- We're here from the Girl
Scouts of Northeast Texas
to earn the Texas Women's
Right to Vote patch.
This year we're celebrating
the 100th anniversary
of women's suffrage with
this special patch program.
We have really great information,
some fun games for you to play,
and be sure you stay tuned
all the way through to
the end of the video
for a fun game that you can play
with your family and friends at home.
- Hi, I'm Stacy and I'm a
Girl Scout in Dallas, Texas.
- Hi, I'm Hillary.
I'm also a Girl Scout in Dallas, Texas.
- Because we're Girl Scouts,
let's start today's program
with the Promise and Law.
The Girl Scout Promise.
- [Hillary And Stacy] On my honor,
I will try to serve God and my country,
to help people at all times,
and to live by the Girl Scout Law.
- [Stacy] The Girl Scout Law.
- [Stacy And Hillary] I will do my best
to be honest and fair,
friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring,
courageous and strong,
and responsible for what I say and do,
and to respect myself and others,
respect authority, use resources wisely,
make the world a better place,
and be a sister to every Girl Scout.
- [Stacy] Today we're talking about
the importance of the suffrage movement.
- What is women's suffrage?
- [Stacy] That means 100 years ago
our mothers, grandmothers,
and great-grandmothers
fought for our right to vote.
- [Hillary] To help you
earn this patch today,
we're going to highlight
some incredible women
that played an integral
part in women's suffrage,
talk about the unique role
Texas played in the movement,
learn more about voting today,
and share the importance of voting
with our friends and family.
Don't forget to watch all the way through
to the end of the video
to involve your friends
and family in all the fun.
- [Stacy] Our country
was built on a document
we know as the US Constitution.
The Constitution established this country
as a democracy, identified by the phrase,
one person, one vote.
Yet, the framework of our government
did not originally give the
right to vote to everyone.
When the US Constitution
was drafted in Philadelphia
in 1787, women were not included
in the debates and discussions
of how to govern the country.
Participation in this new democracy
did not extend past the white men
who qualified by meeting
various religious,
property, and tax-paying criteria.
- [Hillary] The first
women's rights convention
was held in 1848 in
Seneca Falls, New York.
Originally known as the
women's rights convention,
the Seneca Falls Convention
fought for social, civil, and
religious rights of women.
The meeting was held from
July 19th to July 20th
in 1848 at the Wesleyan Chapel
in Seneca Falls, New York.
- [Stacy] Women and men came
together at this convention
and used the words of the
Declaration of Independence
to demand that women be
afforded the right to vote.
- [Hillary] Susan B. Anthony,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Lucretia Mott, and Frederick Douglass
were some of the prominent
names responsible
for these initial actions.
The 68 women and 32 men
who signed their names
to this document became the foundation
of the suffrage movement.
- [Stacy] Black men were
granted the right to vote
in 1870 with the ratification
of the 15th Amendment.
But black women were denied this right
until the passing of the
19th Amendment in 1920.
Now, there were a ton
of women who protested,
marched, participated
in civil disobedience
and contributed to the other ways
to help give women the right to vote.
But we don't have time to
talk about all of them today.
Today, we're gonna highlight
three amazing trailblazers
in the movement.
Do you know what a trailblazer is?
- [Hillary] A trailblazer means someone
who created a new path.
In this instance, we're
talking about women
who created a path for women's voices
to be represented in our country.
First up is Susan B. Anthony.
- [Stacy] Susan B. Anthony was a teacher,
a speaker, and activist
for women's rights,
especially women's right to vote.
She was born 200 years ago in 1820.
She was raised in a Quaker family,
which is a type of Christianity
that teaches equal
rights for men and women.
- [Hillary] Susan took her
first job as a teacher,
but when she realized that women
were being paid less than men,
she quit to go and advocate
for women's rights.
To advocate means to stand
up for a cause or an issue.
- [Stacy] Susan traveled
all over the country
speaking in support of women's suffrage,
giving as many as 75 to
100 speeches each year.
People didn't always agree with her.
In fact, some people even yelled at her,
interrupted her, and
even threw eggs at her.
But Susan never gave up.
- [Hillary] That's right.
In 1872, Susan B. Anthony went and voted,
even though it was illegal at the time.
This is a common form of protest
called civil disobedience,
where a person does something
that they know is illegal,
but they do it because they believe
the law should be changed.
- [Stacy] Susan was a arrested
for voting and was fined,
but never paid that fine
because she said it was unjust or unfair.
