The First State is setting up a series of events to mark next year’s centenial anniversary of women's voting rights.
The Delaware Heritage Commission is planning the festivities along with a subcommittee appointed by the governor and House and Senate leaders.
Delaware State University’s Director of Government and Community Relations Jackie Griffith chairs the subcommittee. She said they’re gathering historical documentation of the Delaware Suffrage movement.
“We have copies of letters that women wrote the governor during that time who were opposed to women voting and those who were supportive of women voting," she said. "So we have copies of those letters as well.”
The celebration will also highlight the role of black suffragettes. Griffith said DSU alumna Reba Hollingsworth and members of her sorority marched in D.C. for the right to vote.
Griffith said some of the plans under discussion include a monument at Legislative Hall and an event on Sept. 26th.
“There will be a monument placed at like Legislative Hall," she said. "So on the 26th, we haven’t finalized everything, but it won’t be a parade, it’ll be more like a march.”
Delaware lawmakers passed a state Equal Rights Amendment, which prevents discrimination based on gender, to the state Constitution earlier this year.
