The League of Women Voters is the direct descendant of the US women’s suffrage movement of the mid-19th to early 20th century. At the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) National Convention in 1920, held at the Congress Hotel in Chicago, IL, NAWSA president Carrie Chapman Catt proposed a merger of several suffrage groups to create a new organization that would help newly enfranchised women learn how to register, how to vote, how to learn about their candidates, and how to learn about the workings of their governments. Six months before the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the League of Women Voters came into existence and immediately began fulfilling its mission. In Pennsylvania, the League set out immediately to help cities like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia register thousands of women and teach them how to vote. Over the years, LWV has broadened its mission and reach, with hundreds of Leagues in every state of the Union, the US Virgin Islands, and Hong Kong.

The history of the League of Women Voters as an organization and the history of the women’s suffrage movement in this country are both steeped in racism. The League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania commits to doing the work of learning from its history, advocating for anti-racist policies at every level of government and amplifying the voices who have been marginalized.

American suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt is considered a League founder. Catt was a complicated character, a political operative, and by modern standards, racist. While fighting for the 19th Amendment and lobbying Southern senators, she famously claimed, “White supremacy will be strengthened, not weakened, by women’s suffrage.” These remarks are sometimes brushed over as a sign of the times or a political strategy. But actions speak louder than words, and our organization was not welcoming to women of color through most of our existence.

Even during the Civil Rights movement, the League was not as present as we should have been. While activists risked their lives to register black voters in the South, the League’s work and our leaders were late in joining to help protect all voters at the polls. It wasn’t until 1966 that we reached our first position to combat discrimination. Still, our focus on social policy was from a comfortable distance afar—not on the front lines.

Today, the League is developing a new path forward, acknowledging and facing uncomfortable truths and lifting up the contributions of the black, brown and indigenous women leaders in the suffrage movement. We are guided by our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policy. We commit to developing partnerships, organizational structure and culture which are inclusive and welcoming of diverse membership and leadership.

We commit unwaveringly to defending - for everyone - the rights and responsibilities inherent to democracy.

This article, reprinted with permission, was originally published in 2021 by League of Women Voters of Philadelphia.