She continued to fight for women's rights
until she died in 1906.
Although she didn't live
to see her work fulfilled,
all of her advocacy paid off,
and in 1920, 14 years after she died,
the 19th Amendment to the
Constitution was ratified,
giving women the right to vote.
- [Hillary] Susan B. Anthony
was a very important part
of the women's suffrage movement,
but she didn't win the
right for women to vote
all on her own.
There were hundreds of
women across the country
working together to change what they saw
as an unjust and unfair law.
Susan B. Anthony worked very closely
with another trailblazer in
the women's suffrage movement,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
- [Stacy] Elizabeth's father was a lawyer,
and even served in the
United States Congress.
As a young girl, she enjoyed
reading her father's law books
and debating legal issues.
It was during these early
years that Elizabeth realized
how unfairly laws treated women.
This early realization shaped her future
as an activist for fairness and equality.
- [Hillary] Elizabeth Cady
Stanton was on 24 years old
when she was working internationally
to try to end slavery.
But when she arrived in London
at the World Antislavery Convention,
she and the dozens of
other women who were there
were blocked from participation.
This was a turning point for Elizabeth.
In the face of discrimination
while trying to stand up for others,
Elizabeth decided to
narrow her activist work
to women's suffrage.
She believed that women's right to vote
was the key to gaining
equal rights for women
on a broader scale, and
she fought relentlessly
despite resistance from
people in her life,
including her own husband.
- [Stacy] Elizabeth Cady Stanton
was one of the organizers
of the first convention of
the women's right to vote
in Seneca Falls, New York.
Elizabeth worked directly
with Susan B. Anthony
and others to write a
Declaration of Sentiments,
a document which was modeled after
the Declaration of Independence
that proposed equal rights for women.
The Declaration of
Sentiments was signed in 1848
by 100 people at the convention,
68 women and 32 men, at
Seneca Falls, and passed.
This signing officially
marked the beginning
of the women's suffrage movement.
It would be another 72 years until women
officially won the right to vote
with the passing of the
19th Amendment in 1920.
- [Hillary] After the 19th
Amendment was ratified in 1920,
black women voted in elections
and held political offices,
however, many states passed laws
that discriminated
against African Americans
and limited their freedoms.
Black women continued to
fight for their rights.
One of the trailblazers in the fight
for black women's right to vote
was Mary Jane McLeod Bethune.
- [Stacy] Mary McLeod
Bethune was an educator,
author, and African American
civil rights leader.
She was born in South Carolina
to parents who had been slaves.
Although she began working
in the fields herself
at the age of five, Mary was determined
to create a better life
for herself and others.
From an early age, she showed
an interest in education,
and with the help of benefactors,
Mary attended college.
- [Hillary] Mary started a
school for African American girls
in Daytona Beach, Florida.
She maintained high standards
and promoted the school
with tourists and donors
to demonstrate was educated
African Americans could do.
She was the president of the
college for several years.
She was one of the few women in the world
to serve as college
president at that time.
- [Stacy] Although education
was Mary McLeod Bethune's
greatest passion, she knew
that access to education alone
would not be enough to gain
equality for African Americans.
In 1896, the National
Association of Colored Women
was formed to promote
the needs of black women.
Mary stepped up and served
as the Florida chapter
president of the NACW
from 1917 to 1925.
She worked to register black voters,
which was resisted by white society,
and had been made almost impossible
by a variety of obstacles in Florida law
and practices controlled
by white administrators.
- [Hillary] Mary faced
opposition and hate from racists,
but she never gave up on
fighting for what was right.
In 1935, Bethune founded the
National Council of Negro Women
in New York City, bringing
together representatives
of 28 different organizations
to work to improve the lives
of black women and their communities.
Tens of thousands of African Americans
worked over several
decades to secure suffrage,
which occurred when the Voting
Rights Act passed in 1965.
This act represents more
than a century of work
by black women to make voting
easier and more equitable.
- Wow!
Those women were incredible!
Did you notice anything
that they had in common?
- Did you?
- Perseverance in the face of
discrimination and resistance,
strong-held convictions in equality,
and a high regard for education.
- Because of trailblazers
like these three women
and hundreds more, all
women in the United States
have the right to vote.
- But I thought it was hard
to meet voter registration qualifications?
- That's a voting myth.
Anyone can register to vote
if they're a United States citizen,
if they're the age of 18
on the day of the election,
and they're a resistant
in the state which they're voting in.
- That's it?
- That's it!
- Nice!
So let's play a game to
distinguish voting facts
from voting fiction.
