ANNA LIBRARY TO FEATURE ILLINOIS WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE EXHIBIT

ANNA, Ill. -- Women's suffrage will be addressed in a special exhibit at Stinson Memorial Library in Anna Feb. 25-March 7.

A "Votes For Women" display will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the enactment of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

"Illinois was the first state east of the Mississippi River to grant suffrage to women," said Robert Hafeman, Stinson librarian. "We are happy to be part of a program that can bring indoor information and cultural events to this area."

The display includes photographs, documents and memorabilia relating to the women's suffrage movement in the state. Literature also will be available.

The display may be viewed from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 1, said Hafeman. The library is at 409 S. Main St.

The Illinois exhibit was developed at the request of the Illinois Commission for the Celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment.

The exhibit will be in 60 communities where the Illinois Woman Suffrage Association held conventions from 1869 through 1920, said Delinda Chapman, chairwoman of the commission.

The exhibit has been making the rounds since last year, said Secretary of State and State Archivist George H. Ryan.

"Being in the forefront of the suffrage movement took leadership and courage," said Ryan. "The political, moral and financial support of Illinois suffragists provided the catalyst for the state to ratify the 19th amendment."

Handouts during the display examine the history of the suffragists, noting that women received their training in how to mobilize suffrage groups by being involved in the abolition effort and by providing aid to injured Union soldiers during the Civil War.

At various times the movement focused on attempting to win the right to vote on specific issues.

In the 1870s, for example, suffragists sought the right to vote for local control of alcohol sales. This was critical because the unchecked sale of liquor weakened the family unit, the Illinois Woman Suffrage Association argued.

The display includes documents and photographs that depict efforts over the next 40 years that led to the enactment of the 19th amendment, including the role of the first African-American suffrage organizations in Illinois forged by civil rights leader Ida B. Well-Barnett.

The first suffrage organization in Illinois was established in Earlville in 1855, with Susan Hoxie Richardson, a cousin of Susan B. Anthony, as president.

With the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, many of the woman suffragists turned their efforts to helping Union soldiers. In 1869, following the war, the Illinois Woman Suffrage Association came into being with a publication of the "Agitator," a women's rights weekly newspaper published in Chicago. The newspaper later was published in Boston.

It wasn't until 1891 that women's suffrage won a major victory: The legislature passed a law granting women the right to vote in school elections. Three years later the first female was elected to a statewide office: a seat on the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

Congress passed the 19th amendment in 1919, but it needed ratification of two thirds of the state to become law. On June 10, 1919, Illinois became the first state to ratify the amendment. Fourteen months later the law had the two-thirds majority and it was signed into law on Aug. 26, 1920.

The law states, "The right of citizens of the Untied States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."