By Helen Peacock Roberson, Jacksonville Chapter of the Federal Bar Association President and Sarah Mannion, Jacksonville Women Lawyers Association President
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the passage of 19th Amendment, which guarantees women the right to vote, the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Law Library of Congress created a traveling exhibit, “100 Years After the 19th Amendment: Their Legacy and Our Future.”
The exhibit features historic photos and information detailing the story of the suffrage movement, including post-1920 efforts to expand voting rights as well as current issues of disenfranchisement and voter suppression.
The exhibit won a 2019 American Graphic Design Award from Graphic Design USA.
It will be displayed March 23-April 3 on the first floor of the Duval County Courthouse at 501 W. Adams St.
The local presentation is a collaboration of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division; 4th Judicial Circuit Court; Chester Bedell American Inn of Court; Jacksonville Chapter of the Federal Bar Association; Jacksonville Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates; Jacksonville Bar Association; and Jacksonville Women Lawyers Association.
Funding is provided by the Bench Bar Fund of the Middle District of Florida.
The community is invited to attend the opening reception from 5:19 to 6:30 p.m. March 24 in the atrium at the Duval County Courthouse.
Patriotic food will be served, the U.S. Navy Band will perform and Laura Rosenbury, dean and Levin, Mabie & Levin Professor of Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, will present a brief program on the 19th Amendment and the fight for a woman’s right to vote.
The public is encouraged to bring their children to learn and celebrate.
On March 26, the Chester Bedell American Inn of Court and the Jacksonville Chapter of ABOTA will present at the Duval County Courthouse a reenactment of the 1873 trial of Susan B. Anthony.
Anthony and 14 other women were arrested for voting in Rochester, New York, in the presidential election Nov. 5, 1872. They believed that women, as U.S. citizens, had the right to vote under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The reenactment begins at 10 a.m. in Courtroom 407 and will follow the transcript of the actual criminal trial. Students from area high schools will have lunch with ABOTA lawyers afterward and discuss aspects of the trial.
The Jacksonville Bar Association will present its annual Law Week poster contest in conjunction with the exhibit, as the theme of this year’s law week is “Your Vote, Your Voice, Our Democracy: The 19th Amendment at 100.”
The posters, created by students at West Riverside Elementary School, will be displayed on the first floor of the Duval County Courthouse. The public is invited to vote for their favorite posters.
The legal community is proud to host the ABA’s 19th Amendment Centennial traveling exhibit, and we invite the community to come to the Duval County Courthouse, view the exhibit and celebrate the 19th Amendment.
Helen Peacock Roberson is a partner at Bishop & Mills handling commercial and individual litigation cases.
Sarah Mannion is a real estate and bankruptcy attorney with Candyce M. King PA.