August is National Women’s Suffrage Month, with the 100th anniversary of the women’s right to vote being tomorrow (Aug. 26).
Patricia Miller is a former First Lady of South Dakota and Her Vote. Her Voice. delegation chair. She says they’re commemorating the achievement with a statewide virtual toast and a Forward into Light celebration tomorrow night (10:25pm CT/9:25pm MT) being shown on KEVN and KOTA TV from Rapid City and on Dakota News Now from Sioux Falls.
Miller, who is also a member of the state Historical Society Foundation Board of Directors, says South Dakota was the 21st state to approve women’s right to vote.
From all the women’s suffrage leaders in South Dakota, Miller says Mary “Mamie” Shields Pyle’s efforts stand out to her.
The 19th Amendment was first introduced in Congress in 1878, but didn’t become law for another 40+ years.
May 21, 1919, the US House of Representatives passed the amendment, followed by the US Senate two weeks later. Tennessee was the 36th state to sign on (Aug. 18, 1920), giving it approval from three-fourths of the states– the threshold needed for it to become law. US Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the ratification August 26, 1920.
Rawlins Municipal Library and the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre will both be lit up for the occasion.
The Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission partnered with Snapchat to virtually commemorate the Forward Into Light campaign. Starting today (Aug. 26), Snapchatters will be able to use augmented reality lenses to apply a purple and gold gradient to their surroundings and add their photos to a digital mosaic of suffragists inspired by the WSCC’s Our Story: Portraits of Change mosaic, created by artist Helen Marshall.
Find more information on the Her Vote. Her Voice website.
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