In
the midst of this current presidential election year most people take the right to vote for
granted when in fact women have been allowed to vote for less than 100
years. It was not until June 4, 1919
when Congress passed and then ratified, on August 18, 1920, the 19th
amendment to the Constitution which guaranteed all American women the right to
vote.
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This picture
was taken in front of the Frank Edgecomb
Hardware (now the Kezar Falls
Hardware) across
from the
former Norton Block on Federal Road.
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On Election Day in 1920, millions of
American women exercised their right to vote for the first time. It took activists and reformers nearly 100 years
to win that right and the campaign was not easy. Disagreements over strategy
threatened to cripple the movement more than once. When the amendment was finally ratified it declared for the first time that women, like men, deserve
all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
It appears from these pictures that
the women of Kezar Falls were active in the suffrage movement. Isn’t it curious that they all seem to be
dressed alike in bonnets and with pantaloons
showing below their skirts. And it looks like they were disguising their
faces too. Perhaps these pictures were of a
later reenactment? If anyone knows more
about these pictures, please let us know.
The house in
the background in the second photograph looks like the former Thelma (Weeks) Maloon house (later
Betsy Jarvis’ home) on School Street which would be out of the picture on the
left. Perhaps the women are walking down the driveway of the house next door as
there is no road in this location.
A Gentle Reminder:
The PPHS needs your vote too! Our first meeting is Saturday April 30, 2016 at 1:00 pm at the Porter Town Hall. The new slate of officers need to be voted on and a quorum is needed. Please make every effort to attend.