The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa will mark the centennial anniversary of the women’s suffrage movement with a special livestream presentation by the UH Better Tomorrow Speaker Series on August 27. The live conversation will include interviews with acclaimed UCLA historian Ellen Carol Dubois, Hawaiʻi State Department of Education (HIDOE) Superintendent Christina Kishimoto, and speakers from Common Cause Hawaiʻi and the Hawaiʻi State Commission on the Status of Women. Interviews will be conducted by UH Mānoa associate professor and historian Robert Perkinson.
“Women achieved the right to vote only after a long period of direct activism, while standing up bravely against physical danger and public criticism. This was true globally, with significant leadership shown by women in Asia, the Pacific and Hawaiʻi, as well as many other world regions,” said Shana Brown, UH Mānoa history department chair. “The centennial of the landmark achievement in the U.S. reminds us of the effectiveness of unified direct action in the name of increasing liberty and justice for all.”
The women’s suffrage movement achieved the largest extension of voting rights in American history. Founded by abolitionists, the struggle took shape over 70 years, pioneering tactics that still define public protest, from petition drives to hunger strikes. Although women won the right to vote a century ago, the lessons of their efforts are newly resonant today, as a new wave of #MeToo feminism takes shape, struggles over voting rights return to center stage and as mass movements are once again changing our sense of the possible.
Dubois, who is the author and co-author of numerous books, including Through Women’s Eyes, the leading textbook in U.S. women’s history, will share how the ratification of the 19th Amendment required both radical direct action and skilled lobbying, and explain how race and racism defined the movement and its legacy.
Livestream event
This special episode will be held on Zoom on Thursday, August 27 at 1:30 p.m. HST.
Registration for the event and advance submission of questions can be completed online.
It is encouraged to register via Zoom, but the presentation will be available on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
