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Celebrating 90 years of universal suffrage

Written by Lisa Britton February 26, 2010 03:13 am

Annual Women’s Celebration event March 16 commemorates 19th Amendment of 1920, which gave women the right to vote

This year marks the 90th that women have been able to vote, and the American Association of University Women is commemorating that 1920 event during its annual Women’s Celebration event March 16.

The event begins at 6 p.m. at the Community Events Center, 2600 East St. Tickets are $25 and available in advance at Betty’s Books and Ryder Bros.

This celebration dinner will feature a silent auction and raffle to help raise money for the grants awarded to Baker County organizations that serve women and children. Also, there will be a Women’s Suffrage Gallery with posters and decor to explain the timeline of the women’s movement in the United States.

After more than half a century of lobbying for the ability to vote, women were granted that right in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

The Women’s Celebration entertainment will feature appearances by Susan B. Anthony, who was arrested for voting in the 1800s, and Harry Burns of Tennessee, who cast the deciding vote to ratify the amendment.

Voting through the years

By the numbers, a 21-year-old woman in 1920 (the legal voting age at the time) would have been born in 1899, which would make her 111 this year.

A firsthand account of that historical event is pretty hard to find, but a few Baker City residents do remember how important voting was to their mothers.

“One time mother and dad rode six miles in the rain and cancelled each other’s vote,” says Mary Heriza, 98.

Phyllis Badgley, 85, says, “I visualize my own mom, as a registered Democrat, in the 1930s listening intently to election results on the radio. Her head was cocked to one side, with ear close to the speaker on Airline radio. I was grade-school age at the time, but noting the intensity of her interest, I realized that voting was important.”

Sandy Lewis, who is co-chair of AAUW’s event, also got a story from Lucille Nellis, 95, who is a former Baker City resident and the mother of Susan Townsend of Baker City.

“Lucille was the daughter of Daisy Jane Hansen and Alvin Harvey Couch. Mr. Couch was a teacher and a Quaker. Coming from the Quaker background, according to Lucille ‘My father was a bit of a women’s libber,’ ” Lewis said.

“The first time Lucille went to vote, her father went with her to make sure she wasn’t bothered or harassed. He felt it was very important that she did vote,” Lewis said.