It’s an exciting time to be a woman in the U.S. With tomorrow’s election, we have the possibility of electing the country’s first female President. It’s an indicator of how far we’ve come, and also a reminder that for women, the right to vote was not always something that we could take for granted. There was a point where it wasn’t a given. When it was something that had to be fought for. Rather like the Presidency.
In the above video for CNN, women in Rochester, NY have been visiting the grave site of Susan B. Anthony, famed American suffragette who was never able to vote legally in her lifetime (though she was totally imprisoned for voting illegally), but whose work led to women winning the vote in the United States thanks to the 19th Amendment in 1920. Today, women have been visiting her grave to leave her their “I voted” stickers in recognition of, and as a “thank you” for, her tireless work to fight for women’s suffrage.
And while we know that the relationship between women’s suffrage movement and women of color was always uneasy, in this video we see a black woman coming to pay tribute to Anthony and her work, as well as the first female mayor of Rochester — a black woman — who acknowledges that without the work of women like Anthony, she would not be able to have the life she’s had.
As we head into Election Day tomorrow, let’s remember that the right to vote was hard-won for many still-marginalized populations. Taking that hard-won right for granted now should not be an option. If you haven’t already voted early, do whatever you have to do to vote.
(image via screencap)
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