By PAM RAIDER AND SHARI FRANK, guest columnists

The new year, 2020, promises to be quite a year with much to celebrate.

On Jan. 1, the Tournament of Roses parade theme was “The Power of Hope.” A float from the descendants of the Mayflower came into view — yes, the Mayflower landed 400 years ago. Soon after, another float appeared accompanied by women marchers dressed in white, honoring the woman suffragettes who finally won the right to vote with the 19th Amendment 100 years ago in 1920. By the way, this later group included a local Brown County High School history teacher: Emily Lewellen.

The passage of the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote by stating “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by The United States or by any State on account of sex.” This was not a new idea, as Abigail Adams had written words to this effect to her husband, John, in March 31, 1776, urging him and other members to the Continental Congress to consider the rights of women.

Achieving this end was not a quick nor easy battle; in, fact it took 72 years of effort.

The suffragette effort began in 1848, when Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, inspired by the Iroquois Confederacy and Quaker thinkers, convened the first women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York, where a resolution demanding equal suffrage was passed.

Susan B. Anthony later joined and led the movement with her motto, “Failure is not an option.” It was she who crafted the first draft of an amendment in 1875.

For years, abolitionists and women’s rights advocates worked side by side to expand voting rights for all Americans, and indeed the Fifteenth Amendment, giving black men the right to vote, did pass in 1870 — and now celebrates its 150th anniversary this year.

Soon after the convention, a campaign for women’s suffrage began in earnest in states all across America. The first Indiana Women’s Rights Convention was organized by Quaker Amanda Way in 1851 in Dublin, Indiana. The next year, the Indiana Woman’s Rights Association was formed.

Indiana actually granted women the right to vote twice and rescinded it twice before the actual passage of the 19th Amendment. When the Indiana state congress first passed this right to vote in 1881, it was mysteriously left out of the journal log, and when voted on again in 1883, did not pass.

Later, the Woman’s Franchise League of Indiana lobbied to pass the Partial Suffrage Act which did pass in Indiana in 1917, and some 40,000 women registered to vote. Local resident Estella Taggart Hopper was sent to Indianapolis to represent the women of Brown County. However, the act was declared unconstitutional by the Indiana Supreme Court right before they were able to vote in November.

On June 4, 1919, the 19th Amendment passed both chambers of the federal government. To make it official law of the land, two-thirds of the state congresses had to ratify the amendment.

On Jan. 16, 1920, Indiana became the 26th state to ratify the amendment. Finally on Aug. 18, 1920, the last state needed to ratify signed on, and the amendment became law on Aug. 26, 1920. More than 26 million women had now become full-fledged voters overnight.

According to our local historical archives, the number of women voters in Brown County that first year nearly equaled the men. As registration closed, 1,000 women voters were added to the 1,600 men.

Looking forward to a time when women could vote and preparing them for this right, the Suffragette movement morphed into the League of Women Voters, which claims its birthday as Feb. 14, 1920. The purpose of the LWV was to study and educate voters about the issues of the day. This remains its primary function, although it’s not just for women now.

Our local League of Women Voters, partnering with the Brown County Historical Society, will be honoring our centennial birthdays on International Women’s Day March 8 by hosting a tea at our local History Center in downtown Nashville. All will be invited. Check the League website for details as planning continues: www.lwvbrowncounty.org.

Maybe the parade theme rings true: “With hope, anything, in fact, all things are possible.”

Pam Raider is vice president and Shari Frank is president of the League of Women Voters Brown County.