'Suffs' Celebrates 51 Years of Women's Equality Day

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‘Suffs’ Celebrates 51 Years of Women’s Equality Day


PUBLISHED 8/26/2024 by Jennifer Weiss-Wolf
As we honor the feminist fight for suffrage, more voters than ever can see themselves and their own life stories reflected in today’s pool of political candidates.



The cast of "Suffs" perform onstage at the Tony Awards at David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on June 16, 2024, in New York City. (Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)

Aug. 26 is Women’s Equality Day—a day to pay tribute to the hard-won fight for women’s suffrage and ratification of the 19th Amendment. The brainchild of Bella Abzug, formidable feminist organizer and federal lawmaker from New York, the holiday was proposed in 1971, and in 1973 Abzug pressed Congress to pass a joint resolution creating a national holiday. At the same time, Abzug and others—Ms. cofounder Gloria Steinem, Shirley Chisolm and Fannie Lou Hamer among them—joined forces to form the National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC). Both endeavors were laser-focused on the urgent need for fair political representation: that “legal, economic and social equity would come about only when women were equally represented among the nation’s political decision-makers,” as per the NWPC archives.


Keynote speakers at the opening of the National Women’s Political Caucus—Betty Smith of the Wisconsin GOP; Dorothy Haener of the United Automobile Workers Union; Fannie Lou Hamer, civil rights leader from Mississippi; and Gloria Steinem—on July 10, 1971. (Bettmann Archives/ Getty Images)

This year, we commemorate the 51st anniversary of Women’s Equality Day with perhaps more optimistic urgency than ever before. One in which we are just 71 days out from the opportunity to elect the first woman to serve as president. One in which we are witnessing the real-time ascent of the next generation of political leadership—a diverse slate of candidates that includes men and women of color, LGBTQ+ people and young leaders. One in which more voters than ever can see themselves and their own life stories reflected in the pool of candidates from which to have to choose. Amid the buzz, there has been an overt, palpable melding of pop culture and politics. That includes on Broadway, where the two-time Tony Award winning show, Suffs, tells the story of the fight for women’s suffrage—and all the humanity and perfectly imperfect organizing strategies of the cadre of activists who won the right to vote for women—in song.



Lyrics from the show made their way to the campaign trail.

At the Democratic National Convention, Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton bookended her remarks with lyrics from the show. She began her speech thundering from the stage, “The story of my life and the history of our country is that progress is possible, but not guaranteed. We have to fight for it and never, ever give up,” and closed her speech with, “I want my grandchildren and their grandchildren to know I was here at this moment, that we were here and that we were with Kamala Harris every step of the way.”

(Cue the Suff soundtrack, “Keep Marching” and “The March/We Demand Equality.” And, no, it is not just because these are addictively catchy tunes; Clinton is a co-producer of the show, together with Malala Yousafzai.)

In New York City, a post-Suffs celebrity roll call of each state that ratified the 19th Amendment. (Jennifer Weiss-Wolf)

. . . .


Bella Abzug and Gloria Steinem at the United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing on Aug. 21, 1995. (Tom Allen / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Suffs producers Jill Furman and Rachel Sussman are proud of the way the show reflects the real-time political moment. “It is incredible that we get to celebrate this anniversary with our audiences,” they said in a statement.” The suffragists, some of whom are depicted in our show, paved the way for Kamala Harris, for Hillary Clinton, for Sonia Sotomayor, and for all the powerful women in government that get to hold office today. It’s an honor to share their stories and encourage audience members who are inspired by their achievements to get out there and vote this fall.”

https://msmagazine.com/2024/08/26/suffs-womens-equality-day-voting-history-suffrage/