August 26, 2020 marks the 100th Anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote.
This simply stated Amendment -- The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex -- required a lengthy and difficult struggle; victory took decades of agitation and protest. Beginning in the mid-19th century, several generations of woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change of the Constitution. Few early supporters lived to see final victory in 1920.
Between 1878, when the amendment was first introduced in Congress, and August 18, 1920, when it was ratified, champions of voting rights for women worked tirelessly, using a variety of strategies. Some pursued a strategy of passing suffrage acts in each state — Colorado was the first state to ratify votes for women in 1893. Coloradoans then turned their activism towards a national referendum. They persisted and 100 years later we celebrate their sacrifices.
Celebrating Elizabeth Piper Ensley (1847-1919), an African American suffragist. In the early 1870s she studied abroad in Germany and Switzerland. When she returned, she established a circulating library in Boston and became a public school teacher. She then taught at Howard University in Washington, D.C. with her husband. In the mid-late 1880s they moved to Denver, Colorado. There Ensley joined Denver's relief efforts for the poor and the homeless. She also joined the campaign to put a women's suffrage amendment on the November 1893 ballot in Colorado. She was the treasurer of the Colorado Non-Partisan Equal Suffrage Association, and beginning with a fund of twenty-five dollars, helped gain the money necessary for the campaign. The suffrage amendment was approved in 1893.
She organized the Colorado Colored Women's Republican Club to teach black women why and how to vote. She also helped found the Women's League in 1894, and she founded the Colorado Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACW) in 1904. The NACW led community and educational programs, including the George Washington Carver Day Nursery. Ensley was the only black member of the predominantly white board of the Colorado Federation of Women's Clubs.
Ensley wrote about Colorado's first election in which women voted (which occurred in 1894) in the Woman's Era, which was the national publication of the NACW.
Now, to find the location of the final. Using the grave marker to the LEFT of Elizabeth where:
A = The 2nd number of Charlotte's year of birth - the first number of Charlotte's year of birth - the first number of Charlotte's year of death
B = The 2nd number of Charlotte's year of death - the 3rd number of Charlotte's year of death
C = The last number of Charlotte's year of death
Check sum = 19
and
D = The 3rd number of Charlotte's year of death
E = The 4th number of Charlotte's year of death divided by the 4th number of Charlotte's year of birth
F = The 1st number of Charlotte's year of birth plus the 4th number of Charlotte's year of birth
Check sum = 11
Final is located at: N 39 47.ABC W 104 57.DEF
Enter the above coordinates in the checker below for a bonus hint.
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.
Update: Helen Reddy, who popularized the song, "I Am Woman," that this series was based on died on 29 September 2020. RIP Helen.
