In our time of voter apathy, meet the suffragettes

CHESTER — In these days of dismal voter turnout and apathy (see related story), it is instructive to recall the hard work, courage, and sacrifice of those who, just one hundred years ago, were utterly disenfranchised, and who fought passionately for the right to cast a ballot now taken so for granted.
The Chester Historical Society, in conjunction with the American Historical Theater, is presenting a free program to mark the 100th anniversary of women achieving the right to vote in New York. The program, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16, in the auditorium of the Chester Academy, 64 Hambletonian Ave., features a re-enactment in costume of speeches by Sojourner Truth, Lucretia Coffin Mott, and Alice Paul, three prominent women who fought for suffrage.
"It is incredible to me that any woman should consider the fight for full equality won," Alice Paul said in 1920, shortly after the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting American women the right to vote was ratified. "It has just begun. There is hardly a field, economic or political, in which the natural and unaccustomed policy is not to ignore women....Unless women are prepared to fight politically they must be content to be ignored politically."
Although New York granted suffrage to women in 1917, the struggle was long and had been vigorously opposed by some for more than a century in America.
Early activists realized that unless they had the vote, they would not be able to influence or change public policy. Women were denied not just the vote, but educational and economic opportunity as well. The words of these brave women brought about a major change in American life.
Come and experience the words that changed history.
The program complements the Chester Historical Society's exhibit at the 1915 Erie Railroad Station-Museum, 19 Winkler Place, in the Village of Chester. For more information contact Debby-Lu Vadala Adams at 544-2369 or chester_historical@mac.com.