hope of being
arrested and an opportunity to test the courts. She was arrested and
indicted for "knowingly, wrongfully and unlawfully voting for a representative
to the Congress of the United States." She was found guilty and fined.
Susan B. Anthony insisted she would not pay a dollar of it. To this
day, the fine has not been paid.
It took 72 years for suffragists to achieve victory--from 1848, when
a resolution calling for woman suffrage was adapted at the Seneca Falls
Convention, to August 26, 1920, when the 19th Amendment was finally
ratified, granting American women the right to vote.
August 26 has been observed since 1971, when the U.S. Congress designated
the day to honor women's continuing efforts toward equality. Congresswoman
Bella Abzug wrote a bill designating August 26 as "Women's Equality
Day" which in 1974 became Public Law 93-382. It is now celebrated annually,
in 1998 also honoring the 150th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention.
One of the earliest written statements espousing women's rights came
from Abigail Adams in 1777 urging her husband John to "remember the
ladies...If particular care and attention are not paid to the ladies
we are determined to foment a rebellion...." Generally the date of "the
rebellion" is 1848 and Seneca Falls. Many organizations and individuals
aim to keep the "battle" alive so all citizens do not become complacent
about who can vote and when.
FROM 1997 WOMEN'S EQUALITY DAY PROCLAMATION
By President Bill Clinton
"Each year, on Women's Equality Day, we reflect on how far we have
traveled on our journey to make America live up to the ideals of justice
and equality articulated so powerfully in the Declaration of Independence,
the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Few constitutional amendments
have affected that progress more profoundly than the 19th, which guarantees
American women the right to vote.
Looking back from today's vantage point, where women hold positions
of authority and responsibility at almost every level of government,
it is hard to imagine that, for almost a century and a half, women were
barred from exercising the most fundamental right of every democracy.
There are women still living among us who can remember a time when they
were prevented, by law, from having a role in shaping the destiny of
their country and the impact of government on their own and their families'
lives. But thanks to women and men of extraordinary courage and conviction,
who waged for years a determined campaign for women's suffrage, the
19th Amendment was ratified in August of 1920 and opened the door for
generations of American women to add their vision and voices to our
national discourse."
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