Voting is crucial to democracy | Columnists | chronicleonline.com

Voting is crucial to democracy | Columnists | chronicleonline.com

Voting is crucial to democracy

• Kathy Dobronyi Special to the Chronicle
 
• Mar 20, 2020 Updated Mar 20, 2020
 
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•  3 min to read

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In May 1851, African-American abolitionist Sojourner Truth spoke at a women’s rights convention in Akron, Ohio. During her famous speech on the abolition of slavery and the promotion of women’s rights, Truth allegedly bared her breast and proclaimed, “Ain’t I a woman?”

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All countries are stronger and fairer when all citizens have the right to vote. The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on Aug. 18, 1920, prohibiting state and federal governments from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex.

Prior to 1776, white women had the right to vote in several of the American colonies, but by 1807, every state constitution denied even limited suffrage for this group. In a desire to define women’s right to vote, the Seneca Falls convention in 1848 met to “discuss the social, civil, and religious rights of women.” Signed by 68 women and 32 men attending the convention, the Declaration of Sentiments resolved that “it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.” No Black women attended the convention. None were invited.

Lucretia Mott, a key leader in the early U.S. women’s suffrage movement, was deeply impacted by the women of the Seneca Nation, one of the six tribes in the Iroquois Confederacy. They had significant political power to choose and remove chiefs and veto acts of war. Even under this influence, when the 19th Amendment passed in time for the 1920 presidential election allowing

26 million American women to legally vote, women of the Seneca Nation along with other Native American women, African American women, Hispanic American women, and Asian American women were not in the number.

On Feb. 2, 1848, the United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending a two-year war between the neighboring countries. The treaty added a vast tract of land in the Southwest. The treaty also extended U.S. citizenship to Mexicans living in the newly acquired territories. All residents had one year to choose whether they wanted American or Mexican citizenship. More than 90% chose American citizenship.

In May 1851, African-American abolitionist Sojourner Truth spoke at a women’s rights convention in Akron, Ohio. During her famous speech on the abolition of slavery and the promotion of women’s rights, Truth allegedly bared her breast and proclaimed, “Ain’t I a woman?” According to historian Nell Painter, this dramatic act never happened the way portrayed in a story crafted by convention organizer Frances Dana Gage that was told 12 years later.

When the 15th Amendment passed on Feb. 26, 1869, and ratified Feb. 3, 1870, giving African-American men the right to vote, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony stated that “black men should not receive the vote before white women.” Instead of securing “Equal Rights to all American citizens, especially the right of suffrage, irrespective of race, color or sex,” their followers focused on the voting rights of white women.

In the the post-Reconstruction era, African-American suffragists such as Sojourner Truth and Ida B. Wells-Barnett were key figures advocating for African Americans the right to vote in political elections (suffrage) and the rights of citizens to political and social freedom and equality (civil rights).

Tensions between African-American and white suffragists persisted, even after the National American Woman Suffrage Association was formed in 1890. By the early 1900s, white suffragists often adopted strategies designed to appease the Southern states at the expense of African-American women and men.

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ratified in 1868 granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States including former slaves, Hispanics in the Southwest, and Native Americans. It also guaranteed all citizens male and female “equal protection of the laws.” Although the 14th Amendment guaranteed the vote, the Supreme Court ruled in 1876 that Native Americans were not citizens as defined by that law. In 1890, the Indian Naturalization Act granted citizenship after their applications were approved. This process was similar to immigrant naturalization. Native-American males could also earn citizenship by serving in the military during World War I.

Native American women played a vital role in passing the 19th Amendment, but they didn’t receive the right to vote until June 24, 1924, with the passing of the Indian Citizenship Act. Just as African Americans were prevented from voting by state laws and policies, many Native Americans were effectively barred from voting until 1948.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was an immigration law passed in 1882 preventing Chinese laborers from immigrating to the United States. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first immigration law that excluded an entire ethnic group. It also excluded Chinese nationals for United States citizenship. Mabel Lee was among the many Chinese women who led suffrage marches in New York prior to 1920, but didn’t benefit from the 19th Amendment until the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed and Chinese immigrants, including women, were allowed to naturalize and become citizens.

As we celebrate the centennial of the 19th Amendment centennial, please remember that many women disenfranchised before and after the law passed are still fighting for the right to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped strengthen the voting rights of citizens in every state. However, the act is no longer fully intact. In 2013, the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder dismantled one of its key provisions requiring states with a history of racial bias in voting get federal permission before passing new voting laws.

Just before the 2018 midterm elections, North Dakota’s Supreme Court ruled in favor to disenfranchise Native American voters and violated both state and federal constitutions as well as the Voting Rights Act. This state voter ID laws requires voters to present identification listing their residential street address — a substantial hurdle for many Native Americans living on reservations, because the state has failed to assign residential street addresses to homes on tribal lands.

Voting is a right that enables both men and women of all races and creeds to choose the government that best represents them. Voting is crucial to the democratic process that secures liberty and justice for all. Let’s celebrate the importance of voting for all United States citizens.

Kathy Dobronyi was teaching at Baboquivari High School on the Tohono O’odham reservation in Arizona when she learned that the 19th Amendment did not apply to Native Americans in the United States until 1948. She has long been an advocate for voting rights for all citizens.