Polk History Center expands women's suffrage exhibit to include Black sorority's efforts
BARTOW – Long before getting the right to vote through the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on Aug. 18, 1920, women across the United States had worked hard toward that goal.
As a way to share that important mission and the women who helped accomplish it, the Polk County History Center in 2020 installed and exhibit called “The 19th Amendment at 100 Years: A Milestone of Democracy for Women’s Suffrage.” The exhibit highlighted the influential women involved in the voting-rights campaign.
As part of that exhibit and the center’s “Living Constitution” series, the “Women's Suffrage Movement” exhibit commemorating the signing of the 19th Amendment will broaden. The History Center plans to expand the current exhibit to feature Delta Sigma Theta Sorority's involvement in the suffrage movement and will capture some of the sorority’s Lakeland Alumnae Chapter social action since its charter was formed on April 2, 1977.
Founded Jan. 13, 1913, by 22 women at Howard University for scholarships, service and social action, there are now about 350,000 initiated women in more than 1,000 Delta Sigma Theta chapters worldwide.
From 4 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, a soft opening of the exhibit will take place. The event was originally scheduled for Aug. 29, but was rescheduled because of Hurricane Idalia.
Amanda Green, journalist for the Lakeland chapter, said one of the sorority's its first social justice acts was participation in the Women’s Suffrage Parade in Washington, D.C., March 3, 1913.
Green, who lives in Haines City, has been with the sorority chapter since 2022. She said the Women’s Suffrage Movement has three display cases, each representing social activism by Delta Sigma Theta at the state, regional and national levels.
The exhibit features former sorority members and their work with the suffrage cause, such as Dorothy Height, past national president; and Mary McLeod, who founded of Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach. McCleod also founded the National Council of Negro Women, which was the first national coalition of African American women's organizations. She was instrumental in the educational-development focus of the sorority's five-point programming initiative.
Height was the 10th Delta Sigma Theta national president and was the longest serving, in office from 1946 to 1957. She also founded the Women in Community Service of the sorority.
There are currently 117 members of the Lakeland Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and many are scheduled to attend the Sept. 20 ceremony, including Delta Sigma Theta LAC President Mary Pearson of Mulberry.
Green said the public should take time to visit the “Woman’s Suffrage Movement” display to see how women of color made an impact on the right-to-vote movement.
“In addition, to highlight our Delta Sigma Theta sorority women because we were at the forefront of the Women’s Suffrage Parade on March 03, 1913. Even at a time when racism was high, we made history. Members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. have a long history of social action in this country, and we continue to move forward,” Green said.
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Myrtice Young, historic preservation manager for the Polk County History Center, said the Delta Theta Sorority’s contributions to the Women’s Suffrage Movement will enhance its educational impact. She said the sorority’s displays are part of the center’s overall “Living Constitution Exhibit,” which will be changed and enhanced through 2026, the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding. The sorority exhibit will be up for at least a year.
“I think it’s really important we pause and reflect on how we have grown to a place where the right to vote is so essential — to go back to reflect on how that happened when not everybody in the county was allowed to vote,” she said. “I think it’s important, as we approach the 250th anniversary as a nation, to go back to reflect on how we’ve gained those important rights.”
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk History Center women's suffrage exhibit to include Black sorority
