 Good evening. I'm Deborah Stiedelf-Wall, Deputy Archivist of the United States, and I'm delighted to welcome you to tonight's panel discussion, Women's Suffrage Centennial, Impact and Legacy. We're presenting this program in partnership with the 2020 Women's Vote Centennial Initiative with support from the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial, the National Women's History Alliance, the National Women's History Museum, and the National Collaborative for Women's History sites. We thank them all for their support. I was honored to serve on the Congressional Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission and to be part of the National Archives' Commemoration of the 19th Amendment. We and other institutions across the country promoted the centennial observance with a wide assortment of programs and events, rising to the challenge of creating a meaningful commemoration in the middle of a pandemic. Our own numerous programs included discussions and film screenings, participation in the Forward into Light celebration on Women's Equality Day, our centerpiece exhibit, Rightfully Hers, American Women and the Vote, and related traveling exhibits and pop-up displays. Now, I'm pleased to introduce Nancy Tate, who since 2015 has served as the co-chair of the 2020 Women's Vote Centennial Initiative. She's also on the boards of the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial and the National Women's History Alliance. And from 2002-2015, she served as the executive director of the League of Women Voters of the United States. Nancy? Thank you. It's wonderful to be doing another program with our longtime partner, the National Archives. I'm Nancy Tate, as noted, the co-chair of the 2020 Women's Vote Centennial Initiative, or simply WVCI, and I'm also the former executive director of the League of Women Voters of the United States. The League is one of the founders of WVCI, which we created in 2015. We're an information-sharing collaborative made up of many women's organizations and scholars around the country with three key purposes. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, and I must say, this being August 18th, it actually is the 101st celebration of gratification in Tennessee. We wanted to shed light, though, on the larger, powerful story of what it took for women to win that constitutional right to vote. And we wanted to do it in a way that would shed light on many previously unfold stories and uncomfortable truths. The League was founded in 1920 by Kerry Chapman-Cat, the leader of the National American Women's Suffrage Association. So that means, for the League of Women Voters, 2020 was also its 100th anniversary. At this point, we have nearly 800 leagues and every state around the country, and we continue to do the work of the suffragists to continue the fight for full equality for all, which the League does through both education and advocacy. WVCI has focused on several different initiatives in its last six years. First, we worked to create and connect networks of interested organizations and individuals around the country, encouraging them to promote and share their activities, commemorating women's fight for the vote. And I'm happy to say that many, many organizations around the country did that, and it's been very impressive. We also co-sponsored a beautiful hardcover book, A Vote for Women, celebrating the Women's Suffrage Movement and the 19th Amendment, which can be a purchase at a reduced price from the National Women's History Alliance, but is also available on Amazon and other commercial sites. And we have been providing educational programs in Washington, DC, such as this one with the National Archives. So what was primarily a local event is now a national event thanks to the beauty of Zoom. Celebrating the Women's Suffrage. Tonight's move program is the last one in our series of Women in the Vote. But this program and the one we did in May have a different focus from our previous ones. Now we are looking at and focusing on the suffrage centennial itself as it and its commemorations become part of history. What is its legacy? What difference has all the public attention to this struggle and to this achievement? What difference has it made in terms of raising public awareness of women's fight for equality and continued fights for equality? Or on the telling of history? Or on inspiring others to continue work still to be done? The long struggle for women's right to vote is a powerful historical story that still resonates today. And fuller understanding of it can be used to enhance understanding of our world and how to improve it. So I'm pleased to introduce tonight's panel. All these panelists are engaged in many other pursuits, but I only have time to highlight the suffrage related credentials, which are quite impressive. Our moderator is Colleen Shogan, former Vice Chair of the Federal Congressional Chartered Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission. And Paige Harrington, author of Interpreting the Legacy of Women's Suffrage at Museums and Historic Sites. And Karen Hill, Executive Director of the Harriet Tubman House. Rebecca Roberts, co-author of the Suffragist Playbook, Your Guide to Changing the World. And Shannon Browning Mullis, Executive Director of the Juliet Gordon Low Birthplace, which is the home of the founder of the Girl Scouts of America. So with that, Colleen, I turn it over to you. Thank you so much, Nancy. And thank you so much, Nancy and Deb. Not sure. I'm honored to moderate this panel of accomplished women who each played significant roles in the commemoration of women's suffrage of the women's suffrage centennial in 2020. My name is Colleen Shogan, and I served as the Vice Chair of the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission, which was a commission created by Congress to help coordinate and organize the activities of the centennial year. Of course, like everyone, our