Candlelight Vigil

Tappan Square

Corner of Main and College

Oberlin Ohio 44074

Ohio US

Wednesday, April 4, 2018 - 7:00pm to Thursday, April 5, 2018 - 6:45pm

The City of Oberlin Human Relations Commission Announces

A Candlelight Vigil in Observance of the

50th Anniversary of the Assassination of

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Wednesday, April 4, 7:00 p.m.

Tappan Square (Southeast Corner)

Participants Walk to the Martin Luther King Park at 7:15 p.m. Remarks by Kurt Russell, Oberlin High School History Teacher

Closing Prayer by the Reverend A.G. Miller

Co-sponsored by Oberlin Area League of Women Voters, Oberlin NAACP Chapter, First Church in Oberlin, Oberlin College Africana Studies Department,

Oberlin-Area Cooperating Ministries, Oberlin Pastors Prayer Fellowship

Inclement Weather Location: First Church Meeting Room

The League of Women Voters was born from such a struggle. The 19th Amendment was finally included in the US Constitution on August 26, 1920

On February 14,1920, the League was formed on the premise that a nonpartisan civic organization could provide the education and experience the public needed to assure the success of democracy. Founder Carrie Chapman Catt exclaimed that the League was formed to “finish the fight” to win national woman suffrage. Yet within the struggle for the right to vote, we left some of our sisters behind when the 75-year fight for votes for women didn’t include securing these rights for women of color. And that struggle continued for decades until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

And now today, across the states, barriers to voting are being erected to disenfranchise communities of color, people of low-income, students, and people with disabilities. All eligible voters should be able to cast a ballot confidently, proudly, and without additional requirements that prevent them from voting. It is clear that the “fight” remains unfinished. From this vantage point, looking back while planning ahead, we’re committed to remembering and commemorating the accomplishments of all those who fought for our right to vote while advocating for voting reforms and defending democracy. And that the work of the League is needed as much now as it was at its founding.

League of Women Voters ^®
of Lorain County