08/18/2026
On this day in history, the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1920. Passed by Congress on June 4,1919, this amendment granted women the right to vote. This victory was decades in the making - it took generations of women who advocated, marched, lobbied, protested, and practiced civil disobedience. In Akron, Sojourner Truth delivered a famous speech at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in 1851. She, and many other early advocates, did not live to see the 19th amendment passed.
The Sojourner Truth Plaza project began more than 20 years ago, when University of Akron professor emeritus Faye Hersh Dambrot proposed the creation of a statue of Truth and renowned local artist Woodrow Nash first developed a prototype. Without sufficient funding, the project stalled. It wasn’t until 2019 when the Summit Suffrage Centennial Committee, conveyed by Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of women’s suffrage, that the project was revived. The plaza officially opened in 2024.
Faye Hersh Dambrot was also instrumental in the Akron Women’s History Project, a program of the Summit County Historical Society since 2013. Nominations for the 2027 Woman of the Year Awards are now open!
Nomination forms can be submitted via email to [email protected] or mailed to “Woman of the Year Award” Committee c/o The Summit County Historical Society of Akron, Ohio
550 Copley Road Akron, Ohio 44320