commission had to deal with a real curveball due to the pandemic. In March of 2020, the commission and its excellent staff had to switch course and adapt many of our planned programs and activities. We made a conscious shift in the commission to legacy projects. What I mean by legacy projects are historical markers, statues, monuments, sites, or installations that would have permanency beyond 2020. I truly think this strategic decision was beneficial for the long term. Some highlights of the commission included providing additional support for the Turning Point Suffrage Memorial in Virginia, now completed and located near the site of the former Lorton Prison. We provided thousands of books about women's suffrage to libraries that really could benefit from our donation. We also supported the suffrage badge with the Girl Scouts, which I'm sure we'll talk about today. We created two podcasts about the history of women's suffrage movement that will last for a considerable period of time. We helped to support the construction of historic markers across the country related to the history of women's suffrage. And we successfully lobbied, including a personal lobby by myself and commission Executive Director Anna Lehmann to the President of the United States, so that we could build a monument to be constructed in Washington DC commemorating women's suffrage. And that was really an interesting story and maybe we can talk about that later. Other initiatives are also worth mentioning. A favorite was the Project 19 Skydivers who executed several amazing jumps during the centennial year and will attempt to set a world record this fall. States held ratification celebrations and commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of the amendment's passage. Federal institutions, including the Library of Congress, are hosts the National Archives and the Smithsonian held exhibits to promote their collections concerning the history of women's suffrage. Public art was constructed across the United States and over 100 books were published on women's suffrage and voting. In short, it was a terrific year from the efforts at the commission level to the states and localities and other organizations that help commemorate the anniversary. So now I would like to turn our conversation to our panelists today, who are all leaders in various centennial activities. So let's start with Paige Harrington, who is the author of Interpreting the Legacy of Women's Suffrage at Museums and Historic Sites. Paige, can you tell us a little bit about your book and why it's important to think critically about how we approach the story of women's suffrage at museums and other historical locations. What did we learn from the centennial and how will that affect future interpretation? Hi Colleen, thank you so much. And thanks to WVCI and the National Archive as well for inviting me and the rest of the speakers here tonight. I look forward to this what will be I'm certain a wonderful conversation with my colleagues. So the book is interesting it comes out on September 15 so it is not quite out yet. It started really as an idea when I was the executive director of the Sewell Belmont House Museum, which is on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. For those of you who know the museum, it is it was the fifth and final headquarters for the National Women's Party, which was a prominent organization that worked for suffrage. In 2016, it was designated by President Obama as the Belmont Paul Women's Equality National Monument. And I was the director there from 2008 until 2017. And so it was a good nine year span where I was able to learn more about the suffrage movement, invite people in the public, certainly lots of school groups came through to talk about suffrage. And one of the things that I heard most often was one, how come I never learned this in school? And that came from most of the adults, I will say. And then second, as they would look around and see the photos and the exhibits of all of the suffragists, they would say, were they all white? Where were the women of color? And I can honestly say, Mia Culpa, we were not at that time doing a very good job at sharing the full story. So I think one of the most important pieces that will contribute to the legacy of the 2020 Centennial is that that is now expected for any museum, for any author, for any exhibit, we tell the full story. So I think we've made a lot of progress. The book is, as the title infers, it is for museum practitioners and those who work at historic sites. It is also though for people who are interested in history and learning a little bit more about the previous celebrations. So the book starts with taking a look back at the 25th anniversary, the 50th anniversary, and then the 75th anniversary. And then I really talk about how the changes culturally, politically, socially, how the changes from those previous decades really impacted the suffrage, whatever the suffrage commemoration was at that time. So it's, you know, there was a lot of difference between 1920 and 1945. And again, between 1970. And now here we are 2021. And we're talking about the changes between 1995, which was the 75th and 2020 for the Centennial. So it's an interesting look back. But I advocate for a few things. First is to expand the timeline. So when we're talking about suffrage, in most cases, or I will say traditionally, organizations and people tend to start with 1848, which of course was Seneca Falls and the Women's Convention, and then end at 1920, which was the ratification of the 19th Amendment. So I and many other people advocate for really extending that timeline. So one of the things that I made sure to put in the book is a detailed chronology, a very, it's a very lengthy timeline about all of the historic moments for American history and how they interrelate to women's rights, women's suffrage, and the history that we're looking at. So I started in 