It's great how this election, no matter who wins, will be monumental.
No matter who you vote for, but of course I'm hoping you are voting for change and progress, not for gender or skin color, no matter WHO you vote for, you must vote. ESPECIALLY if you're a person of color or female.
Why? We take things for granted, me included. But I've always voted because that's what you're supposed to do. I may not vote for everything on the ballot, but I will always vote in the presidential elections. If you're not female or a person of color, basically if you're a white male and a US citizen, you always had the right to vote. But not me. My gender had to fight for it. My gender had a few who were strong enough to suffer for ALL females' right to vote.
In an age where your worth was based on your husband's. When your opinion was that of your father's or husband's. When your status in society was based on birth, which determined who you can marry, and only if your father or the patriarch approved...
1870- The 15th Amendment of the Constitution provides African-American males with the right to vote.
On April 6, 1891 the first 15 female votes in Illinois were tabulated. In 1919 Congress finally passed the Susan B. Anthony Amendment that had first been introduced in Congress in 1878, simply: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." Illinios was the first state to approve this amendment. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution took effect on August 26, 1920. This made the United States the 27th country to allow universal sufferage.
And can this be right?
1952 The McCarran-Walter Act gives first generation Japanese Americans the right to become citizens.
1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act into law.
The Voting Rights Act is enacted as a permanent federal statute prohibiting any election practice that denies the right to vote on account of race.
Make sure you vote because it is our RIGHT that many fought and suffered for.
1 comment:
Thanks for the history refresher! I too have always voted and cherish the right even as I feel powerless to control so much of the outcome. Voting is something I can do and will do as long as I am allowed.
It only takes a glance as Prop 8 to get a feel for how easily we could lose even more supposedly well ingrained liberties... these are not the days to take anything for granted.
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