Be a part of the Women’s Suffrage movement

When Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo contacted Tioga County Legislative Chair Martha Sauerbrey and invited her to co-chair the Broome-Tioga Suffrage Committee, she was excited and ready to get to work. “It was an honor to be asked to join the Assemblywoman and start this regional project to celebrate the anniversary of one of the most significant historic events in our state’s history,” stated Sauerbrey.

Along with Lupardo and Sauerbrey, the Broome-Tioga Suffrage Committee is served by historians, museum directors, SUNY Broome and Binghamton University educators and students, women’s groups, community organizations, business owners, tourism professionals and municipal leaders. Their goal is to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage in New York State by telling the story of the local Suffrage movement in Broome and Tioga Counties through events and activities. 

Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul is chair of the New York State Women’s Suffrage 100th Anniversary Commemoration Commission that will organize a series of statewide programs that celebrate women’s suffrage.

New York State is home to the first-ever Women’s Rights Convention, held in Seneca Falls in July of 1848 and organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. For the next several decades, voting rights activists spoke, wrote, rallied, traveled, endured ridicule, suffered physical assaults, and persisted until women were recognized as deserving of one of the most important rights and responsibilities of citizenship, the right to vote. 

For women in New York, that day was Nov. 6, 1917, 69 years after the 1848 Convention. It was another three years before the Federal Government followed suit and the 19th Constitutional Amendment was ratified, granting all women the right to vote as protected by the United States Constitution. A sub-committee of the BT Suffrage Committee is the Tioga Women’s Suffrage Committee which connecting with municipalities, historians, organizations and residents of Tioga County to identify local Suffrage history and artifacts, as well as to promote projects, exhibits, and contests and events throughout the year in Tioga County.

“We have had a lot of interest from the community to get involved,” said Sauerbrey. For those interested in participating in the celebration, there are a variety of things you can do. 

You can donate to the Tioga Women’s Suffrage Committee to fund county projects and events, hang pleated flags in Suffrage colors of white, gold and purple for your home or business, plant flowers in Suffrage colors, participate in a writing contest, create artwork, purchase a Suffrage button, explore your attic for information and artifacts on the Suffrage movement in Tioga County, or add a Suffrage-themed activity to your events. 

The Tioga Women’s Suffrage Committee will host a meeting for anyone with an idea, historic information, or simply a desire to get involved on April 17, at 1 p.m. in the Hubbard Auditorium in the Ronald E. Dougherty Office Building, 56 Main St., Owego. No registration is required and all who are willing to help are welcome. 

For more information on donating, purchasing buttons, ordering pleated flags, connecting with the Tioga Women’s Suffrage Committee or other questions, contact Tioga County Tourism, 80 North Ave. in Owego at (607) 687-7440 or email to info@experiencetioga.com. 

You can also visit the “Broome-Tioga Suffrage Committee” page on Facebook.