WASHINGTON, DC — In celebration of Women’s Equality Day and the nation's 250th anniversary, the League of Women Voters (LWV) announced it is joining the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation as an official partner in the effort to build the first monument on the National Mall dedicated to the history of American women and the suffrage movement. To support this historic partnership, Celina Stewart has been named to serve on the Women’s Suffrage Monument Foundation’s Council of Ambassadors, where she will join other luminaries and leaders and honor the League’s historic roots in the suffrage movement. Supporters can learn more about the monument effort and ways to help bring this historic project to life by visiting this link: https://womensmonument.org/lwv-donation-campaign/.
Tracing its direct lineage to 1920, the League of Women Voters was founded by suffragist leader Carrie Chapman Catt six months before the ratification of the 19th Amendment on August 26, 1920. Designed to transform a multi-generational suffrage coalition into an enduring force for voter education and civic participation, the League now joins the Foundation as an official partner to bring the story of the suffragists to its rightful place on the National Mall. Commemorating the August 26th certification of the 19th Amendment, Women’s Equality Day highlights the enduring legacy of the suffrage movement—and provides a historic opportunity to recognize our foremothers alongside our forefathers as the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary.
"The League of Women Voters was born from the suffrage movement, a movement built by women who refused to accept that democracy could be whole while they were excluded from it," said Celina Stewart, chief executive officer of the League of Women Voters. "To help build a monument to those women on the National Mall is to do more than honor the past—it is to plant their legacy in the heart of our democracy. Every generation should be able to stand here, know their names, remember their courage, and understand that the rights we inherit were won by women who refused to stop fighting."
"We often say the suffrage movement was a multi-generational relay race– passed from hand to hand, from mother to daughter, until the finish line was reached,” said Anna Laymon, president and chief executive officer of the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation. “The League of Women Voters carried that baton for over a hundred years, and today we are honored to have this generation of League members join us in celebrating their predecessors on the National Mall."
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