- [Hillary] True or false?
You don't have to wait
until election day to vote
when you're voting in Texas.
- [Hillary And Stacy] True!
- [Stacy] Texas, like many other states,
has a great early vote program,
which allows people the option to go vote
at a time and place that is
convenient to their schedule
before election day.
True or false?
Early voters aren't counted
the same as election day votes?
- [Hillary And Stacy] False!
- [Hillary] Casting your ballot early
doesn't affect the way
that your vote is counted.
It's counted just the same
as election day votes.
True or false?
I have to remember to bring
my voter ID card with me
when I go vote.
- [Hillary And Stacy] False!
- [Stacy] Although it's a
good idea to have it on you,
there are many different
types of identification cards
you can use to vote.
Be sure to check your state requirements
because each state is different.
True or false?
If I'm turning 18 on election day,
I am eligible to vote in that election.
- [Hillary And Stacy] True!
- [Hillary] Remember, the
requirements to vote are
being a US citizen, 18 at
the time of the election,
and a resident of the state
in which you are voting.
True or false?
Someone else can register me to vote.
- [Hillary And Stacy] False!
- [Stacy] You have to register yourself.
Fill out a registration
form, sign the form yourself.
Registration must take place
30 days before an election
to be eligible to vote in that election.
True or false?
Elections occur every
four years in November.
- [Hillary And Stacy] False!
- [Hillary] Presidential
elections only occur
every four years, but elections happen
much more often than that
to elect federal, state,
and local officials
to decide state and local policies,
and a lot of important things
that affect your everyday life.
True or false?
If I do not vote in an election,
I have to reregister for the next one?
- [Hillary And Stacy] False!
- [Stacy] Registration,
at the time, is permanent.
You do not have to vote
in each or any election
to remain registered as
long as you do not move
out of the country you are registered in.
However, you must
reregister when you move,
change your address, change your name,
or wish to change political parties.
True or false?
If I'm away from my home
county on election day,
I can still vote.
- [Hillary And Stacy] True!
- [Hillary] You can
vote an absentee ballot.
Contact your voter's registration office
for information on how to
register for absentee voting.
True or false?
If I am disabled, I must
still vote at a polling place.
- [Hillary And Stacy] False!
- [Stacy] You can vote by absentee ballot.
Law establishes a permanent
absentee vote status
for those whose mobility is impaired.
Call your county voter
registration office to learn more.
- Since Stacy and I are talking to you
from the great state of Texas,
and because this patch was designed
for Girl Scouts in Texas,
we thought it would be fun to talk about
some Texas-specific facts
around women's suffrage.
- Did you know that Texas
was actually the first state
in the South to ratify the 19th Amendment,
granting the women right to vote?
- That's right!
The question of whether women
should be granted the
privilege of voting rights
was first ratified in Texas
during the Constitutional Convention
all the way back in 1868.
But at that time, the
proposal was rejected
by a vote of 52 to 13.
- As the women's suffrage
movement became more organized
over the next four decades,
supporters realized that
the issue was perceived
to be more of a social threat
rather than a political one.
Many argued that enfranchised
women would cause women
to neglect their homes, children
and their domestic responsibilities.
- It was up to suffragists to articulate
that women were citizens, too,
and entitled to have a say
in governmental affairs.
To generate support at
the grassroots level,
it became vital to educate
and inform public opinion
in an accessible manner.
- Women's suffrage clubs
sponsored lectures,
conducted debates,
organized essay contests,
managed booths at fairs
and department stores,
marched in parades,
and wrote music, plays,
and newspaper articles
to spread awareness.
While these efforts helped
make women's enfrangement
an activist issue, concrete
results were not achieved
until the governorship of William P. Hobby
from 1917 to 1921.
Texas suffragists had
pledged to support Hobby
during the election if he
would push for the passage
of the bill that would grant women
the right to vote in
Texas primary elections.
Primary suffrage was a more realistic goal
than a full suffrage, as it
required only a simple majority
of both the legislative houses
and the governor's signature.
- The bill was passed by a wide margin,
and was signed into law
on March 26th, 1918,
offering women the right to vote
in the great state of Texas.
By May, 1919, Hobby recommended
that the Texas Constitution be amended
to offer full voting rights to women,
but the amendment was defeated
by a majority of 25,000 votes.
On June 4th, the US Senate passed
the Susan B. Anthony Amendment,
which stipulated that if 3/4 of the states
ratified the amendment,
women would have the
right to vote nationwide.
