Celebrating Women's Equality Day
Aug. 23—PLATTSBURGH — A 20th century letter discovered in the Peru Town Historian's Office was the catalyst for this year's topic, "New York State's Literacy Challenge to Voting Rights" presented by Jackie Madison and Helen Nerska for Women's Equality Day.
The public is invited to join the annual celebration on Saturday, August 26, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the Kent-Delord House Museum Carriage Barn located at 17 Cumberland Ave. in Plattsburgh.
"The way this whole thing came to our attention was I pulled out this letter to the Supervisor of the Town of Peru saying that they appointed a professor to give the literacy test to new voters in your town at Peru High School on the following dates," Helen Nerska, director of the Clinton County Historical Association and co-president of the League of Women Voters of the North Country, said.
"Until I had seen this letter, I just was not aware that that was going on in New York state, never mind Clinton County. So this was the letter that triggered the interest."
The letter was authored by Oliver Walcott, District Superintendent of Schools.
"He was writing a letter to the Supervisor of the Town of Peru telling him who was appointed to give the tests," she said.
Walcott's letter was dated 1930.
"This has been going on since 1922," Nerska said.
"This letter just happened to be in the Peru Historian's Office. Then I contacted New York State Archives saying, 'Gee, do you have a copy of these literacy tests? And, they sent me copies. I think people need to know that. People need to know these tests were being given in New York state."
GENDER POLITICS
Women's Equality Day was first declared on August 26, 1920, when women across the United States finally won the right to vote with the passing of the 19th Amendment which stated that one could not be denied the right to vote based on gender.
While August 26, 1920, was an important step in the development of U.S. voting rights, it was not the last step. Until the 1965 Bill of Rights, there were many state sanctioned restrictions imposed on voters.
New York State was no different when it added a constitutional amendment in 1922 disallowing any citizen the right to vote who could not certify having the equivalent of an eighth-grade education where English was the language of instruction or pass a state sanctioned literacy test.
FOUR DECADES
"What we are going to be talking about is the restrictions that were still imposed on voters until the 1965 Bill of Rights was passed," Nerska said.
"We tend to think of that being an issue in the South, but New York state was no different. This was to meant to target immigrants specifically, of course. But it also brings a lot of discussion points. We are going to have a discussion."
What is the definition of literacy? What does it mean to be illiterate?
"It was determined you were illiterate if you couldn't speak or write English," she said.
"But somebody could have had an advanced degree when they came from Germany or Poland or France. There are a lot of things to talk about. You can have functional illiteracy or primary illiteracy."
Nerska and Madison, president of the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association, will share many surprising facts.
"Presidents Cleveland, Wilson and Taft vetoed bills with literacy test requirements," Nerska said.
"Part of the discussion is illiteracy should not be confused with ignorance. There are many aspects to this whole idea."
For those brave enough, the presenters will give them a New York State literacy test to try and pass.
"Just to show the kinds of things that were required before you could vote in New York State in 1922," Nerska said.
"Women were allowed to vote in 1917 without taking any literacy tests, but not all women because if you had married someone from a foreign country that was not a citizen you were not allowed to vote. You lost your right to vote.
"If you were a Native American woman, you were not allowed to vote or, certainly, the Chinese, male or female. They couldn't even be citizens."
CABLE ACT OF 1922
After women gained suffrage with the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, Congress swiftly enacted this law to restore citizenship to U.S.-born women who had married non-citizen husbands and thereby lost their citizenship under the Expatriation Act of 1907. This law addressed the discriminatory law that set married women's citizenship according to that of their husbands and enabled white women to retain their U.S. citizenship despite marriages to foreign men. This right did not, however, extend to women who married 'aliens ineligible for citizenship,' especially Asian immigrant men, according to immigrationhistory.org
"In 1922, voting women could regain their citizenship, but they had to take a literacy test in order to vote," Nerska said.
"One of the arguments was all these illiterates are already voting, why do I have to take it? What's the difference?
"There were a large number of immigrants coming into New York City. Jackie found information they were targeting Irish. My information was that they were targeting Eastern Europeans, Italians and Jews that were coming in."
Nerska scoured local newspapers to see where the literacy exams were given.
"Early on, they zeroed right in Lyon Mountain, Cadyville, Standish, and Dannemora," she said.
"Here that's where we think our immigrants were basically working in the mountains. That was very interesting. That was the first year. That's the only places they advertised that literacy exams were available. They included Beekmantown, Saranac, and the Town of Plattsburgh the next year.
"But they didn't mention Peru, Black Brook, Ellenburg, Clinton or Champlain. If you were a person reading the paper, there wasn't a lot of guidance."
Women's Equality Day, a free event, is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the North Country, the Clinton County Historical Association, the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association, the Kent-Delord House Museum and the Champlain Valley Business and Professional Women (BPW).
"It's always a wonderful event because it commemorates the fact when women all over the United States finally got the right to vote," Nerska said.
"Most women, of course, not all. That's what we talk about on August 26 of each year. The League of Women Voters arranged with Clinton County Historical Association, and we put on the first event and we've been doing that for fives years at least."
Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com
Twitter@RobinCaudell
