{"id":191,"date":"2019-06-27T19:33:56","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T23:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/?p=191"},"modified":"2019-06-28T21:44:36","modified_gmt":"2019-06-29T01:44:36","slug":"faneuil-hall-celebration-marks-100-anniversary-of-womens-right-to-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/2019\/06\/27\/faneuil-hall-celebration-marks-100-anniversary-of-womens-right-to-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Faneuil Hall Celebration Marks 100th Anniversary of Women&#8217;s Right to Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Faneuil Hall became a sea of white, gold, and purple on a rainy evening on June 26, when a group gathered to celebrate 100 years of women\u2019s right to vote in Massachusetts.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The event marked the state ratifying the 19th amendment \u2014 a milestone some believe isn\u2019t mentioned enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe didn\u2019t know. It was just erased,\u201d said Fredie Kay, president of the Massachusetts Women\u2019s Centennial Suffrage Coalition, which planned the festivity and yearlong celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The great hall was filled with notable Massachusetts residents and speakers, including Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Attorney General Maura Healey, local mayors, and other political figures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Event Celebrates 100th Anniversary of Women Getting the Vote\" width=\"810\" height=\"456\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TEKaLffrM2o?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kay emphasized the importance of young people learning how long and hard the fight was for suffrage. She noted, however, not all women were accepted at the ballot box. Poll taxes, literacy tests, and Jim Crow laws made it impossible for women of color to vote, even after the national passage of the 19th amendment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Healey said that voter suppression is still an issue across the country and added it could have influenced Stacy Abrams\u2019 loss in the 2018 Georgia\u2019s governor race. \u201cLet\u2019s do all we can to make sure everybody who is eligible can vote,\u201d said Healey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even inside the suffragist movement, there were complications around race and class, and this was part of the conversation at the event. Several speakers noted the lack of suffragists of color and overall discrimination. Inclusion was a buzzword in several speeches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Centennial-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Photo:  The History at Play performance group acknowledges applause after their debut performance of the theater piece \u201cHow Long Must We Wait?\u201d (Photo by Clea Matt) \" class=\"wp-image-204\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Centennial-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Centennial-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Centennial-1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption> The History at Play performance group acknowledges applause after their debut performance of the theater piece \u201cHow Long Must We Wait?\u201d (Photo by Clea Matt) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kay pointed to Ida B. Wells, a black woman, who was ostracized by her fellow suffragists. \u201cShe was told she had to walk at the back of the parade in Washington,\u201d said Kay, emphasizing that Wells refused and snuck into the front of the procession. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wells was not the only woman to be marginalized in the movement. Lucy Stone, a white woman,<strong> <\/strong>was written off by some suffragists because she sided with abolitionist Frederick Douglass on the 15th amendment, which sought the vote for black people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Author Laura Harrington, who wrote the musical, \u201cThe Perfect 36,\u201d about the suffragist movement and attended the event, said she believes that as uncomfortable as it may be, people cannot \u201ccherry pick\u201d what parts of history they choose to recognize. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOne of the most difficult things to accept is, in order to prevail, sometimes the compromises that are required are horrific,\u201d Harrington said, referring to white suffragist decisions regarding treatment of people of color. She emphasized that heroes are human, not perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Philanthropist Barbara Lee called the room to action. \u201cWe have much more work to do to build a fully inclusive and intersectional women\u2019s movement,\u201d Lee said. \u201cWhite women in particular must continue to listen and learn from those who have been left out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"White Feminism is Timeless - Clea Matt &amp; Rafaella Hill-Mosher\" width=\"810\" height=\"456\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LYuMsfy5Ypk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Faneuil Hall became a sea of white, gold, and purple on a rainy evening on June 26, when a group gathered to celebrate 100 years of women\u2019s right to vote in Massachusetts.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"coauthors":[17],"class_list":["post-191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lead"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":398,"href":"https:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions\/398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nehsjc.org\/Catalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}