- The Texas legislature
convened in a special session
and Hobby placed the
women's suffrage amendment
on the agenda.
By this point, women's suffragist
had become a part of the mainstream,
and in spite of some opposition,
the amendment was approved by
the Texas Senate on June 28th.
Texas became the ninth state in the Union
and the first in the South
to ratify the 19th Amendment.
- It seems like a lot of women
fought a lot of battles to
get equal rights to vote,
but there are a lot of people
who are eligible to vote
and don't bother.
Stacy, I know you always
vote in every election.
Why is voting important to you?
- Well Hillary, thanks for asking.
Voting is super important to me.
I believe voting is my opportunity
to tell my politicians and my legislatures
what I like that they're
doing, and what I don't like.
Giving me the opportunity to vote
allows me to say, yes, I
think you made a great change.
Or no, I really don't
agree with that change.
Or even, I want a new politician.
How about you Hillary?
Why do you vote?
- I think it's really
important to vote because
the policies that our legislators make
affect our everyday lives.
And although you might not realize it
when you're going about
your day-to-day routine,
it actually does make a
pretty serious impact,
so I like to make sure that
I am voicing my opinion
on who is representing my interests
and whether or not
they're doing a good job
representing those interests,
because I know that it is important
and affects me every day.
- I love that Hillary.
Thanks for sharing.
- Thanks for asking Stacy,
and thanks for sharing, too.
- Now it's time to find out
why the people in your life vote.
Pause this video and go
ask an adult in your life
why voting is important to them.
- Welcome back!
The next thing we're gonna do
is learn how someone can register to vote.
Do you remember the requirements
to register to vote?
- Hmm, let me see if I remember them.
I think you have to be a US citizen.
- Mm-hmm.
- 18 years old
by election day.
- Mm-hmm.
- And a resident of the state
that you're registered in to vote.
- So, my sister is in high school
and she's turning 18 on
November 1st this year.
Does that mean she's old
enough to register to vote?
- Well, yes it does.
- That's great!
- While she won't be
able to vote in a primary
or special election,
she will be able to vote
in a general election,
and she should definitely go register now.
- But where, and how?
- Forms are available at
a variety of locations,
such as post offices, libraries,
fire stations, the department
of motor vehicle offices,
city and county offices.
You can contact your
voter registration office
in your county to get a
form sent to your home.
You can also register to vote online at
www.usa.gov/register-to-vote.
- And once she's filled out
that registration form, she's registered?
- Not quite.
You are registered when you receive
a voter registration card form
from the registrar recorder.
It should arrive in the
mail within 30 days.
- What goes on a voter registration form?
- Well, I'm so glad you asked.
Let's practice filling out
a mock voter registration card together.
If you don't already have a
pen or pencil and some paper,
pause this video while you go get that,
and then we'll walk you
through the steps together.
- Everyone ready?
Okay!
The first thing you're gonna need to write
is your full name.
Your first, your middle,
and your last name.
Make sure you use your full legal name,
even if you go by a different nickname.
- Now, write your birthdate with numbers,
starting with the month,
then the date, then the year.
So for instance, today
would be, zero, three,
dash, 20, dash 2020.
- Great!
Next, you're gonna write out your address.
This should include your street address,
apartment or unit number, if you have one,
the city that you live
in, the state you live in,
and you zip code.
If you don't know your zip code,
you can go ask a trusted adult
to help you with that one.
- When you complete your
real voter registration card,
you will also need to include
an identification number
and declare your party affiliation.
You can learn more about political parties
in the United States later.
- When you're ready to
register to vote for real,
remember, you can find forms
at many public locations
such as your post office, libraries,
fire department, the department
of motor vehicle offices,
city or county offices, or you
can register to vote online.
And if you're in Texas, like us,
remember you have to
mail in your registration
at least 30 days before an election
to be eligible to vote.
If you live in another state,
ask a trusted adult to help
you find out when to register.
- In order to complete this patch,
it's your turn to take action.
Choose one of the projects
as your women's suffrage
take action activity.
- You can find suggestions
for your take action project
when you look at the full
patch program curriculum
using this link here.
Gsnetx.org/patches.
- Now, you can also
grab some family members
and some friends and
review what we learned
with this Kahoot game.
Here is the link to the Kahoot game.
Thank you very much for joining us today.
We're so happy we were able to share
this women's vote patch
curriculum with you.
- Thanks for watching!
We hope that you learned a lot
and you are excited to
vote when you turn 18.
- Thank you!
