Desire Tobey Sears Chapter

06/14/2026

Celebrate Flag Day!

06/06/2026

06/04/2026

in , 1919, Congress passed the 19th Amendment. Once ratified, it granted women the universal right to vote, and in so doing, brought the one step closer to its full potential. A half century prior, Susan B. Anthony famously said, “There shall never be another season of silence until women have the same rights men have on this green earth.” Here's to those who make noise.

Anthony uttered her pledge in 1872 after being arrested for illegally voting. Fifty miles away sat the location of the Seneca Falls Convention where the women’s suffrage movement had formally begun. After years of building, however, its momentum stalled when the Civil War erupted; then, after a Union victory, the focus on rights shifted from women to the once enslaved.

This splintered the movement—and inhibited its progress—as some opposed Black suffrage if women were not included. Though it took decades, by the end of the 19th century, these divisions healed, and the two factions merged, growing their strength toward the one goal each citizen aspires to: equal access to the dream.

As early as 1878, had debated women’s suffrage. But it took the Progressive Era before a federal amendment became a genuine possibility. In 1913, thousands of suffragists paraded a day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. There, they delivered petitions bearing 750,000 signatures in what was referred to as a “Siege of the Senate.”

Three years later, Jeanette Rankin became the first female elected to Congress. On her first day, she introduced the Susan B. Anthony amendment—what eventually became the . Though a pacifist, Rankin’s crusade was soon aided by the contributions of women during WWI, leading President Wilson to lobby Congress: “Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?”

When Congress finally delivered its answer, it not only changed the fortunes for half of — it proved Anthony’s belief for the whole of humanity: “Nothing is hopeless that is right.”

in Photo: Mural in the Capitol (Credit: Architect of the Capitol)

04/24/2026

The citation presented to the Mitchell County Museum last Sunday afternoon from the DAR.

04/14/2026

Mankato City Library
Come and learn about these, and five other Kansas Pioneer Patriots!

04/14/2026

Come see the exhibit
Mankato City Library; 214 N High ST
Celebrating-Honoring

04/13/2026

04/11/2026

03/29/2026

We learned lots yesterday.
Thank you Republic County Museum!

03/26/2026

Plan to attend!

Hear the Declaration read and add your voice to a discussion of its impact. You will really enjoy this event! This is NOT a political debate, partisan comments are not allowed. (Funding for this program was provided by Humanities Kansas, with support from the State of Kansas through the Kansas Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts and the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund.")