Minot State hosts two events to commemorate the centennial of women’s suffrage
MINOT, N.D. – Minot State University will host two events — one in November and one in December — to commemorate the 2019-20 centennial of women’s suffrage in the United States.
The first event will be a screening of the documentary, “One Woman, One Vote,” on Nov. 21 and the second is a presentation by the Minot State History of American Women class on Dec. 5. Both events are free and open to the public.
“The fight for woman suffrage in the United States began in 1848 and did not reach its successful conclusion until 1920,” said Bethany Andreasen, Minot State professor of history. “The woman suffrage movement is an essential part of the long American struggle to extend full voting rights to all of the nation’s citizens, a struggle which we are acknowledging and honoring through these events.”
The Nov. 21 screening of “One Woman, One Vote,” is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. in the Minot State Student Center Conference Center. The documentary provides an overview of the decades-long struggle to gain the vote for women, highlighting women who played important roles, the organizations they created and worked within, and the actions that they took in the effort to advance their cause. There will be an opportunity for discussion after the documentary.
The Dec. 5 presentation for Andreasen’s History of American Women class is scheduled from 12:30-1:45 p.m. in the MSU Conference Center. Minot State students have reviewed newspapers from the early 20th century and will report on the activities of the suffrage movement and its opponents in North Dakota, with a special emphasis upon what took place in the Minot area.
The fall 2019 events are a part of an ongoing celebration at Minot State with the first semester focusing on the history, the Spring 2020 semester focusing on the present, and Fall 2020 looking to the future.
The movement for full voting rights for women finally succeeded in gaining congressional approval with the passage of a proposed 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1919. The North Dakota Legislature met in special session to ratify the amendment in November and December of 1919. The amendment received the required ratification of three-quarters of the states when it was approved by Tennessee in 1920, which meant that all American women were able to vote in the presidential election later that year.
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| Published: 11/08/19 |
