On this Election Day I’ll be watching the award-winning musical “Suffs,” about the women who fought for voting rights leading up to ratification of the 19th Amendment. Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts in the midst of this era, recruiting a number of women active in the suffrage cause to help support her movement. While Daisy publicly avoided taking a position on voting rights, her organization worked to prepare young women for the day when they would have full rights of citizenship.
Long before women secured voting rights throughout the country, Daisy’s mother, Nellie Kinzie Gordon, and grandmother, Juliette McGill Kinzie, campaigned for politicians in pre-Civil War Illinois. They and other women helped support the growth of the fledgling Republican Party. Remembering these pioneering women should inspire us all to do our part in support of the democratic system.
So in honor of the generations of women who fought for our ability to fully engage in the American political system, thank you Suffs!
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