To celebrate the anniversary of women’s right to vote, the Marquette Regional History Center held an opening reception for their special exhibit “Vote and Be Counted” with a special presentation by members of the Marquette County League of Women Voters titled “A Brief But Spectacular History of Women’s Suffrage In America” Wednesday evening.

“This is a story of women and men who imagined, organized, marched, lobbied, strategized for the right of all women to vote in all elections, local, state and federal,” presenter and Vice President and Director of Voter Services for the Marquette LWV Priscilla Burnham said. “It is also the story of the fierce opposition to women’s suffrage that led to women being jailed and force fed for daring to breach the boundaries set for them… and it is the story of the invisible but no less important women pioneers. The foot soldiers of the american experiment in democracy … who expanded the borders of our country and by doing so expanded the countries view of what women, the so-called ‘fragile sex,’ were capable of.”

These pioneers were silhouetted by members of the community who dressed in era garb and spoke as the defining figures of the suffrage movement such as Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone and Fredrick Douglass.

The arduous fight for women’s right to vote began long before suffrage was granted with many activists speaking out for equal rights in the mid 1800s.

Members of the local League of Women Voters carry prop jail bars during a special presentation at the history center titled “A Brief But Spectacular History of Women’s Suffrage” to represent the many women who were jailed during the fight for the 19th Amendment. (Journal photo by Trinity Carey)

Lucy Stone once refused to pay her taxes, returning her tax bill with this explanation: “My reason for doing so is that women suffer taxation yet have no representation and yet this is not only unjust to one-half of the adult population, but contrary to our theory of government.”

In 1872 ,Victoria Woodhull, a leader of the suffrage movement, ran for president though she couldn’t vote for herself. Susan B. Anthony and 15 other women were arrested and prosecuted that same year after they illegally cast votes.

During the event, crowd members were given yellow roses, symbolic of supporters of suffrage, or red roses, for anti suffragists, and asked to read some of the arguments during the movement for and against suffrage.

Those with red roses stated things like “Voting is too important a civic duty to be left to women” and “Women’s suffrage, it’s a menace to the home, to men’s employment and all businesses.” An attendee with a yellow rose gave a rebuttal of “In the adjustment of the new order we women demand an equal voice. We shall accept nothing less.”

In 1869, Wyoming became the first state to grant women suffrage with many states following suit in the decades after.

But the fight continued in Michigan.

“Leading up to 1918, the fight for suffrage was being waged right here in Marquette,” Burnham said. “Our very own suffrage heroine Abby Longyear Roberts from Marquette and her fellow members of the Cloverland Women’s Welfare Club have organized agitated and lobbied for women’s suffrage throughout the U.P. as well as in Lansing.”

On Aug. 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. constitution was passed granting women the right to vote.

President of the local LWV Darlene Allen said it’s important that the public is educated on the history of women’s suffrage so all exercise their right to vote.

“One hundred years ago, women weren’t given the right to vote and it took even long before that to get up to that point so honoring and respecting that right to vote is really important and we want people to be aware of that … so they take advantage of that vote and get out there to the polls,” Allen said.

The LWV continues to advocate for equal rights amendment, which would guarantee equal legal rights for all citizens regardless of sex and was proposed shortly after the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

“We’re really close on the equal rights amendment. We finally have enough states ratifying it so we want to push for that because there’s no reason that women shouldn’t have equal rights. It’s an opportunity for us to stay focused and not lose sight of that goal and keep pushing forward so we can continue to improve our society and equal rights in our country,” Allen said. “Don’t forget the fight don’t forget the struggles and we still have more in front of us and the best way to do something about that is to exercise your right to vote.”

Various events will be held by the LWV throughout the year to celebrate 100 years of suffrage and the league’s birthday. A second event — A program by the Northern Center for Lifelong Learning titled “Voters Rights and Responsibilities” will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. Feb. 13 at the First United Methodist Church in Marquette.

The panel will include Darlene Allen, Marquette County Clerk Linda Talsma and Kristi Dougan of the Michigan Bureau of Elections. The league will celebrate its birthday with a day of action Feb. 14.

The LWV is open to new members, both male and female, 16 years of age and older. For more information visit lwvmqt.org.

Trinity Carey can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206. Her email address is tcarey@miningjournal.net.