01 Mar 2020 Annual Meeting
Each year in March, members, guests and the general public are invited to attend the Annual Meeting of the McFarland Historical Society. The meeting features a guest speaker on a topic of historical interest, the annual business meeting, desserts and beverages, and lively conversation. The annual meetings are held in McFarland, Wisconsin.
2020 McFarland Historical Society Annual Meeting
The year 2020 is important because of the presidential elections this year and also because it is the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment, giving half the population (women) the right to vote. Historian Simone Munson will speak at the McFarland Historical Society’s annual meeting on “The Woman’s Hour Has Struck: Wisconsin’s Role in the Women’s Suffrage Movement.”
The annual meeting will be held at the McFarland Municipal Building, 59l5 Milwaukee Street, on March 1, 2020, from 1 to 3 pm. The meeting is open to the public and features a special video presentation about Ginny Dodson, our Volunteer of the Year for 2019.
Speaker Simone Munson is based at the State Historical Society’s headquarters in Madison and serves as their Collections Development Coordinator. She will explain that Wisconsin suffragettes were very active in the movement to gain the right to vote. Their efforts were hampered because many of these women also supported the temperance movement – something strongly opposed by the beer and liquor lobby. Partly because of Wisconsin’s German heritage and beer brewing, efforts to allow women the suffrage were voted down by the all-male legislature for many years. Finally, in 1919, the Wisconsin Legislature ratified the 19thAmendment and the race was on to get the ratification document to Washington, D.C. Illinois had a head start but there was a technical error in their document so Wisconsin was the first state to ratify the amendment.
The following year, women across the nation were allowed to vote in the United States. The Suffragettes formed the League of Women Voters to encourage the ladies (and gentlemen) to get out and vote!
As a nod to the stubbornness of the brewing industry, local wine and beers will be served as well as other treats and beverages. Guests may see a few suffragettes in the audience. Be watching!