The Nineteenth

The organization that brought women together 100 years ago has continued to grow and develop over the past 100 years. Today, I am officially a member of the LWV Seattle - King County chapter! Let's make some change in 2020! In 1920, the League of Women Voters was founded to help women be more active in public affairs. Its goal was to support women to be strong voters. Today, the organization has been opened to men (since 1973) and operates at local, state, and national levels. It does not support candidates or parties, but it does advocate for public policy decisions. Their current platform includes health care reform, education, increasing voter registration, the environment, and immigration. The organization was conceptualized by Emma Smith DeVoe in SEATTLE! (WOOT!) at the National American Women Suffrage Association convention in 1909. They were fighting for education about the voting system and lobby for women’s issues. It did not take hold at the convention, and she w...

Hawaii is my tropical land that I have been lucky to frequent regularly. It is a beautiful state full of culture and life. As the last monarch of Hawai'i, her life worked to maintain the culture of  Hawai'i as American came to the land more and more. Hawaii became a state on August 21, 1959 as the last of the 50 American states. It is hopeful that we may have a #51 and #52 in my lifetime. Lydia Kamakaeha was born to a high-ranking family. Her mother, Keohokalole was an advisor to King Kamehameha III. Marrying an American ship captain, John Owen Dominus, in 1862, he became governor of Oahu and Maui. She was named heir to the throne when her older and younger brothers passed away in 1874 and 1877. As queen, she worked to organize schools for Hawaiian youth. As a musician, she wrote many songs and chants including the national anthem of Hawai’i, Aloha Oe. She was received by Queen Victoria at the Crown Jubilee in London with President Grover Cleveland and Kalakaua’s wif...

Alaska became a state after the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, so was required to accept the Nineteenth Amendment in their constitution. But that did not mean they did not have issues and reasons to fight for equality of all people. This issue is rampant. And Ms. Peratrovich was at the helm. Alaska became the 49th State of the United States of America on January 3, 1959. Ms. Peratrovich was born a member of the Lukaax.adi clan in the Raven Moiety of the Tlingit nation. Orphaned at a young age, she was adopted by a fisherman and minister. The Peratrovich family was discriminated against as a Native in public facilities. The family advocated to ban signs for “No Natives Allowed”and lobbied for organizations. Governor Gruening passed a bill to provide full and equal accommodations for all citizens, 20 years before the US Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Living in Juneau with her husband and family, they found more extensive social and racial discrimination agai...

I was so impressed by a presentation of Pelicia Hall at a conference I attended in October 2019. She spoke honestly of her position as Commissioner of the Department of Corrections for the State of Mississippi, and learning about her role and experiences on the professional side of corrections beyond the built environment. Mississippi was the final of the 48 states to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment because in 1920 there were only 48 states. They adopted the Nineteenth Amendment into their constitution on March 22, 1984. Pelicia Hall was the first woman Commissioner of the Department of Corrections for the State of Mississippi from 2017-2019. Appointed by the Governor following Marshall Fisher whom she was chief of staff to before he was promoted to commissioner of Public Safety. Ms. Hall was a lawyer with Page< Kruger & Holland of Jackson, MS, leading cases on personal injury claims, employment discrimination, contract disputes, product liability, general tort litigati...

Bringing up one of the singers of my young adult life ... college would not have been the same without Tori Amos. North Carolina adopted the Nineteenth Amendment into their constitution on May 6, 1971. Tori Amos was born to play and write music. She was replaying songs at the age of 2 after only needing to hear them one time, and composing music by the age of 3. Her honed ear was able to replay songs after hearing them one time. She describes feeling music as seeing a “light filament” when it has come clear to her. The chord progressions provide a “kaleidoscope” of images, and the more she focused, the more detailed the light became. At five she was admitted to the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins where she studied until she was 11. Her “rebellion” of traditional music had her dismissed from the program, and she went her own way. She began performing in bars and venues with her father’s support at thirteen, and by 1979 she began her career with her band “Y Kant...

A comedian, humanitarian, and honest person, showing that you can be just who you are. Ellen DeGeneres has taught me a lot. I don't avidly follow her, but I have seen her throughout my life. Louisiana signed the Nineteenth Amendment to their constitution on June 11, 1970. Television comedian and actress, Ellen DeGeneres, opened America to LGBT issues coming out to the public in 1997 on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Starring in her self-named TV sitcom “Ellen”, the fourth season revealed her personal and show character’s lesbian truth. The theme and storyline of the show developed around issues of LGBT community, focusing on the coming out process. The show was canceled in 1998, but she continued to develop her stage presence, starting the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Her personal style, humor, and character segments make her show popular in daytime television, winning 61 Daytime Emmy Awards, surpassing The Oprah Winfrey Show with eleven best show awards. She advocates for many human...

A simple gesture and sentiment that grew to be a century long tradition helping disabled veterans in the world, Moina Michael created the silk poppy memorial pins and brought awareness, compassion, and therapy to people. Georgia adopted the Nineteenth Amendment to their constitution on February 20, 1970. While Ms. Moina Michael was vacationing  in Germany in summer of 1914, World War 1 broke out, leaving many tourists stranded or frightened. She traveled to Rome to get return passage to America, and as working to get home assisted around 12,000 US tourists. As America entered the war in 1917, she took a leave of absence to volunteer with the overseas YWCA workers. In 1918, she shared a poem “We Shall Keep the Faith” and vowed to wear a red poppy as a symbol of remembrance for all veterans of the war. To raise money to support disabled veterans in her classes after the war, she began to sell pins of silk poppies, and by 1921 the poppy was adopted as a symbol of remembrance ...