1787, talked about the Constitution and went all the way through to 2021 with the election of Kamala Harris. So it's a it's a very broad, not not an abbreviated history anymore. It's a full history. And the second thing that I really, and I touched on this when I said before, I really advocate and really make the case for making sure that we're talking about the full story. And this means, of course, the many, many, many women of color who were involved in the suffrage movement, women like Mary Church Terrell, Mary Louise Botno, Baldwin, Nina Otero-Warren, they're simply too many to mention. But the other piece of this in telling the full story is really also discussing the bias and even the systemic racism that allowed the suffrage movement to be to be a controversial, I will say, storyline. So it is not about, I will clarify, though, what it is not about is saying this person is bad or their actions were bad or this person is good because they never did anything wrong. It's not about that. It's really about having conversations and learning more about the context in which these historical actors that we go back and research, it really is talking about what was their culture and social lifelike and how did they form their opinions and what did they think about and how did they impact the suffrage movement? I know some people say it's complicated. We don't need to get into that. And I certainly, as the director of the museum, had heard that from from lots of people, visitors and lots of other people. But what I've said continually is, as long as humans are complicated, our history is going to be complicated. So it really doesn't serve any actual purpose to consider saying to continue saying things like, well, she was just a product of her time and that was common, you know, during that era, which both are true. And yet we can dig a little bit deeper and talk about why and what were the what were the systems, the policies, the communities, the laws that were in place that really did impact the women of color much more than the white women who were suffragists. So I'll leave it at that. That's kind of a snippet. I did say it will be out on September 15th. And thank you very much for letting me tell you a little bit about it. It's Roman in Littlefield and American Association for State and Local History. It'll be available on those websites as well as Amazon. Terrific. I'd like to bring Karen Hill into this conversation. Karen was a fellow commissioner, along with me, who served on the women suffrage commission, but she's also the executive director of the Harriet Tuffin House. And Karen, can you talk to us a little bit about how how did you think this centennial previous highlighted previously untold stories, particularly about women in color? How was how were different organizations, including the commission able to do that? And can you evaluate for us what was done well and what could be have done been done better? Mm hmm. So so hi, Colleen. So good to see you again. You know, I've been thinking about this over the last few days. This is this is not an easy discussion for me to participate in, to be very honest and frank about it. I felt that unfortunately, the pandemic certainly curtailed a lot of the things that we wanted to do to amplify how complicated the history of suffrage has been and is in this country. But when I think about the commission, the Congressional Charter Commission to commemorate the 100th anniversary, I honestly felt that yourself, Deborah Wall and I think it's Jaleesa from the Smithsonian did an incredible job in keeping keeping the politics out of it and really steering the ship for the purpose purposes of having sort of a documented case for what we did do and what we try to do and what the facts were. Having said that, I felt that the commission was not nearly as effective pre-pandemic as it could have been in amplifying the the history of women of color, how they were summarily dismissed throughout the women's movement. And let me just for full disclosure on the president and CEO, the Harriet Tubman Home, which is a national historical park. I am also a full member of Delta Sigma Theta, the sorority that fully participated with with the suffrage movement in the very important parade as it was called then in 19 1913. And so I come at this from having to sort of live in this space all the time as a leader responsible for carrying for Harriet Tubman's legacy. And she moved to Auburn, which is about 20 miles from Seneca Falls in 1849, one year after the establishment. And she dealt with the complexity of race and how race impacts all of what we do. And frankly, before I deal with the race issue, let me say I felt that the commission should have done a much better job in amplifying the historic number of women that we elected to Congress in Colleen helped me the day was in 2018. You know, that was a real moment to have 100 plus women in national elected office. And I don't think because we stayed away from any kind of political concern, we didn't amplify that. I felt in a way that encouraged all women at all levels to know that they should fully participate. And then it was there's so many relationships that are in the leadership that are so complicated that we need to amplify and we need to really, really dig into what really happened. For instance, the relationship between Elizabeth Katie Stan and Frederick Douglass, extremely complicated. And I think again, I keep mentioning Colleen, but I thank Colleen for all the work that she did with sort of helping us to deal with that that nexus because Stanton really called other all other people of color, Sambo, which is, you know, it's a negative. It's an insult. And she thought that Frederick Douglass was the one good black whom she knew. And he told her what was wrong with that. But yet he tolerated all of her derisive kinds of behaviors. And many of the people in my community flat out call her a