A Distance to Travel.

Essay by Neria04College, UndergraduateA+, October 2005

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August 26, 1920. It was a day that to many was the

It was perhaps one of the greatest victories of the century. Now as the polls

open women and men stand next to each other and cast a vote which holds the

same importance. The time and effort it took to get here shall be ingrained in

every person's mind as they approach the poll booth. There was a struggle to

over come and that struggle was won, in the end by forty-three words. The

landmark acceptance of the Nineteenth Amendment changed the way of life in

American forever, from the time before, to the time of, to the time after.

"We were sixteen women sitting in sixteen chairs, longing to stand.

(Dubois 250)" This quote given by Mary Baker before the Passing of the

Nineteenth Amendment is used to show how women were wanting and desired

to stand next to me in a line of equal measures.

Before 1920, life being female

was assumed to be a life lived in the house watching over the children and

making sure that everyone was happy. If a female stepped out of this common

place it would be looked upon as being a radical, one who would never marry,

and one who would be forced to live her life in the shame of the town. Needless

to say it was a time where the lines between the male gender and the female

gender was one of great defiance. As Mary White Rowlandson remarked in her

dying words, "It is a life I am no longer willing to lead. I am old so it is better

for me to die without the fight, but you are young so fight and be seen. Today

replaces yesterday, for as yesterday you had nothing to...