HARRISBURG, DAUPHIN COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU-TV) Acting Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar joined officials and members of the public in the Capitol Rotunda to commemorate Monday’s 100th anniversary of the Pennsylvania General Assembly’s vote to ratify the 19th Amendment that would eventually give women the right to vote.
“A century ago today, in this building, the commonwealth became the seventh state to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” Secretary Boockvar said. “I am proud of Pennsylvania’s early embrace of women’s suffrage. We helped lead the way for the rest of the nation.”
Those in attendance shared in the celebration by “ratifying” copies of the amendment with their signatures.
The General Assembly approved the amendment 20 days after it had cleared Congress on June 4, 1919, and was sent to the states for ratification.
On loan from the Pennsylvania State Archives, Pennsylvania’s original ratification document and other historical records from the suffrage movement were on display.
Secretary Boockvar was joined at the podium by guest speakers state Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R-46th), state Rep. Joanna McClinton (D-191st) and Lynn Yeakel, founder, and president of the Vision 2020 coalition.
First Lady Frances Wolf commemorated the 100thanniversary of Pennsylvania’s ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote by ringing the Justice Bell in Washington Memorial Hall in Valley Forge National Historical Park. The Justice Bell, a replica of the Liberty Bell, was created in 1915 to campaign for women’s suffrage across the nation.
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