Happy Women’s Equality Day! The 19th Amendment, allowing white women to vote, officially became part of the United States Constitution 100 years ago today. Suffrage was a long and difficult fight. And, today we celebrate.

This is not a centennial anniversary, however, for all women. Women of color had to wait several decades for their legal right to vote and even longer due to voter suppression. This month, we celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as well. Black women organized, fought and marched for the right to vote, even though they were excluded by some white women working for the same cause. In major marches, they were segregated — forced to walk behind white suffragettes. Yet, still they marched.

Today, we honor women of color who fought for voting rights for everyone — women like Maria Stewart, Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, Mabel Pin-Hua Lee, Zitkala-Sa, and Hannah Kaaepa.

In 1832, Stewart became the first woman to speak publicly about politics. She called for the ending of slavery, improved conditions for free African Americans living in the North, and for women’s rights. People were outraged that a woman had such audacity to speak publicly and she ended her lectures after a year. Stewart became a teacher, and continued her writing and activism throughout her life.

Terrell was a leading activist for both civil rights and women’s rights. She worked to end the persecution of women based on both race and sex. She coined the phrase, “Lifting as We Climb,” which became the motto of the National Association of Colored Women, which she helped create and for which she served as its first president. Terrell joined in suffrage marches as well as picketing the White House.

Wells was a strong activist for women’s equality. Also, she was a strong activist for civil rights and admonished white suffragettes for their refusal to stand up against lynching and other atrocities against Black people. While attending the 1913 Suffrage Parade, Wells refused to be segregated and waited until after it started before joining other marchers. She was a talented writer and used her skills to highlight the inequities of the day. When she married, in 1895, Wells kept her maiden name — one of the first women to do so.

Asian women, like Lee, marched alongside suffragettes in New York and fought for voting rights as well as women’s equality. Due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, women from China were precluded from voting until 1943, because the act prevented them from becoming citizens. Chinese women played a significant role in building our communities and working for equality.

Utah women of color were part of this effort for equality. In addition to suffrage, women like Zitkala-Sa worked tirelessly for Native Americans to become citizens and found some success with the Snyder Act in 1924. However, states were allowed to set their own regulations regarding voting and it wasn’t until 1962 that Native Americans were able to vote in every state of the country. Zitkala-Sa lived and worked on the Uintah-Ouray Reservation, near Vernal, for 14 years of her life.

Kaaepa advocated for Pacific Island women to receive the franchise to vote. In 1899, she joined other Utah suffragettes in New York, where she spoke in support of voting rights for the women of Hawaii.

Today, women have a powerful tool thanks to the work of these women and others like them — the power of our VOTE. One hundred years later, women still do not have equal protections in the United States Constitution.

There is a crucial election in November. Choose candidates who stand for equality for ALL. Utah women vote, and this year, we are watching to see who stands with us. Those candidates who support the Equal Rights Amendment and have specific policies and initiatives to elevate the status of Utah women are the ones that deserve our support. Celebrate Women’s Equality Day by committing not just to vote, but to vote for full equality under the law.

The Utah ERA Coalition is a bipartisan group of individuals and organizations working to educate Utah citizens about the Equal Rights Amendment. We support the fundamental notion that everyone deserves to be legally protected in the United States Constitution.

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