Celebration of the 95th anniversary of the 19th Amendment Celebration of the 95th anniversary of the 19th Amendment

The League of Women Voters-Wichita Metro will celebrate the 95th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26, at Hughes Metropolitan Complex. The event is being co-sponsored by the WSU Departments of Political Science, Women's Studies and the Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs. It is free and open to the public.

Honorary chair Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker will introduce keynote speaker former Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger. Jill Docking will give a challenge to the women.

Special patriotic music will be provided by Karla Burns, Sharon Cranford and the East High School Brass Ensemble. Lady Liberty will lead a grand parade of costumed suffragists as they honor the heroic efforts of the early women suffragists who worked nonviolently for 72 years (1848-1920) to earn the right to vote.

Aug. 26, 1920, was the date that Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby signed the paperwork that made the 19th amendment official after Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment. That date is known as Women's Equality Day and is why the LWV celebrates on Aug. 26.

Kansas women gained the right to vote in 1912, eight years before Congress passed the 19th Amendment, which granted voting rights to all American women. To accomplish this feat, Kansas women had to overcome many obstacles, including the indifference of other women and the fear many had of being considered unladylike.