Thanksgiving beckons us to still our minds and reflect on blessings that we often forget to honor. I feel grateful for the consistent love and support of family and friends over time. This personal blessing has led me to review how I have been fortunate to participate in a full professional and democratic life as a woman.
After years of struggle, the women’s suffrage movement for the right to vote reached one milestone in 1878 when the 19th Amendment was first introduced to Congress. My Norwegian immigrant grandmother on her Homestead sheep ranch in Montana was one suffragette leader in her area that involved protests, organizing marches, and lobbying for this right to fully participate in our democracy. It took 42 years more to officially certify the 19th Amendment, August 26, 1920.It was a long and arduous struggle, but women’s rights groups never gave up.
While the ratification of the amendment protected discrimination against all women, in practice only White women had this protection to vote. It took 45 more years until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1962 gave protection to Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color voters.
Women with disabilities had to wait another 25 years with the ratification of the Americans with Disabilities Act in1990.
I feel so blessed by the courage and fortitude of all these women who soldiered on for more than a century so that all women finally could fully participate in our democracy.
I’m Connie Seraphine, and that is my perspective.
