In Conjunction With the SUFFRAGE CENTENNIAL

The 100th Anniversary of Women Winning The Right To Vote

and the 100th Anniversary of The Founding of The N.M. League of Women Voters

This Week’s Guests:

· Hannah Burling, President of the League of Women Voters of New Mexico

· Meredith Machen, Educator, Historian & Former LWVNM President

January 22, 2020 -- This week's guests on REPORT FROM SANTA FE are Hannah Burling, President of the League of Women Voters of New Mexico, and Meredith Machen, educator, historian, and former LWVNM president, discussing women's historic struggle for the right to vote.

This year marks the Suffrage Centennial, the 100th anniversary of women's winning of the right to vote. It is also the 100th anniversary of the founding of the New Mexico League of Women Voters.

Machen and Burling explore the history of the suffragist movement nationally, and in New Mexico, naming some of the heroines of the movement in New Mexico.

They invite all New Mexicans to a grand celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Suffrage to be held at the NM State Capitol on February 6 starting at 12:30 p.m., presented by the League of Women Voters of New Mexico as well as many other nonpartisan partners such as the AAUW, NOW, ACLU. NAACP, Common Cause, Planned Parenthood, and the Southwest Women's Law Center.

The event will feature suffragist costumes, songs from numerous choirs and individuals, cake and lemonade, and speeches from Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, NM Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, and other esteemed political figures. Memorials celebrating the Suffrage Centennial will be presented in the House and Senate.

This presentation of the history of the women's suffrage movement provides us a model for today's struggles and shows the pattern of civil disobedience that has been successful in the past. These pioneers for women's rights made many difficult sacrifices to earn women the right to vote. Celebrations such as this remind one to not let the suffragists’ sacrifices be in vain, and to help make sure that everyone exercises their right to vote.