State Superintendent of Public Instruction Carolyn Stanford Taylor addresses Pittsville students. City Times staff photo.

Wisconsin First Lady Kathy Evers speaks on the 19th Amendment. City Times staff photo.

By City Times staff

PITTSVILLE – Wisconsin First Lady Kathy Evers and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Carolyn Stanford Taylor made a stop in Pittsville on Nov. 15 to speak with students.

The visit was part of an announcement, with Wisconsin Historical Society secondary education coordinator Jenny Kalvaitis, on new classroom resources regarding the Wisconsin suffrage movement.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Wisconsin’s Ratification of the 19th Amendment, which occurred on June 10, 1919, when Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan became the first three states to ratify the amendment.

“When the United States began as a country, way back in 1776, most states gave the right to vote only to white male landowners over the age of 21. Did you know over 100 years later, Wisconsin led the nation and was the first state to ratify the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote? That was a landmark day in our state’s history,” Evers told Pittsville students. “But, it is important to remember that even after the 19th Amendment was enacted, not all women and men were guaranteed the right to vote. It is a right of citizenship that people have discussed, protested, and sometimes fought for throughout time.”

Evers said that the group is traveling around the state to talk to school groups on how important it is to understand, protect, and celebrate the right to vote and how essential it is to our democracy.

Earlier this year, Governor Tony Evers signed an order to create the Committee to Celebrate the Centennial Anniversary of Wisconsin’s Ratification of the 19th Amendment. The committee was asked to create a school toolkit for educating students on the suffrage movement and the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

The classroom resources provide “ideas for teachers to help students recognize the work of some of Wisconsin’s women political leaders and activists.”

For more information, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS16052.