Man, I feel like a woman. And hey! You can’t discriminate against me because of it! I mean… you still do, but you shouldn’t. Oh never mind. (via screen shot)
On August 18 we celebrated 95 years of being able to vote while female, also known as the day the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. While women in some states of the Union had a varying range of rights– from none whatsoever to full voting rights in parts of the Western United States– in 1920, it was declared that we could ALL have a voice in the political circus, regardless of marital or socioeconomic status, and regardless of geographical location. Never mind that ninety-five years later we still earn less than men do and have our reproductive choices judged left and right: We earned the right to vote fair and square, thanks to the state of Tennessee! Thanks, Tennessee!
Did you celebrate your right to vote by listening to some of Donald Trump’s best tweets as sung by Josh Groban? Did you take your birth control pill with an extra amount of sass, perhaps? (I know I did!) Here is one more way to celebrate: Did you know that our beloved neighborhood is home to the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum, 144 Constitution Avenue NE, a historic landmark and a museum dedicated to sharing stories about women’s journey toward equality? The house was purchased in 1929 by the National Women’s Party and has since been a headquarters for equality and social change. On Saturday August 22, the museum will host an open house from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a special lecture by Dr. J.D. Zahniser, author of Alice Paul: Claiming Power, a biography on the feminist icon.
If you cannot make it to the open house but still want to be part of the celebration, you can follow the Sewall-Belmont House on Twitter and Facebook, and use hashtag #WomensEqualityDay to be part of the conversation.