Frankfort Mayor Judy Sheets has issued a proclamation designating August 26, 2020, as Women’s Equality Day. That will mark the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote. This amendment is being sponsored locally by the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution).
The proclamation is as follows:
WHEREAS, on Women’s Equality Day, we commemorate the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which secured for women the right to vote. The anniversary of this milestone is an appropriate time to reflect on the remarkable accomplishments of women in every facet of American life. It is an opportunity to honor women for their leadership in service to their families, their communities, and the Nation.
WHEREAS, in the same spirit of the 19th Amendment, we must continue to seek an environment of opportunity for all women. Today, we celebrate the passion and unwavering dedication of the women who struggled and persevered in the fight for suffrage, and we recognize the countless ways that women strengthen the fabric of the Nation. We all benefit from the leadership and ingenuity of women in education, medicine, government, law, business, military service and every other field contributing to the greatness of this Nation.
NOW< THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the City of Frankfort Mayor Judith Sheets, recognizes the commemoration of August 26, 2020, on which the women of America won their right to vote, as an opportunity to continue to work for equal rights for ALL citizens.
Women Suffrage
Suffragists began their organized fight for women’s equality in 1848 when they demanded the right to vote during the first women’s right to vote convention in Seneca Falls, New York.
For the next 72 years, women leaders lobbied, marched, picketed and protested for the right to the ballot. The U.S. House of Representatives finally approved the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote, on May 21, 1919.
The U.S. Senate followed two weeks later, and the 19th Amendment went to the states, where it had to be ratified by three-fourths of the-then-48 states to be added to the Constitution.. By a vote of 50-47, Tennessee became the last state needed to ratify the 19th Amendment on August 18, 1920. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby issued a proclamation declaring the 19th Amendment ratified and part of the U.S. Constitution on August 26, 1920, forever protecting American women’s right to vote.
Today, more than 68 million women vote in elections because of the courageous suffragists who never gave up the fight for equality.