Organizers of the 110th Anniversary of the Women’s Suffrage March decided the best alternate day to celebrate this historic event should be on the last day of Women’s History Month.
Last Friday’s reenactment in Chattanooga was previously scheduled for March 3, to coincide with the date of the original event in 1913, but was rescheduled to March 31 due to inclement weather.
“We are hosting the Women’s Suffrage Reenactment March to celebrate the hard won achievements of the courageous leaders who played a vital role in ensuring that all women earned the right to vote–because of them, we can,” said Amy R. Davis, president of the Chattanooga Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Last Friday at noon, dozens of participants carrying umbrellas met on the lawn of the Hamilton County Court House, 625 E. Georgia Ave. in downtown Chattanooga, to begin the ¼ mile reenactment of the Women’s Suffrage March. The procession walked from the courthouse down Georgia Avenue towards Miller Park in a light rain.
A short program at Miller Park followed.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. was founded on Jan. 13, 1913, by 22 women at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The sorority’s first public act of service was its participation in the Women’s Suffrage March in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 1913.
This march was held the day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration and faced strong opposition from anti-suffragist crowds. Insults and lit cigarette butts were thrown and marchers were tripped, groped and beaten. Army troops were called in and 100 women were hospitalized.
Although women were granted the right to vote in 1920, it would be many more decades until all women had the opportunity to fully participate in our democracy.
The local 110th Anniversary Women’s Suffrage Reenactment March was organized by the Chattanooga Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., in partnership with the League of Women Voters of Chattanooga and the city of Chattanooga.