Women’s Equality Day Celebration

Sonya Wright was on hand to help with the Women’s Equality Day Celebration with the Perfect 36 Society on August 26, 2017.  The day was celebrated by a march at Centennial Park and remarks from Nashville’s first woman mayor, May Megan Barry.  Women’s Equality Day started at the behest of Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY) in 1971.  It was then that the U.S. Congress designated August 26 as “Women’s Equality Day.”  The date was selected to commemorate the 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote. This was the culmination of a massive, peaceful civil rights movement by women that had its formal beginnings in 1848 at the world’s first women’s rights convention, in Seneca Falls, New York.  The observance of Women’s Equality Day not only commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, but also calls attention to women’s continuing efforts toward full equality. Workplaces, libraries, organizations, and public facilities now participate with Women’s Equality Day programs, displays, video showings, or other activities.

The final dramatic showdown over the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote played out in 1920 in the Tennessee State Capitol. Suffragists, identified by wearing yellow roses, needed one more state to ratify the amendment and Tennessee was their last chance. The Senate approved, but the House was thought to be evenly split. Harry Burn, the youngest legislator, was against ratification and wore a red rose until he received a note from his mother urging him to vote in the affirmative. His “yeah” for the amendment was the deciding vote.  To learn more, visit: http://tntribune.com/community/local/nashville/womens-equality-day-celebrated-centennial-park/