[uplifting music]
- [Narrator] The ratification of the 19th Amendment,
which granted women the right to vote,
was a watershed moment in U.S. history.
The traveling exhibit, She Changed the World,
featuring rarely-seen artifacts and documents
from the state's archives,
highlights North Carolinian women's participation
in the suffrage movement.
- This year, we're celebrating the centennial
of women's suffrage with the passage of the 19th Amendment
in August of 1920.
And that amendment to the Constitution
allowed for full women suffrage
in any federal and state election.
We've prepared a small traveling exhibit
that features some of the treasures
of the suffrage debate, including materials
from both sides of the argument,
including the original 19th Amendment
coming from our vault collection.
- [Narrator] There were several attempts to pass a bill
for women's right to vote in the North Carolina legislature,
but they didn't go so well.
- I would point out on this 1897 bill
they referred it to the committee on the insane.
[laughing]
So it didn't go very far in consideration.
- [Woman] You can tell what they thought
of the bill itself, right? - Correct, correct.
So we have an interesting document in our collection
and in the exhibit that comes from 1920
when both North Carolina and Tennessee
were considering the 19th Amendment.
And the North Carolina House of Representatives
sends a telegram to the leaders in Tennessee
saying please don't ratify the 19th Amendment
and we'll do the same.
And so, an interesting fact is while Tennessee
did push the 19th Amendment over the top
and it became part of the Constitution,
North Carolina did not formally ratify
the 19th Amendment until 1971.
[gentle brass music]
- [Narrator] Several North Carolinian women
played pivotal roles in leading
the women's suffrage movement,
and the exhibit features numerous images and their stories.
- Two of the notable women around 1920 were Gertrude Wheel,
who was both the President of the Equal Suffrage Association
when the 19th Amendment was ratified,
and then became the founder and first President
of the League of Women Voters of North Carolina.
And then, in 1920, Lillian Exum Clement,
from Asheville, North Carolina,
was the first woman in any southern state
to serve in the legislature.
- Black women did participate in the Suffrage Movement.
They were vocal about wanting, needing,
and requiring access to voting rights,
but again, they were excluded because of their color.
So, Charlotte Hawkins Brown is well-known for being
one of our state's, and honestly nation's,
foremost educators, but she was also an activist
and a staunch advocate for social justice.
- [Narrator] Although the 19th Amendment granted all women
the right to vote, voter suppression continued
to disenfranchise people of color
until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
- This manifested itself in a number of ways.
You had poll taxes, grandfather clauses,
literacy tests that created barriers
for African Americans to vote.
And African American women were a part of that,
subject to those same restrictions.
- American Indians were not given
the right to vote until 1965,
and that was not that long ago.
Women fought very hard for this right.
American Indians fought very hard for this right.
So we want everybody to be able to voice their opinion,
to let their voices be heard.
- [Narrator] 100 years have passed
since women were granted the right to vote,
but challenges remain.
- The League of Women Voters of Wake County
first met in September of 1920,
and our mission through the almost 100 years of our history
has been relatively unchanged.
It's about empowering voters and defending democracy.
So, of course, we do a lot of voter registration.
We host a lot of candidate forums across the nation
in our municipalities,
and we do some advocacy work in a non-partisan way.
- [Narrator] The traveling exhibition She Changed the World
launched at the State Capitol in late August,
and similar events will be happening
across the state throughout 2020.
- [Dianna] So come visit our website for links to resources
including events and locations around the state
and other online historical and image resources.
[gentle music]
- The She Changed the World exhibit is on display
at the North Carolina State Capitol
at 1 East Edenton Street in Raleigh.
Other 20th Amendment events are going on all over the state,
so check out the North Carolina Department
of Cultural Resources website at ncdcr.gov
to find out more.