Suffrage Centennials

The Brandywine River Museum of Art at 1 Hoffman’s Mills Road in Chadds Ford, Pa. is hosting an exhibition of little-known suffrage activists through June 7, 2020. The museum asked five artists to create portraits of 14 suffrage activists deserving of recognition but to date haven’t received the attention they deserve. This exhibit to feature women of color is another step forward. It brings to public attention a representative sampling of the tens of thousands of women activists who put themselves on the line for women’s voting rights across the nation.

EXHIBITION IN PENNSYLVANIA SIGN OF THE TIMES

In 2013 when SuffrageCentennials.com started blogging on the importance of advocacy for early women’s rights efforts, the time and effort hadn’t reached the momentum of today. The decentralized suffrage movement wasn’t understood, let alone given the attention it so rightly deserves. This activism, in many quarters, was viewed as boring and not deserving of attention.

SO MUCH HAS CHANGED WITH SUFFRAGE CENTENNIALS

So much has changed. This is in part to the extraordinary momentum built over the past decade by individuals and organizations on the grassroots. Most of such advocacy has not been funded by government or corporations. It stands as a remarkable collaboration behind the scenes. And since then, more effort and commitment has been applied to the deficit. It wasn’t long ago that the entire movement was dismissed as less than significant. This included women of all backgrounds.

SuffrageCentennials.com is one example of an effort, a labor of love, to bring awareness out from the underground. There are so many exhibits and programs that we can’t keep track of them. That wasn’t true back in 2013 when the campaigning of SuffrageCentennials began.

HAPPY WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH!

Keep the announcements and exhibit notices coming! Remember Inez Milholland, the US suffrage martyr, who gave her life for women’s voting rights. Find out news updates about Inez at InezMilhollandCentennial.com

Check out Suffrage Wagon News Channel, our sister platform for news and views.

Check out the web platform for International Women’s Day.

It’s a reminder—and an important one—that women throughout the world are watching and paying attention. Women in the United States have been marching for their rights for more than 100 years. And by the looks of the upcoming 2020 presidential election, the candidates of the two major political parties will be featuring men.

Don’t let March 8, 2020 come and go without leaving a trail behind! The web platform for International Women’s Day has plenty of resources available. An example:

A special thank you to the web platform of International Women’s Day.

Follow SuffrageCentennials.com during 2020.

HAPPY WOMEN’S HISTORY  MONTH!

The web platform, InezMilhollandCentennial.com , has been updated in order to promote more awareness of Inez Milholland, the US suffrage martyr, during 2020. Check it out!

The above image of a statue of Inez is the vision of a Loveland, Colorado sculptor Phylicia Mann who is looking for supporters and funders.

There’s an active group marching every year in January to honor Inez Milholland. Find out more at the Facebook group—Adirondack Women’s March. The text below is from the Facebook book coordinated by Sandra Weber.

PITCH IN TO SUPPORT SPREADING THE WORD ABOUT INEZ

How about planning a special Inez Milholland program at home for friends and family, your organization, fundraiser, or special event? During 2020, the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution many organizations and special interests will be busy linking to centennial news and programs, especially in this presidential election year.

Sign up to receive news updates on InezMilholland.wordpress.com for highlights. Planning a trip that links your travel to suffrage events and celebrations? Are you’re in a position to suggest to educators special topics to study? Bring Inez Milholland out of the margins and check in with what’s available.

For more information about this 15-minute film, go to InezMilholland.org

Link to InezMilholland.wordpress.com. Check out news updates on InezMilhollandCentennial.com  You’ll be glad you did.

This is a public service notice from SuffrageCentennials.com

For more information about the “Spirit of 1776” suffrage campaign wagon, visit Suffrage Wagon News Channel, publishing since 2009.

by Marguerite Kearns

There’s a network linking us together during 2020. SuffrageCentennials.com is part of it. But the roots go deeper than what’s immediately apparent. The year 2020 is being celebrated across the nation, not because of corporate funding, not because certain so-called party leaders haven’t been deeply invested in partisan politics. And not because a centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution just “happened.”

We’re celebrating 2020 as a turning point in the United States because thousands of concerned citizens drew the line and said “Enough is enough! We’re not going to let 2020 come and go without a peep.”