racist, even for all the good work she did in suffrage that she was a racist. But he they were very good friends in spite of that. So I think they're valuable lessons to learn about that because he was lodged in her home for a period of time. And when she died, he did her eulogy. So there was and that was her choice. So there was an endearing relationship, but there was one where she was just tone deaf to the two Americas original sin of racism and where does race sit? So I think that that's something that really has to be reckoned with. And I have to say, I don't think I can participate in women's groups without really saying we've got to really hold, you know, come to to grips with this. I mean, to be very honest, we when the monument, which was not sponsored by our Commission per se, but in Central Park, there had been no statues of women. And then there was the determination that there would be a statue of women, and it was originally going to be Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Katie Stanton. But at the last moment, they decided that that was not inclusive enough. So they included Sojourner Truth and all of that. Now, a lot of money had to go into that. You know, over a million and a half dollars had to be on deposit with the Conservancy and to make sure that the upkeep of the statue and then they had the names of all the other sufferers that they identified at that time so that they could show to the public that Sojourner Truth stood there with Elizabeth Katie Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. And you might want to say that's great. Now we have women, you know, statuary in the renowned Central Park, except for me as an African American woman, when I heard that there were no statues of women, I honestly said, well, at least that's one thing that women got right until I found out that they were going to go ahead with the statue because the land on which Central Park is built, that used to be the only place where it was legal for people of African descent to own property in New York City. And that was Seneca Village. And so there are lots of this, you know, there's still a lot of concern about that and there's still issues about reparations related to the land being taken away. Now, though the houses were not beautiful, there are all kinds of problems, but it was the only place where it was legal for blacks to own property and it was taken away to make way for the Olmstead Design Park. So I think with our history and I credit Senator Barbara Mikulski to really who always encouraged the commission to kind of look at the underbelly, to really know all the story, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And, you know, yes, we should lift up everything that has been done in the past 100 years, but I really honestly and truly feel that there's so much more work to do so that suffrage or the act of inclusion and enfranchising all people to get to the ballot box and knowing that every vote matters is so important. I don't want to take up a lot of time, but in September a very good friend of mine, Dr. K. Clifford Larson, is coming out with a book, Walk With Me, which is a biography of Fannie Lou Hamer in a different way and talks about her her struggles. I recommend that. And then I, you know, not in this form, but in a form there has to be, you know, Sojourner Truth changed her name from Isabella Bumfrey at the altar of the Mother Church of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church from Isabella Bumfrey to Sojourner Truth. Harriet Tubman visited many societies and she chose the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church as her faith where she would have her membership and where she participated fully. And Frederick Douglass gained his preaching credentials at the A&E Zion Church of New Bedford, Massachusetts. It is not coincidental that these people who all participated fully in the suffrage movement chose what is known historically as the freedom church and the freedom and that's the A&E Zion Church, which had a large social justice agenda. So I think that there needs to be some concentration on that. But more particularly and more recently, I was at a meeting where most of the delegates to the meeting were women and there were three women vying for office and there were maybe a half dozen men also vying for office and there were two positions available. No women were elected and so there's also the issue of women still not being comfortable voting for other women. And I think that that needs to be more fully explored by by the work that comes next. As for the Harriet Tubman home, the National Park, we used our naturalization ceremony in 2020 to amplify women's suffrage to let these to let our new brothers and sisters, our new Americans know that people fought very hard to have the vote and why it was important for them to participate fully. And in you know, in previous times, Nancy, the the legal women voters would used to be there, you know, to give out information to help begin the educational process. So I know I'm taking a lot of time, but I just feel as a as an African American woman, woman, I am just so not satisfied in what we did to commemorate the first 100 years. And I really truly hope that we get engaged in determining what we want the next 100 years to look like to tell the full story. And lastly, there were there was some media that was done on that a year ago today with the former president when all the commissioners were there for his signing into law, the proclamation of recognizing the 100th anniversary. But it was really hard for me, quite frankly, as a woman of color to be there. And as a long, I'm a longtime champion of fair housing and and any anything in the affordable housing space, etc. to hear the dog whistle of if people of color moved to your suburbs, how that's going to upset white America. And and the things that were said by the, you know, by our highest elected