May 2024

Mission

To close the gender gap at all levels of government leadership. 1st Amendment-1st Vote, Inc. offers high school girls a non-partisan opportunity to engage in the democratic process, and to imagine themselves in elected office or professional government-related positions.

It’s still about two months before our national July 4th celebration but this month’s newsletter gives us time to contemplate independence in our representative democracy before the 07.04.24 celebrations. I imagine all will go as usual around the country with many having the national holiday off on that Thursday to enjoy our nationally-guaranteed freedoms. Yet, not all citizens of the US will celebrate as heartily as others, because some are experiencing a roll-back of previously guaranteed rights while others are part of a legacy of no or limited independence/representation since the early beginnings of our nation.

But for many of us on Independence Day 2024, representation in our American democracy will be front & center as women continue to be underrepresented in government leadership, i.e. US Congress where parity remains off the mark by 22%. Since our country’s founding (248 years ago), white males have held the overwhelming majority of legislative seats at all levels of government, and this organization is doing something about it by moving us toward a more perfect union where women are represented equally in our democracy!

Readers, allow me to introduce you to Nathan M. Richardson, Poet, Author, Frederick Douglass Historian and 1st Amendment–1st Vote Board Member. Nathan, whether as a relentless advocate for our organization’s mission or as a Frederick Douglass historian, is a champion of our “unalienable Rights” as stated in the Declaration of Independence. He says, “Whether I’m in character as Frederick Douglass or just witnessing the modern evolution of women’s rights and activism, I am always so inspired by what this organization is doing. My association with 1st A–1st V gives me an authentic view of the connection between early suffrage and modern day activism. It validates my personal beliefs for equal rights and social justice and informs my historical interpretation of Frederick Douglass.”

Friends, meet Frederick Douglass, via this excerpt from his speech, July 5, 1852, Rochester, NY, “What To The Slave Is The Fourth of July?”