HARD WON, NOT DONE: VOTING MATTERS
Saturday, August 14, 2021 3PM -5 PM
State House Lawn, 115 State Street, Montpelier

The Vermont Suffrage Centennial Alliance invites you to join us on Saturday August 14, 2021 as we recognize a historic moment in the women suffrage movement, the right to vote.
Our program, Hard Won, Not Done: Voting Matters, centers on voting and voting rights – the history, the struggles, the vigilance necessary to preserve it. The event coalesces around four themes: non-citizen voting, enfranchisement, queer inclusion, and municipal voting.

12:30-2 P.M.
Book reading at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library. Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Annette Gordon-Reed will read from her new book, "On Juneteenth," followed by Q&A and book-signing. "On Juneteenth," examines the legacy of slavery and the struggles that remain to achieve racial equality.

3-5 PM. MAIN EVENT: Annette Gordon-Reed delivers keynote address, Voting in Texas—156 Years of Struggle. It explores what happened after Black Texans got the right to vote on Juneteenth 1865, denial of those rights during the South's period of redemption, and the fight for voting rights that still exists today.
A native of Texas, Gordon-Reed grew up in the racially segregated town of Conroe. She was the first child to integrate the town's all-white school.

Mia Schultz, president of the Rutland-area NAACP, serves as MC and will speak on the importance of voting in municipal elections.

GUEST SPEAKERS:
Melody Mackin (Bennington) opens the event with a land dedication and discusses Native American Voting Rights

Hussein Amuri (Winooski) and Tyler Hedding (East Montpelier) will read personal essays on non-citizen voting and "For the People Act"

Ferene Paris Meyer (Burlington) will recite her poem "Ferene Existing While Black"

Dr. Jean Szilva (Winooski) dedicated to making good trouble, will speak on the LGBQTIA Inclusion

Artist Cynthia Cagle will work on a painting that celebrates women and the vote.
Nicole Nelson (of Dwight & Nicole) provides musical entertainment

Registration: Eventbrite: bit.ly/HardOneNotDone.

Rain Location: House Chamber at the State House.
For your convenience, here is a checklist of items you may want to bring with you:
- A lawn chair.
- A picnic blanket. If it hasn't rained recently, you could bring a picnic blanket to sit on instead of a chair.
- Water. There will be no beverages available, so please be sure to bring water to stay
hydrated.