Norman Transcript | Article | Mindy Wood

The Right to Vote Celebrations Begin

It has been 100 years since women in the U.S. won their right to vote and the anniversary will not go unnoticed in Norman. Several local and national celebrations are planned and the first one for Norman is slated for Saturday.

The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified on Aug. 18, 1920, the same year that the national organization the League of Women Voters was formed.

Members of the Norman League of Women Voters have organized an event that will feature a showing of the film “Iron Jawed Angels” at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Opolis, 113 N. CrawfordA.

The film chronicles the work of Alice Paul whose activism during the Suffragette Movement was pivotal in the passage of the amendment.

Mary Francis, longtime member and former board member for the Norman League of Women Voters said the government did not acknowledge a basic human right, but that women had to “force it.” The film on Paul's life demonstrates the struggle for equality and is the reason it was chosen for the kickoff event.

“Because this event that happened during President Wilson's term, it was probably the catalyst that got the legislature and Wilson turned for women to vote,” Francis said. “With civil disobedience, they had been jailed and beaten, and the film graphically depicts the torture they went through.”

The film also reveals jailers who force-fed women with metal funnels during a hunger strike

“That's where the 'iron jaw' comes from,” Francis said. “That was apparently the catalyst for getting the government to move on women's right to vote.

The celebration Saturday will include a short address from Mary Newcomb Hatch whose thesis was on Paul's life.

While the mission of the league has changed over the years from focusing on women to all people, voting remains the constant passion for members.

“Always at the core it has been voting, access to voting and access to information about the issues,” Norman League of Women Voters Co-Chair Doris Kupfer said. “That's what we're all about.”

Oklahoma may put celebrations on the national map of historic events. An Oklahoma City artist is constructing an 18'x26' flag with 36 stripes to represent the states which took part in the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Marilyn Artus will sew the stripes on Jan. 18 at the Oklahoma History Center in the Devon Great Hall, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive in Oklahoma City. Historian Dr. Sunu Kodumthara, poetess Angie LaPaglia and singer and songwriter Carter Sampson will accompany Artus while she completes the work.