official, it seemed to undo a lot of the work that we were trying to do to really forge understandings between people. And then the media, you know, was on every network, every cable channel, I heard from people who knew me from pre K that I hadn't talked to since then, who saw that image of me standing there, who were quite confused by it. So I think we have to really have better control of media as it relates to how we amplify women in the next 100 years. And I'll stop now. Karen, that's thank you for those reflections. And I don't know if we've had a chance to actually talk since that day when we were together in the White House. And that was an extraordinary media event by the White House to promote a particular message. And and we were certainly as a commission going for appropriately to commemorate the centennial. But we found ourselves in the midst of a media event that was not of our own control of our own doing. So I, you know, I want to corroborate your account of that day. And I certainly recall the discomfort by a number of people, including myself as someone in a non partisan position to be put in that type of situation, unfortunately. But I want to talk a little bit more and then I'm going to get to Rebecca, of course, and Shannon. But Karen, it sounds like one of the things that you were concerned that you're very concerned about was there was a discussion of the role of race in the suffrage movement. But perhaps it was not, I'm trying to say it was not as in depth as what it should be. In other words, we didn't engage with it at the level in which would have caused accurate reflection in your mind. Is that, is that a safe thing to say? I think I agree with you. You know, we, we did, it was an uncomfortable time to discuss, you know, it was a little bit uncomfortableness. But for the purposes of education, I think we all felt we had to do some things. And Colleen, I thank you for your work in particular. And for the, for the video of the National Park Service that was shared with all of us. But I felt that as a commission, we did not use our own platform to really say loudly that we understood that that was a barrier. I mean, I represent Harriet Tubman's legacy and she was a property owner and how difficult it was for her to have had to make the decision to advance the right for women to get the vote knowing that it wouldn't include her in spite of her being a property owner. But she saw, you know, doing something beyond her own initial benefit was propelled her to go into those lecture halls and speak to audiences that included many African American men who had their rights to vote taken away from them as women were being franchised, black men were being disenfranchised. And I think that we just did not really, you know, explore that to the extent that we should have and where we are now. You know, I just think that there's just more work needs to be done. Right. Well, I think that's a good transition we can to Rebecca and then to Shannon because Rebecca has written a book, the suffragist playbook, and you just said something that we, you know, we could learn. We could learn from Harriet Tubman and her example and her leadership. And that's really what, you know, Rebecca tried to do in her book with Lucy Robb about some of the lessons from the suffrage movement. So given what Karen said, Rebecca, can you share with us, you know, what can young people, both boys and girls, learn from the suffrage movement? And do they have to really understand the full story of the movement in order to really take lessons from it? Thank you, Colleen. Yeah. I mean, when Lucinda and I set out to write, you know, yet another suffrage book, we specifically wanted it to be useful, almost a practical handbook for becoming an activist yourself as a young person. And then the lessons you could learn from the suffrage movement and that includes negative lessons. And so not only does whitewashing this history make a bad history, but also if you are going to kind of turn that corner from history being interesting to history being relevant, then you absolutely need to know the full story because you need to do better. And you also, I think, need to understand that heroes are flawed and they are real human beings. And so pretending there wasn't racism in the movement, pretending that, you know, Susan B Anthony was always wonderfully welcoming to Frederick Douglass or that, you know, Mary Church Terrell wasn't ignored when she was the only Black woman at Nossump conferences, is not understanding what we can learn from the history. And I think that there's also, it's interesting to hear Karen say that, you know, maybe we skimmed the surface and didn't, maybe we sort of said yes, there was racism, it was a problem, there were Black women there too, and didn't really engage with these issues. And to me, to some degree, this is a sort of broader problem within history because for so long history has been told in this sort of Hall of Fame model, right? So we hear about great men doing great things. And that's exclusionary for so many reasons, mainly because only white men had the ability to hold the positions that allowed them to do great things. So they only had the wealth and elected office and whatever else. But also it's really kind of not how change happens. It's very seldom that one, you know, extraordinary human being changes the world. And it's certainly not the way women's history happens. And it's certainly not the way the suffrage movement happened. I mean, even if you don't expand it to pages, very, you know, long time frame, even if you do 1848 to 1920, that's 72 years, that was not one person. And so, you know, even saying, well, you know, Ida B. Wells was there too, let's learn more about, you know, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, that's all important. But it's still adding to that kind of, let's learn about a few extraordinary people instead of understanding