Aug. 18 marks the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed and protected women’s right to vote, enabling them to fully participate in American democracy.
The American Bar Association is celebrating the anniversary with the publication of a digital cookbook and a program on the more than 70-year push for the amendment.
The online “The Nineteenth Amendment Centennial Cookbook: 100 Recipes for 100 Years” is modeled after similar cookbooks published a century ago by suffragists to gain support for the movement. It features recipes for dishes from five Supreme Court justices, including a handwritten one for “Spinach Squares” from Sandra Day O’Connor, as well as “David’s Apple Squash Soup” from National Public Radio legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg; “Mama’s Corn Pudding” from Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson; and “Pizza with Pesto and Sweet Corn” from international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. The cookbook, available this week, will be on ambar.org/19th.
On Aug. 24 from noon to 1 p.m. ET, Judge M. Margaret McKeown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and chair of the ABA’s Commission on the 19th Amendment, and Elaine Weiss, author of “The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote,” will hold a virtual conversation on “The Great Unfinished Fight: A Conversation on the History and Legacy of the 19th Amendment.” The discussion will center around the gripping story of how women won the right to vote and opened the door to future battles for civil rights.
The program will also include a video of the 10 women who have served as ABA presidents discussing the importance of voting.
“Especially with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment coming later this month,” President Patricia Lee Refo said, “we stand for free and fair elections where all eligible citizens get to vote without impediments and have their vote counted.”
Previous programs to mark the centennial included McKeown and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg discussing the amendment’s implications at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., in February, and a panel discussion on women’s political power from the 19th Amendment to 2020 hosted by the Harvard Kennedy School last October.
In addition, the ABA has a traveling exhibit called “100 Years After the 19th Amendment: Their Legacy, and Our Future,” curated by the Library of Congress. The commission also offers digital tool kits to help support public and student programming; free streaming videos that can be used for commemoration events and programs; state anniversary dates; interesting facts about the 19th Amendment and the battle for full suffrage; and a gallery of 19th Amendment images and photos.
