Suffrage Centennial
She was heard. She fought. She won. The Road to Women's Right to Vote.
On August 18, 1920, following decades of public advocacy, struggles, and setbacks, women were ultimately successful in securing the right to vote. The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution removed gender as a basis for prohibiting US citizens from appearing at the ballot box, and on November 20, more than 8 million women cast their votes in elections for the first time.
One hundred years later, the library is marking this milestone by sharing the rich history of past efforts and exploring concepts of equal rights, fairness, and democracy.
History Panels
In the winter of 2019, the Suffrage Centennial Community Committee of Catawba County worked with CVCC history and graphic design students – and their instructors – to create a museum-quality set of panels to tell the story of the suffrage movement looking at local, state and national events and people of the time. These panels were intended to travel around the county to locations with high foot traffic starting in the spring of 2020. And then a global pandemic intervened. One day, you may see this display in person, but until then, we want to share with you one per week leading up to the 2020 election on November 3 – in honor our our grandmothers and great-grandmothers who fought so doggedly to win the vote.
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Webinars
- You Have to Start a Thing: The Struggle for Women's Suffrage in North Carolina – a program by Rae Poteat, curator of political and social history at the NC Museum of History in Raleigh
- African-Americans and the Suffrage Movement – presented by Dr. Veronica McComb, associate professor of history at Lenoir-Rhyne University
- The Suffrage Movement & the Quest for Voting Rights in the US - Historians Dr. Richard Eller of Catawba Valley Community College and Mandy Reavis of the Historical Association of Catawba County help us learn about the women's suffrage movement in the context of the overall quest for voting rights in the United States.
Our Valued Partners
This project is supported by a grant from the United Arts Council of Catawba County. |