that these movements were long and slow and hard and collaborative and had wins and losses along the way and required the input and creativity of a huge variety of humans, including, you know, men. And that it is a convenient way to tell story, to highlight biography, and I completely get it as a way to engage people in the history. But it's reductive. And if one of the reasons you need to learn history is to learn from it and to do better and be inspired by it and think you can also change the world, and I 100% hope every young person does think they can change the world because they absolutely can, then you need to learn that flawed humans did it before you. And so you don't have to be someone in a generation genius. You can be just as slow to learn and confused and mistake-prone as all the rest of us, and you can still make an enormous difference. And so not only is it bad boring history to just hold up saints and pretend they're saints, saints are boring. It also really kind of leaves out anybody who might think I can do that too. Great. So I want to ask Shannon, who Shannon, you run the Julia Gordon Low Birthplace in Savannah, correct? The founder of the Girl Scouts. So I mean, what Rebecca just brought up here, this is a very, and Anne Karen, this is a very long history spanning over generations and generations. We know the women, both white and black women who started the movement, did not many of them, unfortunately, lived to see the actual passage of the 19th amendment or women actually voting after the 19th amendment into the 1960s, women of color. So how do you teach this type of history? How did you engage that type of history with Girl Scouts? And how did you present that complexity to them and how did they respond? Tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, thank you, Colleen, and thanks to the archives and their partner organizations for inviting me here and including Girl Scouts in the conversation. So you're seeing the Julia Gordon Low Birthplace there on the screen and it is the home of the founder of the Girl Scouts, Julia Gordon Low. So one of the things we teach girls is about their history, especially on this side in particular, but we do programs for girls on a variety of topics all over the country, thousands of programs a year, not just the ones that are focused on history. But for suffrage particularly, we produced a suffrage toolkit that so far has reached 50,000 girls, which we are pretty excited about. And I want to thank the suffrage commission on that note because they donated 7,000 patches and books to girls who earn this patch, which is pretty exciting and generous of them. But I think this program in this toolkit is so critical because we teach girls to develop confidence and character for the purpose of making their world a better place. So the goal of Girl Scouts is to develop leaders and we want them to think about how they can influence their world, how they can be active citizens. And in fact, being an active citizen is right at the root and foundation of Girl Scouts. Since Girl Scouts was founded in 1912, there's been a focus on civics badges, teaching girls how to contact their elected officials, how to be good community partners, how to be of service to their neighbors. So I think this really plays into the legacy that the suffrage is getting at, that the toolkit is getting at particularly. The other thing I think is really critical and it's something we've talked to a good bit about here already is that girls need to see themselves in history. And the toolkit does focus on a number of people, even though I do agree with you Rebecca, we're better off when we don't do the Hall of Fame view of history. But it is nice to identify a few leaders and it does that with white women, black women, but also indigenous and Chinese American women are highlighted to really help girls in our country think about no matter where you are and what you're facing at that moment, you can certainly be the change of the future. So we think it's really important not just to teach the history but to teach the tools. So we're teaching girls, you know, to contact your elected officials, to maybe run for office one day, to exercise franchise, and take advantage of all the opportunities they're given. So I think something that touches upon all of your discussion and all of your comments is, and I know a desire at the commission was to get as much as possible this history, the history of the suffrage movement, and hopefully a comprehensive, authoritative history of the suffrage movement, to get it into the mainstream. So get it, you know, out of women, I mean not there's anything wrong with women's history, but women's history, focus and textbooks and make sure that it's shared popularly, and that's amongst adults, that's amongst kids, students, girl scouts, boy scouts. So how did, how would we rate ourselves for the, when we look back, how well did we get this history into the mainstream in that centennial year, and what can be done differently to do that better? And this is, this is now open to the entire groups. We have Paige, we have Rebecca, Karen, Chan, and everybody can engage with this question for sure. Well I can quickly say that, you know, I told you we reached 50,000 girls with this toolkit which I think is incredible. Also have 50 million girl scout alums, and I'm not aware of any adult programming we put out, so I think we could go a step further to engage not only our current girl scouts, but to reach, reach the, to the past girl scouts as well. Karen? Well I really feel that we ought to be thinking, all the groups maybe Nancy is the, is the linchpin in all of this Nancy Tate, sort of on, sort of like what is the blueprint for the next 100 years? And put that blueprint together in a way that engages everyone, to let everyone know that there's an important role that they play in getting full participation of girls and boys of, of all