Agenda - 03-10-20; 4-a - Proclamation Recognizing 100th Year Anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution

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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 3 PROCLAMATION RECOGNIZING THE 100T" YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE 19T" AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION WHEREAS, an organized movement to enfranchise women began in July 1848 at a convention in Seneca Falls, New York; and WHEREAS, through the efforts of brave and courageous women referred to as suffragists who sacrificed family, personal life and financial resources for over seventy years to gain equal rights for women, especially the right to vote; and WHEREAS, women and men of all colors and cultures supported the women's suffrage movement in order for women to gain the Constitutional right of having a voice in making the laws that govern them; and WHEREAS, Chapel Hill resident Barbara Bynum Henderson, UNC class of 1902 (AB & MA), Phi Beta Kappa, organized and was elected president of the Equal Suffrage League of North Carolina in 1913, and was unanimously re-elected for a second term in 1915; and WHEREAS, Barbara Bynum Henderson carried the battle for women's suffrage to the North Carolina General Assembly when a special session was called to consider woman suffrage; and WHEREAS, the woman's suffrage movement led to the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States in 1919, with ratification by the states by the summer of 1920; and WHEREAS, North Carolina delayed ratifying the 19th amendment until 1971; and WHEREAS, the National Woman Suffrage Association dissolved in 1920 to create the League of Women Voters of the United States in order to register voters and educate all voters; and WHEREAS, the League of Women Voters of North Carolina was launched on October 7, 1920 on the steps of the Guilford County Courthouse by Gertrude Weil, a politically active and tireless young woman from Goldsboro, North Carolina; and WHEREAS, more than 120,000 women were registered to vote in North Carolina by 1920; and WHEREAS, women today constitute a majority vote in the State of North Carolina and the United States and are running for office in higher numbers and more active in the election process than ever before in history; NOW THEREFORE the Orange County Board of County Commissioners does hereby recognize the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote; and FURTHERMORE that Orange County Board of County Commissioners does hereby recognize the 100th anniversary of the founding of the League of Women Voters in the United States and in North Carolina and applauds the members of the League of Women Voters for the impact its historic accomplishments have made on public engagement and the civic life of the community, the state and the nation. This the 10th day of March, 2020. Penny Rich, Chair Orange County Board of Commissioners