LYNN — When Michelle Guzman talks about today’s 100th anniversary marking the right to vote for American women, she talks about an evolution, not an accomplishment.
Passed by Congress in June, 1919, and ratified on Aug. 18, 1920, the United States Constitution’s 19th Amendment capped off a decades-long battle by the women’s suffrage movement to secure the right to vote.
But the victory did not tear down racist and economic barriers that barred many women from voting, said Guzman.
“It didn’t involve all women,” said the Lynn resident, who celebrates the city’s history with walking tours she guides.
Guzman will use the Heritage State Park murals as a backdrop today to film a video detailing the amendment’s history and kicking off an online conversation about how women and voting rights still have a long way to go.
“To me, it means a lot. It’s so important when we talk about social and racial justice,” Guzman said.
She has banded together — under the name Lynn’s Evolution of Voting Rights — with other local women, including Lisa Connolly, representing the Washington Square Residence; Annette Sykes and Sally Jacobson of GALA-Galleries At Lynn Arts, and Tia Cole, Lynn Main Streets.
The group is planning discussions on voting rights and barriers to voting starting with individual videos examining the centennial’s importance and leading into an online presentation, by Wendy Joseph, about the racial conversation that divided the suffrage movement, this Friday at 6 p.m.
Joseph, co-chair of the Frederick Douglass 200 Committee, will discuss how the suffragette movement was united until it reached the conversation of racial justice.
Women supported the 15th Amendment (the right to vote will not be abridged “on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude”) and were certain that the right to vote for women was next.
Frederick Douglass, one of the leaders of the abolitionist movement, was one of its first supporters and a staunch believer in the suffragette movement, and he had a direct connection to Lynn as a resident from 1841 to 1848.
“This talk is free and will be done by Zoom. At the end, we will have time for questions and answers,” Guzman said.
The link to Friday’s discussion is https://www.eventbrite.com/e/frederick-douglass-on-womens-rights-tickets-117185253247?aff=ebdssbeac
The self-styled founder of Lynn Walking Shoe Tours, Guzman is committed to bringing the city’s history to life and putting it under the proverbial spotlight for examination.
She joined other women in February to examine the roles women played in the shoe industry, and that focus on history led to discussions about analyzing the 19th Amendment’s history and evolution.
Plans for online discussions about the centennial crystalized in July.
“We’re celebrating the milestone and the fact that it has been a fight since 1848,” Guzman said.
To learn more about the discussion, go to:
https://www.facebook.com/events/394354141541023