eligible adults. I mean this, there's something for everyone if we really want to amplify the kernels of why these women came together for the vote. Everyone should be able to take, pull something out of that from 1848 and say okay what can I participate in now that will help make a difference? You know, and I don't think we've really done that. I know at the Tubman Park a lot of our programming, all what is going to have a common thread throughout that's, that looks at women in the next 100 years. You know, and particularly in our instance African-American women, but women in the next 100 years. Where are we now? Where do we want to be? How do we engage with men? How do we learn? You know, and I think that these are really important, the whole notion of suffrage is really important because we have the LGBTQ and non-binary community that, how do we engage with everybody? And we have to grapple with the fact that America is changing. And how do we make sure that suffrage is a part of the change that enfranchises everyone? I also think, I totally agree with Karen. I think that one of the keys to kind of tipping it out of women's history is thinking about the suffrage history as social justice history, as social change history. It's not about women fighting for women, of course it is, but it's not solely about women fighting for women. They won. They affected this massive lasting permanent change to American democracy without resorting to bloodshed. They were really good at what they did, starting from a position of absolutely no power. So whatever it is that is on your agenda, you can do a lot worse than learn from their tactics, from their tenacity, from their mistakes for sure. I mean, I promise you, if you go down to Lafayette Square right now, there's someone standing there with a picket sign. Feel free to remind them the suffrage just did it first, right? It's not just about, let's remember, that women are important in American history. It's this massive social justice history that anyone now, with whatever agenda they have, absolutely will be better at their activism if they know this history. I would agree. I would agree. And let me say, Karen, I so appreciate your comments and your reflections on the centennial year. One of the things that I learned from looking back, of course, at the 25th, the 50th, and the 75th is that, as I said earlier, it's the culture and the politics and the social impact of how communities and cultures change over time. And that really does set the stage for the next anniversary. So I look at it and say, I think we've come quite a bit further than we were in 1995, absolutely. But I think 2025 or 2045, hopefully, will look a lot different than 2020. Hopefully we will be able to make even more progress. And I think, you know, Shannon talking about the 50,000 girls that the GSUSA toolkit has reached, that's unbelievable because just like Rebecca said, you're training these new, you're educating and training a whole other generation of kids to learn from the history, to be excited about the history, to see themselves in the history, and then to take it to the next step, which is, as a girl, I would want to say, what can I do to impact the history myself? So it's kind of taking that very next step. I think there were a couple of things, one in particular that no one has mentioned so far. The National Collaborative for Women's History site sponsored a national vote for Women's Trail. And that was cosponsored, I know by the commission, I know the Palmyra Foundation was involved in that as well. But there are, and I was meant to look it up before, but I know there are absolutely hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of new markers that have gone across the country with the understanding that these are noting local women for local history. So it's not just the top players, it's not just Alice Paul, it's not just Carrie Chapmancat, it's not just Susan B. Anthony, the names that you hear a lot about. It's the women of color, it's the women in different socioeconomic communities doing their part, and now they're recognized across the country. It's got a wonderful interactive website for anybody who wants to take a look at it. But I look at it and say we're already further than we were, much further than we were in 1995, for that celebration, now given and to absolutely to Karen's point, we have a long way to go. And yet I think having looked at all of the celebrations, I think this one will have a lasting legacy and a lasting impact, and I'm excited to see where girls take it from here. So that's my final question for the panel, exactly how you finished that answer their page, which is if we had to assess, you know, we've looked backwards a little bit for the past year and that's fair, and given I think maybe a rigorous assessment for the centennial commemoration, celebration, but let's look forward, let's look, you know, into the future and think about that. What is, what activities, what should we continue, what will be the legacy, what will be the lasting impact, and if you had to say something to the women who are going to be planning the, I guess, the 125th or the 150th anniversary or commemoration of the 19th amendment, what advice would you give them? I'll dive into that one. In addition to all the things that we have talked about of making, telling a fuller story and making sure that, you know, the good, bad, and ugly are all included, I think treating the ratification of the 19th amendment as a finish line is a mistake. It is just one step and a very, very long ladder, and I think it's a mistake, both in terms of assuming that, all right, we're all set, women have full citizenship, yay, it's all, you know, there's nothing else we need to consider now that the amendment's been ratified, but I also think it's a mistake in terms of learning the lessons of the activism because if, if you tell a contemporary activist it's going to