Remember the corporate cigarette ad in the past lobbying women to smoke cigarettes? They claimed we’d come a long way and should be glad we did. Why go “all the way” when we’ve already come a long way?

Sorry, but we aren’t spending our free time smoking cigars.

WHAT ARE OUR CHOICES?

BUSINESS AS USUAL doesn’t cut ice with women and others today who no longer accept a second class role. We can do better, and not with another round of candidates who claim we can’t do better and should be satisfied with less. Those parroting the themes of the old boy network may spout a loud line, but underneath they’re reinforcing the old adage, “Stay in your place. Women can’t win.”

We can make 2020 a turning point. Don’t sign up to reinforce the old and tired position that we can’t.

THE  TOUGH QUESTIONS

Are we going to accept another century without women having equal rights under the US Constitution? Are we planning to keep marching into the sunset with the word “please” stuck in our throats? Are we going to continue marginalizing the accomplishments of those who have sacrificed and struggled for dignity and human rights in generations before us? How much longer will we tolerate blatant attempts to suppress the popular vote or eliminate voters from the rolls?

HOW MUCH LONGER ARE WE WILLING TO BE DUPES?

How far are we willing to go in support of a future where we’re no longer rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic? How much longer will the old boy network continue its condescending attitudes, including not opening up the tunnels of power and sharing chairs at conference tables when it’s urgent to work together and ensure a safe future for the planet and its diverse living forms?  How much longer will we grin and bear social policies that put women and others down and tell us that we’ve “come a long way” when an increasing number realize finally that it’s time to go “all the way?”

The clock is ticking.

Follow SuffrageCentennials.com during 2020.

A lot of news for 2020 is available on Suffrage Wagon News Channel.

Suffrage Wagon News Channel for news & views of the women’s rights movement on Vimeo.

Honor an early women’s rights activist during 2020. Check out the perks associated with featuring our US suffrage martyr, Inez Milholland.

The centennial web site for Inez Milholland has been updated. Check it out!

During Women’s History Month in March, I’m honoring my grandparents—Edna Kearns and Wilmer Kearns—for whom women’s rights represented a family affair. Intergenerational activist started before me, and it will continue after me.

Start at home, and let’s spread our wings to our community, the nation, and internationally. I’ve been blogging about my grandparents since 2009. I’m completing a memoir during 2020 as a way for me to honor them. It will be published in 2021. Check out Suffrage Wagon News Channel.

100 Years | 100 Women—

Don’t miss a day of talks and performances at the Park Avenue Armory in NYC on February 15, 2020 by noted artists, thinkers and cultural leaders as they explore the complex legacy of the 19th Amendment one hundred years after its ratification. Participants include photographer and scholar Deborah Willis, actor-activists Kathleen Turner and Tantoo Cardinal, spoken-word performer Caridad De La Luz “La Bruja”, vocalist Martha Redbone, visual artist Renee Cox, performance artist Karen Finley, and community organizer De’Ara Balenger and many others.

This Symposium launches 100 Years | 100 Women, an initiative of Park Avenue Armory, with lead partner National Black Theatre, and nine major cultural institutions including, The Apollo Theater, The Juilliard School, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Company, The Laundromat Project, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of the Moving Image, National Sawdust, New York University (Department of Photography and Imaging, Tisch School of the Arts; Office of Global Inclusion, Diversity and Strategic Innovation; and Institute of African American Affairs & Center for Black Visual Culture), and Urban Bush Women, who will collectively commission one hundred artists who self-identify as women to respond to this significant anniversary.

Purchase tickets now ($15, plus fees) to attend individual sessions or purchase a Day Pass ($45, plus fees) to attend the entire day.

Follow SuffrageCentennials.com.

Get the updates about the US suffrage martyr, Inez Milholland, at InezMilhollandCentennial.com

The “Spirit of 1776” suffrage campaign wagon used by Edna Buckman Kearns and others will be on exhibit in the lobby of the New York State Museum in Albany, NY starting in March, Women’s History Month, and continuing throughout the summer of 2020. Check for updates at Suffrage Wagon News Channel.