Under a canopy of Pepper and Redwood Trees, Rolling Hills Estates Mayor, Britt Huff, leaned into the microphone to get everyone’s attention as Girl Scout Troops 12345 and 7055 presented a Flag Salute and then led the Pledge of Allegiance. Roughly sixty people gathered the morning of August 26th, 2023 to witness the unveiling of a new plaque at City Hall dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment which reads, in a succinct twenty-eight words, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” And with that, most* women in the US, some four decades after the amendment was first proposed, gained the right to vote.

Originally, the plaque dedication was to be held in 2020 but that, and so many other things, got put on hold as we all dealt with the onset of the global COVID pandemic. Despite the delay, the ceremony Saturday morning was no less poignant. Mayor Huff led off the presentation with a nod to history and the tale of how a young state representative, Harry T. Burn, spurred on by a lecture from his mother, shattered the status quo and provided the critical vote in the Tennessee legislature to approve the amendment, making Tennessee the 36th state and final necessary vote for federal passage.

The path to the 19th Amendment began at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 which advertised itself as a “convention to discuss the social, civil and religious condition and rights of women.” Led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, the gathering in Seneca Falls featured heated debates and passionate oratory regarding the rights of women in the newly “United States” which, had been, as one could argue today, actually declining since many of the first settlements had previously allowed women to vote. The Seneca Falls Convention spurred other such conventions in the eastern states, but the expansion westward seemed to be the driving force behind the furtherance of women’s rights in the post-Reconstruction era. Perhaps it was the grit and determination it took to carve out a living on the treacherous march westward, demonstrating women’s abilities to the men around them, or perhaps it was inspiration from the strong roles women held in some of the surrounding Native Territories, but by the time Tennessee tipped the vote in 1920, all of the western states had previously granted women the right to vote.

Many civic leaders from around the Peninsula and Beach Cities were on hand to witness the dedication, including State Senator Ben Allen and Assemblymember Al Muratsachi, who both spoke movingly about the need to continue to engage in the fight to ensure free and fair elections, where all US citizens feel their voices can be heard. The Co-Presidents of the League of Women Voters for the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Linda Herman and Janet MacLeod, also spoke on the history of suffrage efforts in the US and the important role the League of Women Voters (www.lwv.org) has played. Founded in Chicago in 1920 by leaders in the women’s suffrage movement, the LWV is a non-partisan, grassroots organization dedicated to the cause of participatory democracy, and both Herman and MacLeod eloquently outlined how progress towards equality requires historical perspective and constant determination and unity.

The plaque that will grace the serene courtyard of Rolling Hills City Hall is a reminder of the battles long fought for and won in securing women that most important civic duty, the right to vote. And it stands as inspiration for those of us today, and generations to come, to hold fast to those achievements while continuing to strive for liberty and justice, for all.