GEORGETOWN, Del. - On Tuesday afternoon, the Joshua M. Freeman Foundation held a “Votes for Women” panel discussion, the same day as Super Tuesday.
They are celebrating 100 years of the ratification of the 19th amendment which gave women the right to vote.
First Lady of Delaware, Tracey Quillen Carney, says, "I was thinking about this anniversary, and it is not an abstract celebration to me. Both of my grandmothers were born before 1920, and I knew both of my grandmothers. It's not just historical figures we're talking about, it is astounding to me that my grandmothers couldn't vote when they were born, that they were not born into that right."
The panel consisted of four distinguished men and women, providing their insight and expertise on the suffrage movement.
They discussed the role African-American women played in the suffrage movement, women's rights in other countries, politics, and pay inequity.
When asked about her sash, Executive Director of the Joshua Freeman Foundation, Patti Grimes, said, "This sash is representative of what the suffragettes wore many years ago when they marched for women to have the right to vote … and I have all these buttons on here, which are significant because they are what some of the women carried as signs. So I wear the sash in honor of all the suffragettes that were out there making sure that today a woman like myself, and you had the opportunity to vote."
And looking to the next 100 years, organizers hope to see more women voting, running for office, and in executive positions of power.