Label
Council Members Moline, Gadus and Adams
Title
Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Women's Suffrage.
Summary
WHEREAS, 2020 is the 100th Anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment in the month August; today we take this opportunity to recognize women who were important to the passage of the vote for suffrage and the women who continue to work for positive change in the Toledo area; and
WHEREAS, some notable names in the work for Women's Suffrage include: Vadae Meekison who was an attorney and known statewide for her part in the Women's Suffrage Movement; Eva Epstein Shaw who was an attorney who drafted the legislation creating the Domestic Relations Court for Lucas County; Olive Colton who was one of the first woman who exercised her right to vote and was a founding member of League of Women Voters; and Rosa L. Segur who was a leader in the Toledo Woman Suffrage Association; and
WHEREAS, although the 19th Amendment gave American women the right to vote, it failed to fully enfranchise African American, Hispanic American, Native American and Asian American women; and because discrimination existed even in women's suffrage organizations, great women like Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell worked to eliminate that and all forms of discrimination; and
WHEREAS, local civic leaders like Dr. Samantha P. Adams who was Toledo's first black woman doctor, first black woman elected official in Lucas County and first woman elected President of the Toledo Branch NAACP; and Ella P. Stewart who was one of the first black pharmacists in the United States, fought against discrimination and for whom a local school was named; and
WHEREAS, it was not until the height of the Civil Rights Movement when the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed prohibiting racial discrimination in voting and amended several times to expand its protections so all women have the right to vote; and
WHEREAS, women currently have the right to ...
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