take 72 years to get your thing done and you have to have a constitutional amendment to do it, that ignores all the steps along the way, right, so all the things that happened between Seneca Falls and the ratification, all the rights for married women holding property, divorce reform, child labor reform, women having more access to higher education, women having more access to different professions, and then all the steps that have happened since then, and so I think that we just need to see this as a continuum and understand that there's always more to do, but also look back and stop to make sure you recognize what has already been accomplished. Well, for me, I think I agree with everything that Rebecca has said, but I honestly come to this discussion feeling like my right, I never thought that, I remember when the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965, I was a young girl then, I never thought that while we're trying to deal this issue of women and suffrage specifically, that the whole of our whole participation as a citizen is called into question and how we have access to the ballot box. I never, this is very painful for me. I can't participate in the discussion that just talks about women's suffrage without saying there's a whole slew of people out there that feel very vulnerable and at risk now because their rights are being very much so threatened in terms of their ability to participate. So, you know, the historian part of me understands that, but the Karen that stood with John Lewis the last time he was on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, I can't do that. I can't participate unless we're going to have really have a mass mobilization of full rights for people. I mean, this is critically important. You know, I think of how fragile our democracy is, you know, and that's we've all had to deal with that these last several months. And I think of how fragile still it is for people who had to pay a poll tax, people who had to count jelly beans, people, you know, people who went through something that I didn't go through that we could be thrown back to those days again, which makes the whole notion of women's suffrage sort of a subset of a larger conversation of incredible need for the mobilization of all freedom loving people, people of good will to understand that our democracy needs our full participation. Yeah, yeah, I wholeheartedly agree with all of these comments. I think Rebecca, as you said, you know, really expanding it and making sure that so expanding it and make sure that everyone understands the depth of this history. I think that's incredibly important. And to your point, Karen, the reason that I put the expanded chronology in the book is because I wanted people to have in black and white right there in front of them, I wanted them to have dates so that they could see when various people in various communities received the right to vote and when it was taken away and then possibly it was given back. I wanted them to be able to track that because suffrage is critical and incredibly important and yet, like you said, it's only a small piece of the story. As we talk about becoming activists, as we talk about becoming American citizens who are fighting for our democracy, we need to, as you said, Karen, really make sure that we understand our history so that we can understand what's still left to be done and then get the next generation involved in that and keep it moving forward. I think that would be a tremendous legacy of the hundredth anniversary is to really be able to sit down and think about, well, what haven't we done yet? And then start working on it. I think that would be wonderful. Shannon? Of course, I can't disagree with any of those sentiments. For the next hundred years, I would love to see us treat this as more of a workshop than a celebration. There's certainly plenty to celebrate, but there's also plenty to learn and there are plenty of issues for us to continue to tackle with those lessons and those tools that we learn. I would certainly say that the absolute most important way that we can commemorate suffrage is to ensure that every adult citizen in this country has the right to vote and is freely able to vote without unreasonable barriers to them doing so. But I can also end my comment on a note of hope for everybody because I deal with girls every day and I can tell you that the girls coming up today care deeply. They're enthusiastic. They get it. They want to make their communities a better place and they are looking for the tools and the voices and the empowerment to do that. And we're certainly there to help them with that, but I encourage everybody else who's listening to this to think of the girls in your life and how you can empower them. Maybe it's with the books that these wonderful panelists have written, but what can we do to give the next generation the reins and the tools they need to take it on? And Shannon, if someone wants access to the suffrage toolkit that the Girl Scouts provided, is that still available? It is still available and we will put the link in the chat. Terrific and of course Paige's book, Rebecca's book, and all the work that Karen has been doing with the Harriet Tubman site. I mean, you know, this is a really a collective conglomeration of women who are really striving to make that legacy happen. So I appreciate your time this evening and I also want to thank Nancy Tate for organizing this conversation, pulling everybody together and getting us organized on this day to have this conversation. And of course, the National Archives for hosting it and my friend Debra Wall, the deputy archivist for hosting us. So we're able to really look back and reflect critically, not just patting ourselves on the back, but looking back with a critical eye and figuring out really the best way to move forward. And I appreciate that conversation that we had this evening. So thank you very much.