Lead with your vote

Issue 147 — November 2, 2020

The leaves are starting to turn in New York’s Central Park. Daylight savings time has given us back the hour it stole last spring. The pandemic rages on.

And a momentous election is taking place. The world is watching. Americans have cast more early votes than any time in history. You can feel the anxiety in the air.

The best antidote to anxiety is action. So Take The Lead celebrated the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote and encouraged those who haven’t yet voted to do so. If you missed it, you can still participate.

We hosted “Lead with Your Vote” Thursday October 29 and we were inspired by a brilliant performance by Ari Afsar and Lauren Gunderson from their new “Jeannette: the Musical.”

Jeannette Rankin was the first woman elected to Congress and an ardent suffragist.

Broadway star Afsar played Eliza in the Chicago run of Hamilton. Gundersen is the most produced playwright on Broadway. The two have teamed up to share their talent generously during this difficult time, and we are so grateful for their support. Both the music and the storytelling about Jeannette Rankin shine the light on important history with lessons for today.

Rankin hailed from Montana, where women were granted the right to vote and she was elected before the 19th amendment was ratified. In fact 15 states passed Women’s suffrage laws prior to the Federal Constitutional amendment.

If you joined us, what was your favorite song? What suffrage fact did you learn that you hadn’t known before? Were you aware that due to Jim Crow laws, Black women especially in the South didn’t get to exercise their voting rights fully until the 1964 Voting Rights Act, and that Indigenous and Asian women’s voting rights weren’t available until as late as the 1950’s?

We were treated to a preview of the just released album “We Won’t Sleep,” featuring the theme song of that name plus other riveting songs including “Tennessee” (the story of the crucial vote that put the 19th amendment over the top), “Hellgate” about Rankin’s home town, and more.

If you weren’t able to join us, here’s a link to the video. Grab your favorite beverage and sit down to absorb it fully. You’ll be blown away.

And we hope you will be determined to use the power of your voice and votes, because we are in a time when Take The Lead’s mission of gender parity in leadership is more important than ever.

If you have already voted, hooray for you. If you haven’t, Jeannette’s story will inspire you to cast your vote that so many women fought and even died for. Be sure to track your vote if your state provides that option to make sure it gets counted.

And share this with 10 friends and family to make sure every eligible woman voter does the same. It’s your superpower.