For as long as I can remember my mother always took me with her to the polls to vote. Whether it was a local election or a national one, I joined her as she cast her ballot. Every time, she would wear her “I Voted” sticker proudly.
I was shown that voting is one of the most meaningful ways for my voice to be heard. My mother always taught me, don’t focus on the problem, focus on the solution. So instead of complaining and not voting, it’s important for me to vote and hold our elected officials accountable.
When I turned 18 I had the opportunity to vote in a local election. I was excited to read about the various candidates and the local propositions. It was empowering, knowing I had a say in the matter.
Now I am 20 years old, and in a few months I will be voting in my first presidential election.
Voting in this upcoming election is important to me not only because there’s so much riding on this election, but for so long Black women weren’t allowed to vote. Many faced poll taxes, literacy tests, and other tactics to keep them from casting a ballot.
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The women who came before me fought, bled and died for the right to vote. I would be insane to dishonor their fight and sacrifice and abstain from voting.
I currently attend Howard University. This past year I took a course called “Black Women in America.” In that class I learned about women such as Fannie Lou Hamer, Diane Nash and Anna Julia Cooper. These women spent their lives advocating for the right to vote.
Fannie Lou Hamer was a vital figure in the Civil Rights Movement and a passionate advocate for women’s suffrage. She grew up in a sharecropping family and faced the harsh realities of racial and economic injustice. Hamer co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971, emphasizing the importance of women’s political participation.
Remembering her own experience of harassment at the polls, Hamer tirelessly campaigned for voting rights, drawing connections between racial and gender discrimination. Her activism helped pave the way for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which eliminated many barriers to voting for African Americans.
Anna Julia Cooper was a distinguished scholar, educator, and activist who made significant contributions to the women’s suffrage movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into slavery in 1858 in Raleigh, N.C., Cooper overcame tremendous obstacles to become a leading voice for African American women’s rights.
She was an active participant in various organizations advocating for women’s voting rights. She was a prominent member of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), which worked to address issues of racial and gender inequality.
Julia also engaged with the broader women’s suffrage movement, attending conferences and advocating for the inclusion of African American women in the fight for the vote. She lived to be 105 and left behind a work A Voice from the South, seen as one of the first volumes describing the concept of Black feminism.
Diane Nash is best known for her key role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. As I am doing now, Nash attended an historically Black university (HBCU), Fisk University in Nashville where she attended nonviolent civil disobedience workshops.
Though just 22 at the time, Nash led sit-ins in Nashville in 1960 from February to May that spread to 69 cities nationwide. She was instrumental in the Selma voting rights campaign, which led to the historic Selma to Montgomery march in 1965.
Influential women like these are why I want to become a civil rights attorney. I want to carry their torch and fight to ensure that all Americans’ Civil Rights are being respected, especially the marginalized and disenfranchised. I want to fight against mass incarceration, the school-to-prison pipeline and housing discrimination.
My work as an attorney will be crucial but what’s also important are the elected officials. The laws that they implement and the decisions they make will affect my clients just as much as the verdict in the courtroom. Which is another reason for my resolve to vote.
I vote as a result of the sacrifice of Fannie Lou Hamer, Anna Julia Cooper and Diane Nash, along with many others. I vote to make my voice heard. I vote to be the change I want to see. I vote because it is my constitutional right as an American citizen.
Morrow grew up in Ferguson and is a graduate of Villa Duchesne class of 2022. She is studying political science and African American studies at Howard University. This commentary, sponsored by the River City Journalism Fund, is part of a series of op-eds in the Post-Dispatch this month from young local writers on the topic of voting. It will be shared at an event called Songs for Democracy 2024, a benefit for the League of Women Voters, June 24 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.