NOW Celebrates the Centennial with Sisters in Suffrage
By National Organization of Women
WASHINGTON — August 26, 2020 marks the 100-year anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which ensures that citizens’ right to vote shall not be denied on account of sex. This essential right enables women to participate in our democracy and have agency in our nation. It is important to look to the past in order to push forward with our future endeavors – and as a society, we owe a lot to the suffragists who disrupted the status quo and started the campaign. Many in the struggle were made invisible or used as examples for why women should not get the vote.
We recognize that the 19th Amendment did not prevent states and individuals from engaging in voter suppression, a practice that is still active today, and that limits access to the ballot box for many women. Many activists have worked (and continue to work) to make voting accessible to all.
As part of NOW’s campaign to celebrate women’s suffrage, we will launch our 100 Campaign – Celebration of Women’s Suffrage. In the days leading up to August 26th, we will share on social media our Sisters in Suffrage, which will recognize many of the lesser known sisters in suffrage along with well-known suffragists, and those who continue working today to eliminate voter suppression. More than 68 million women vote in elections because of the courageous suffragists who never gave up the struggle for equality and whose hard work made passage of the 19th Amendment possible. Paragraph
Celebrate these women and spread awareness about the barriers to voting that still exist today. More information on the campaign can be found at www.now.org/100.