The 19th Amendment comes to life at the ‘Iron Jawed Angels’ film screening

Lacey+Cruse+speaks+during+the+discussion+about+the+film+screening.+Cruse+is+the+Democratic+candidate+for+the+Sedgwick+County+Commission+4th+District+seat.

Audrey Korte

Lacey Cruse speaks during the discussion about the film screening. Cruse is the Democratic candidate for the Sedgwick County Commission 4th District seat.

Some Wichitans might be unaware of the impressive history of women’s rights activism. Local women are working to change that.

The fight for women’s voting rights was front and center at a film screening of “Iron Jawed Angels” on campus Sunday afternoon.

The event took place at Beggs Ballroom in the RSC after a weekend of events celebrating Women’s Equality Day here in Wichita.

The event was organized by Stacy Ward Lattin, Brandi Calvert, Carole Neal, and Sharon Cranford.

Lattin, co-owner of Hopping Gnome Brewing, is on the board for Dress For Success Wichita. She began coordinating events last year on Women’s Equality Day, which highlight and celebrate local woman-owned businesses.

This year she set out to organize a Wichita-wide event so people could gather and watch the film “Iron Jawed Angels.” The 2004 film follows the story of suffragette Alice Paul and her fight against the establishment to gain women’s voting rights.

A vocal leader of the 20th century women’s suffrage movement, Alice Paul fought vigorously for the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote. Paul soon went on to author the Equal Rights Amendment in 1923, which has yet to be adopted.

Almost 90 people attended the event, a number of them from off campus. Many stayed for a discussion afterwards to talk about the importance of our voting history.

“I’m a history teacher of high school and college and I’m telling you this is not in our history books,” said Ernestine Krehbiel, who has taught at Butler County Community College and Wichita high schools and is a member of the Wichita Board of Education. “This really happened. There’s a paragraph in history that says women got the right to vote under President Wilson and we saw that he did not deserve that credit.”

Once the 19th Amendment passed, the League of Women Voters (LWV) was created to educate women about their voting rights and responsibilities. Wichita had the first LWV in the United States. Jane Brooks of Wichita became the first national president of the LWV. She chartered the first local chapter of the League.

Kansas also claims the first female mayor elected in the country. In 1887, Susanna Madora Salter became mayor of Argonia, Kansas, decades before women had the right to hold elected positions in America.

“Young women don’t know . . . They take their rights for granted,” said Carole Neal, voter service chair of LWV Wichita-Metro. “They may not know the history of their rights. There’s something called the ERA. Here we are in 2018 and we still don’t have it passed. I can’t believe it’s not passed today.”

Lacey Cruse, the Democratic candidate for the Sedgwick County Commission District 4 seat, spoke  about her run for office.

“Men will take a job when they’re 60 percent ready,” Cruse said. “Women will wait until they’re 100 percent and then they’ll still second-guess themselves.”

The event also hosted a number of informational tables. SheHopes.org, Trust Women, Women’s March: Air Capital, Dress for Success Wichita, and LWV Wichita-Metro, and WSU’s Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity had tables set up.

Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity member Payton Morgan reminded people that women’s rights and voter rights go hand-in-hand.

“We’re here to support women’s suffrage and empower people to get out and vote,” Morgan said. “As it says on our table ‘A voteless people is a hopeless people.'”