March on Frederick
More than 1,000 women, children and men descended on Downtown Frederick on Saturday, Jan. 21.The Women's March in Frederick, the sister march to the Women's March in Washington, D.C., came together in a few short days.
Although we couldn't hear the speakers without male intervention [no bullhorn permit, so Nick Hutchings graciously stepped in to lend his big voice as the human megaphone], the message was clear: We've come a long way, but we still have a long way to go in defending and demanding rights for the most marginalized among us.
Sharing some images from that day, along with Alderman Donna Kuzemchak's speech.[See full text below] The march was put together by Jeannette Bartelt, Andrea Norouzi, Val Dale, Kuzemchak, and a woman who prefers to remain anonymous. Brava!
Alderman Kuzemchak's speech:
"Again, I’d like to thank the originators of this event for allowing Val and me to help. Jeannette, Andrea, and your anonymous partner – thank you for pushing to have a march in Frederick. You inspire me.
Thanks to the greeters who responded to Andrea’s requests for help. This wouldn’t be happening without you. Thanks to the City staff for your continual dedication to this city. This has grown beyond all expectations, and your willingness to go above and beyond your job descriptions is appreciated more than you could know.
According to Madeleine Albright, “It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.” Let me tell you about some women who refused to be silent:In 1869 Susan B. Anthony called for the first Woman’s suffrage movement in DC. Passed by congress in 1919 and ratified on August 18th, 2020 this amendment gave women the right vote in the United States. What a momentous occasion, right? Yet because women’s right to vote movement took over 50 years to pass into law, and Susan B. Anthony passed away in 1906, this amazing woman didn’t live to see what is sometimes called the Susan B. Anthony Amendment made law.
We’ve come a long way, Baby…and we still have a long way to go…Let’s see if anyone knows these names. If you do, just shout out what they did:1849 -When she graduated from New York's Geneva Medical College, in1849, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in America to earn the M.D. degree. She supported medical education for women and helped many other women's careers.1851.The first woman to wear trousers was Elizabeth Smith Miller who wore Turkish-inspired trousers in 1851 and was an advocate and supporter of women's rights. This outfit, later called the Bloomer costume, was worn by many early women's right proponents and was popularized by Amelia Bloomer through the journal "Lily."1887 - Susanna Medora Salter becomes the first woman elected mayor of an American town, in Argonia, Kansas. 1916 - Jeannette Rankin, of Montana, is the first woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. 1809 - Mary Kies becomes the first woman to receive a patent, for a method of weaving straw with silk.* 1869 - Arabella Mansfield is granted admission to practice law in Iowa, making her the first woman lawyer. 1879 - Belva Ann Lockwood becomes the first woman admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. 1885 - Sarah E. Goode becomes the first African-American woman to receive a patent, for a bed that folded up into a cabinet. Goode, who owned a furniture store in Chicago, intended the bed to be used in apartments. 1903 -The first woman to win a Nobel Prize was Marie Curie, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 with her husband, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel. Curie is also the only woman to have won multiple Nobel Prizes; in 1911, she won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.1953 - Jerrie Cobb is the first woman in the U.S. to undergo astronaut testing. NASA, however, cancels the women's program in 1963. It is not until 1983 that an American woman gets sent into space. 1964 - Margaret Chase Smith, of Maine, becomes the first woman nominated for president of the United States by a major political party, at the Republican National Convention in San Francisco. 1969 - Shirley Chisholm, of New York, becomes the first African-American woman in Congress and the first female black U.S. Representative. Her motto is, "Unbought and unbossed." She served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years. 1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor is appointed by President Reagan to the Supreme Court, making her its first woman jusice.1983 - Dr. Sally K. Ride becomes the first American woman to be sent into space.1990 - Dr. Antonia Novello is sworn in as U.S. Surgeon General, becoming the first woman (and first Hispanic) to hold that job.
We’ve come a long way, baby! And we have a long way to go. An excerpt from the Women’s March on Washington states it best:In the spirit of democracy and honoring the champions of human rights, dignity, and justice who have come before us, we join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore. We stand together, recognizing that defending the most marginalized among us is defending all of us.We support the advocacy and resistance movements that reflect our multiple and intersecting identities.
We call on all defenders of human rights to join us. This march is the first step towards unifying our communities, grounded in new relationships, to create change from the grassroots level up. We will not rest until women have parity and equity at all levels of leadership in society. We work peacefully while recognizing there is no true peace without justice and equity for all.As one of the 673 sister marches and over two million marching for these rights around the globe, we add our voice to those in Washington. We add our numbers and say we will not quietly sit by and let the world continue to ignore us.
We understand each of us is a piece of the whole, and we will take this energy and continue to make a difference.Your first task today was to use your presence to line the main streets of the heart of our city as a symbolic gesture of our commitment to build the foundation for social justice. Now we are asking you to take that commitment to your communities and continue to build that foundation. How, you ask? You’ve already taken the first step. You showed up.
Continue to show up where you’re needed. Get connected to community groups and ask for help from your sisters and brothers to make changes you want to see in this, our world. In the words of Amelia Earhart, “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” Be tenacious. Engage. Communicate. Connect.Do not go silently, but use this gathering as a reminder that as one, we have but one voice. As a group, we are strong and powerful. YOU are strong and powerful. Let’s use that power to change the world together.Jeannette, Andrea have but one last direction for you:Andrea – Go in peaceJeannette – Go with loveDonna – And go get connected!"
