WUNRN
USA – WOMEN’S EQUALITY DAY – ANNIVERSARY OF NATIONAL
WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE – AUGUST 26
Wonderopolis.org
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https://www.nwhm.org/blog/celebrate-equality-day/
Celebrate USA Women’s Equality Day – August 26
August 26th is the anniversary of national woman suffrage. Across the
seventy-two years between the first major women’s rights conference at Seneca
Falls, New York, in 1848, and the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment,
thousands of people participated in marches through cities like New York and
Washington DC, wrote editorials and pamphlets, gave speeches all over the nation,
lobbied political organizations, and held demonstrations with the goal of
achieving voting rights for women. Women also picketed the White House
with questions like, “Mr. President, what are you going to do about woman’s
suffrage?” “Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?” This
was the first time in history that a group of people picketed the White House.
The woman suffrage amendment was introduced for the first time to the
United States Congress on January 10, 1878. It was re-submitted numerous
times until finally in June 1919 the amendment received approval from both the
House of Representatives and the Senate. Over the following year the
suffragists spent their time lobbying states in order to have the amendment
ratified by the required two-thirds of the states. On August 24th,
Tennessee, the final state needed for ratification, narrowly signed the
approval by one vote. The vote belonged to Harry Burn, who heeded the
words of his mother when she urged him to vote yes on suffrage. The U.S.
Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby signed the amendment into law on August 26,
1920.
Fifty years later on August 26th, 1970, Betty Friedan and the National
Organization For Women (NOW) organized a nationwide Women’s Strike for
Equality. Women across the political spectrum joined together to demand
equal opportunities in employment, education, and twenty-four hour child-care
centers. This was the largest protest for gender equality in U.S.
history. There were demonstrations and rallies in more than ninety major
cities and small towns across the country and over 100,000 women participated,
including 50,000 who marched down Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Several other acts occurred on that day to help the cause and prompt more
press coverage on the women’s movement. For example, women in New York
City took over the Statue of Liberty. In preparation, several women
climbed up to measure the wind velocity. Later they returned to the
Statue with two forty-foot banners to hang from the crown. One read:
“March on August 26 for Equality.” The other: “Women of the World Unite.”
An organized group stopped the ticker tape at the American Stock Exchange, and
they held signs with slogans like, “We won’t bear any more bull.” Another
action taken during the day was a lawsuit filed against the New York City Board
of Education to gain equality for women in educational administration. The case
lasted about ten years and finally resulted in a larger increase in female
principals.
While the strike did not halt the activities of the nation, it drew
national attention to the women’s rights movement. For example, The
New York Times published their first major article on the feminist movement
by covering the events of the day. It even included a map of the route
the marchers took through New York City.
The following year in 1971, Representative Bella Abzug (D-NY) introduced a bill designating August 26th of each year as Women’s Equality Day and the bill passed. Part of the bill reads that Women’s Equality Day is a symbol of women’s continued fight for equal rights and that the United States commends and supports them. It decreed that the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation annually in commemoration of woman suffrage and the 1970 Strike for Equality. Women today continue to draw on the history of these brave and determined women.