Like the suffrage movement itself, Kenosha County’s effort to celebrate the centennial of the women’s right to vote didn’t come quickly.
But come it did on Wednesday, on a beautiful early-autumn evening on the lawn outside the Anderson Arts Center.
The Kenosha County Suffrage Celebration capped off the current season of Anderson’s Twilight Jazz Series, offering the occasion to reflect upon and celebrate the movement that resulted in voting rights for women.
First scheduled for August 2020 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the event was postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, rescheduled for last month in celebration of the 101st anniversary, it was again delayed due to stormy weather.
Ready to celebrate
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Despite the delays, the crowd that turned out for Wednesday’s reschedule of the reschedule was still ready to celebrate.
Local blues musician Ivy Ford and her band provided the musical entertainment. Her band took an intermission for a “March to Vote” parade and remarks by recently retired Kenosha County Circuit Judge Mary K. Wagner on the county’s role in the suffrage movement more than a century ago.
Ford
“Kenosha County women were very active in the suffrage movement,” Wagner said. “There were regular meetings of the Kenosha County Equal Suffrage league, and from that group, several women became leaders in the state and in the nation.”
Retired Circuit Court Judge Mary K. Wagner recounts Kenosha County’s suffrage history during Kenosha County’s celebration of 101 years of women’s suffrage Wednesday night at the Anderson Arts Center.
Among those women: Mary D. Bradford, Sarah Barter, Dr. Helen Harbert, and Beatrice Welles, the mother of Kenosha-born actor Orson Welles.
Wagner noted that the passage of the 19th Amendment essentially gave white women the right to vote; it would take another 45 years for women of color to receive the same right in every state.
“The lesson learned is one of persistence,” Wagner said. “As Susan B. Anthony said, ‘Failure is impossible.’ She knew women would receive the right to vote, even if it took a few decades after her death.
“Women of color had to wait twice as long and work twice as hard to receive the right to vote. Men and women of color were partners in the fight for the 19th amendment.”
Long time in planning
Wagner and fellow retired Judge Barbara Kluka co-chaired a committee that Kenosha County Executive Jim Kreuser appointed in 2019 to organize and promote local events celebrating the suffrage centennial. Crediting Kreuser for recognizing the importance of commemorating the anniversary, Wagner also thanked the many women who followed through with this work.
Kluka
Wednesday’s event also included recognition of the winners of a Susan B. Anthony-Women of Influence Awards essay contest on women in national leadership.
Monday marks 110 years since a designated annual International Women's Day was first commemorated. Reuters compiles the voices of women around the world on the challenges they face and the hopes they have, ahead of the historic day.
Not all of the winners were able to be in attendance as it was a school night, but three were: First-place elementary school entrant Liliana Kolczaski, second-place high school entrant Emma Wideman and first-place high school entrant Katelynn Ripper. The latter two received respective prizes of $250 and $350.
Presenting the awards, Kenosha County Clerk of Circuit Court Rebecca Matoska-Mentink said these young students are “just a little bit of our hope and glimmer for women’s rights moving forward in our community.”
More information about the Kenosha County Suffrage 100 Committee, including biographies of local women involved in the suffrage movement, is available online at https://bit.ly/KCSuffrage100.
Today in history: Sept. 9
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1948: North Korea
In 1948, the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was declared.
1956: Elvis Presley
In 1956, Elvis Presley made the first of three appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
1957: Dwight D. Eisenhower
In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the first civil rights bill to pass Congress since Reconstruction, a measure primarily concerned with protecting voting rights and which also established a Civil Rights Division in the U.S. Department of Justice.
1971: Attica Correctional Facility
In 1971, prisoners seized control of the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York, beginning a siege that ended up claiming 43 lives.
1991: Mike Tyson
In 1991, boxer Mike Tyson was indicted in Indianapolis on a charge of raping Desiree Washington, a beauty pageant contestant. (Tyson was convicted and ended up serving three years of a six-year prison sentence.)
2005: Michael Brown
In 2005, Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown, the principal target of harsh criticism of the Bush administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina, was relieved of his onsite command.
2011: New York
Ten years ago: New Yorkers and Washingtonians shrugged off talk of a new terror threat as intelligence officials scrambled to nail down information on a possible al-Qaida strike timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
2015: New York
In 2015, New York became the first U.S. city to require salt warnings on chain-restaurant menus.
2015: Queen Elizabeth II
In 2015, Queen Elizabeth II became the longest reigning monarch in British history, serving as sovereign for 23,226 days (about 63 years and 7 months), according to Buckingham Palace, surpassing Queen Victoria, her great-great-grandmother.
2016: Basketball Hall of Fame
Five years ago: Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson were among those inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
2016: Congress
Five years ago: Defying the White House, Congress sent President Barack Obama legislation giving the families of victims of the September 11 attacks the right to sue Saudi Arabia. (Obama vetoed the bill, but Congress overrode his veto.)
2016: Hillary Clinton
Five years ago: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, speaking at an LGBT fundraiser in New York City, described half of Republican Donald Trump’s supporters as “a basket of deplorables,” a characterization for which she ended up expressing regret.
2020: Donald Trump
One year ago: President Donald Trump acknowledged that he had downplayed the coronavirus in the weeks after it emerged, saying he was trying to be a “cheerleader” for the country and avoid causing panic.
2020: Wildfires
One year ago: Officials said the wildfires burning in Oregon’s forested valleys and along the coast had destroyed hundreds of homes; in Washington state, flames devoured buildings and huge tracts of land.
