During a viewing of the original Mary Poppins with my granddaughter, I explained that the mother was singing a song about going out to march for women's right to vote. Granddaughter, who once yelled out from her car seat, "that's where we go to vote" looked at me like I was surely making that up. I didn't want to distract from the movie so I just said, "Yes, hard to believe that there was a time when men didn't think women should vote." And of course, now when we watch the movie, she explains the song and the mother's sash to me and proclaims "Votes for women!"
Our Constitution is not perfect, never has been. We started trying to correct it as soon as it was adopted. The long painful story of getting the 19th amendment ratified is just one example of the ways women and people of color have had to fight for their rights. The 19th amendment didn't even cover ALL women. We STILL have to fight for our rights over and over, and I hope, leave no one behind ever again. Today in 2020, as many states work really hard to take away many of our (women, people of color) rights and freedoms (Citizenship. Voting. Privacy. You name it.) – I get heartsick.
Between July and November 1917, 72 suffragists from the National Women’s Party were held at the Occoquan workhouse in Virginia. Others, like Alice Paul were sent to the D.C. prison. They were being punished for picketing for women's right to vote. In front of the White House that President Woodrow Wilson occupied. In the Occoquan workhouse and at the D.C. prison, they were force-fed and suffered brutal treatment leaving some women with lifelong health ramifications.
The 19th Amendment that they fought for was passed by Congress on June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920. The Occoquan prison closed in 2001.
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| Lucy Burns in the Occoquan Workhouse |
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| Alice Paul "toasting" the ratification of the 19th Amendment |
When Betty Ford died in 2011 I made a wish that states would step up and honor her by ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment that she championed. Today, 15 January 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT. Virginia. The state where women were sent to be imprisoned and force-fed as punishment for wanting to vote. The Virginia legislature voted to ratify the EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT!
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| Betty Ford |
First proposed by the National Woman’s political party in 1923, the Equal Rights Amendment won the required two-thirds vote in the House of Representatives in October 1971. In March 1972, it was approved by the U.S. Senate and sent to the states.
So today I celebrate. I thank Betty Ford. I thank Alice Paul and all of women who picketed in 1917. I thank Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinam. I thank the people of Virginia who voted, particularly in their 2018 election, so that their legislature could come to this day in 2020.
When I heard the news, I celebrated by displaying my 19th Amendment "victory" flag. I just wanted Virginia to know how grateful this Maryland woman is. I feel like I've waited my whole life for the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. I wish I could go tell Alice. She died in 1977.
