A Road Scholar Program by Phil Passen
2019 marks 100 years since Congress passed the 19th amendment forbidding states to deny the right to vote on the basis of sex. Illinois was one of the first three states, along with Michigan and Wisconsin, to ratify the amendment, just six days after Congress passed it. 2020 marks 100 years since August 26, 1920, when Tennessee became the last of the necessary 36 states to ratify the amendment, thus making it the law of the land. Besides being one of the first three states to ratify the 19th amendment, Illinois was home to Jane Addams, a crusader for women’s rights as well as the rights of the downtrodden. This program consists of songs about women’s suffrage from as early as the mid-nineteenth century through 1920. In addition, the program includes songs from the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries about the role of women in society, including songs about equal job opportunity, equal work for equal pay, reproductive rights, and other relevant topics. Phil introduces each song with information about the song and its historical context. This is an entertaining and informative look at the fight for women’s right to vote and the continuing fight for women’s rights.
This event is Free and Open to the public. For more information, please contact Donna Blomquist at dmblomquist@lasalle.lib.il.us.