SR 103 (LSB 5097XS (5) 88)

SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 103

BY  BROWN, COURNOYER, FEENSTRA, BEHN, SHIPLEY, MILLER-MEEKS, SCHNEIDER, SINCLAIR, PETERSEN, T. TAYLOR, GIDDENS, BOLKCOM, RAGAN, JOCHUM, BISIGNANO, BOULTON, LYKAM, R. TAYLOR, J. SMITH, KINNEY, MATHIS, DOTZLER, QUIRMBACH, CELSI, HOGG, WAHLS, LOFGREN, and NUNN

A Resolution celebrating July 2, 2019, as the 100th anniversary of the State of Iowa ratifying the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

   WHEREAS, the fight for women’s suffrage, from the first women’s convention to enfranchisement, lasted 72 years, with women from all walks of life, political views, and demographic backgrounds asking for the right to voice their opinions at the polls; and
   WHEREAS, the first women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848, where Elizabeth Cady Stanton read “The Declaration of Sentiments”, which set the agenda for women’s activism; and
   WHEREAS, Sojourner Truth fought for African American women’s right to vote at a women’s rights convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1851, delivering her famous speech “Ain’t I a Woman?”; and
   WHEREAS, Susan B. Anthony cast her ballot for United States presidential candidate Ulysses S. Grant and was arrested and tried in Rochester, New York, in 1872; and
   WHEREAS, in 1894, Iowa women gained the right to vote on ballot questions regarding bond or tax issues, but continued to be denied the ability to vote on candidates; and
   WHEREAS, Iowa women’s suffrage leader Mary Jane Coggeshall was elected to serve on the board of the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1895 and she gave speeches at the organization’s conventions in 1904 and 1907; and
   WHEREAS, Council Bluffs, Iowa, was the site of a women’s suffrage march in 1908, one of the first in the nation; and
   WHEREAS, Carrie Chapman Catt, who grew up in Iowa, led the National American Woman Suffrage Association from 1900 to 1904 and 1915 to 1920 and developed and implemented the “Winning Plan” to gain support from legislators at the state and federal levels for women’s suffrage; and
   WHEREAS, the United States Senate passed the Nineteenth Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote in 1919 and states began ratification; and
   WHEREAS, the Nineteenth Amendment was signed into law by the United States Secretary of State on August 26, 1920; and
   WHEREAS, the Nineteenth Amendment guaranteed the right to vote to African American women in Iowa and other states outside the American south; and
   WHEREAS, 2020 is also the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, which fully enfranchised African American women in the American south; and
   WHEREAS, daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters of the women who fought so hard to vote have been making their voices heard at the polls for nearly 100 years; and
   WHEREAS, women are running for office in unprecedented numbers and many current politicians, both male and female, remember that they follow in the footsteps of these great suffragists; NOW THEREFORE,

   BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, That more than 100 years of women’s suffrage is recognized in light of July 2, 2019, being the 100th anniversary of the State of Iowa ratifying the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.