The Tri-County Women’s Coalition hopes the flicker of candles today will remind people to honor Susan B. Anthony and women’s rights at its 23rd annual Susan B. Anthony Birthday Celebration.
“The celebration happens around the date of her birthday,” Lansing Councilmember Joan Bauer said. “The purpose is to have a time and an activity in our community to reflect on the role she played in women’s right to vote,”
Susan Brownell Anthony was born Feb. 15, 1820.
“It’s also to reflect on women’s roles in society and women’s rights in general,” Bauer said. “It’s to remind all of us of the gains we’ve had, and that we didn’t achieve them that long ago. We need to be vigilant to protect them.”
The program features speaker E. Sharon Banks, superintendent of Lansing Public Schools.
“Our speaker is very appropriate,” Bauer said. “She is the most powerful woman in our school district and the first woman superintendent of our public schools.”
Before becoming chief administrator to about 18,000 Lansing students last July, Banks was recognized for several achievements, including the Phoebe Hurst Apperson National Educator of the Year award in 1993.
“I am planning on going to the dinner,” said Carolyn Johnson, a member of the Michigan Women’s Studies Association. “I’ve had a lot of good feedback for what Sharon Banks is doing for our school systems. I’m excited to hear her speak. It’ll be a real nice evening.”
The event features a candle lighting ceremony and dinner.
“This is the time when we remember all the women of our past and we look forward to the future and the passing of the (Equal Rights Amendment),” said Dr. Gladys Beckwith, president of the Michigan Women’s Studies Association.
The Equal Rights Amendment focuses on gender-based discrimination. The amendment has failed to pass in previous years.
Anthony’s birthday celebration also foreshadows a month of events dedicated to women.
National Women’s History Month begins in March with the national theme of “Celebrating Women of Courage and Vision.”
The Michigan Women’s Studies Association and Michigan Women’s Historical Center and Hall of Fame, 213 W. Main St., in Lansing, are planning events for March.
More than 150 Michigan women are honored in the hall of fame to document and teach women’s history.
“We’re going to be having an exhibit of sisters of Ghana for the month,” Beckwith said. “We’ll also have a group of 25 women painters. There’s other events still in the planning stages.”
