A question of humanity stemmed the beginning of the women’s suffrage movement, a Susan B. Anthony impersonator said during a Women’s Equality Day event Sept. 21.
“That is the issue we have before us now, ‘Are women persons?’” actress Marjorie Goldman said as she portrayed Anthony from the early 1860s. “Because if they are persons, they are already guaranteed the right to vote in the United States Constitution. The only way they could be deprived of that is if they are not considered persons.”
Goldman, an actress with the American Historical Theatre, depicted Anthony during the event as Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support and NAVSUP Weapons Systems Support employees celebrated women’s right to vote.
Goldman explained that while the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments would have collectively granted women the right to vote, Anthony and other American women were still denied this right. Women’s Equality Day commemorates the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted women the right to vote in 1920.
Navy Capt. Gerald Raia, director of Procurement Process Support, described Anthony as a renowned trailblazer in women’s rights.
“Susan B. Anthony, who after teaching for 15 years, began her 50-plus years’ commitment to causes that included the abolition of slavery, women’s rights to their own property and earnings, and women’s right to vote.”
Anthony grew up in a Quaker home where she was instilled with values about equality and the rights of all people, Goldman said.
“When we see an injustice in the world, we are obliged to fix it,” Goldman said. “We all deserve to have equal rights in all things we do. The fight for equal rights is never ending.”
Goldman challenged the audience to continue Anthony’s fight for equal rights for anyone who has not yet attained them.
The event was sponsored by the DLA Troop Support Equal Employment Opportunity Advisory Committee.