BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. –
Team Beale celebrated Women's Equality Day by hosting a luncheon at the Community Activity Center here Aug. 26.
The luncheon commemorated the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which prohibits any U.S. citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. The amendment was the culmination of the women's suffrage movement of the late 1800s.
The guest speaker of the event was Diana Carpenter-Madoshi, a member of National Women's History Project's Board of Directors.
"Today we must reflect on all the sacrifices and contributions women have made throughout history," Carpenter-Madoshi said.
Starting in 1848, Thousands of women marched through cities, wrote editorials, gave speeches, lobbied political organizations, and held demonstrations with the goal of achieving voting rights for women.
Women also picketed the White House, marking the first time in history that a group of people picketed the president's home.
More than 70 years passed between the first major women's right conference to the passage of 19th Amendment.
"We have the responsibility not to forget our history," Carpenter-Madoshi said. "We have an obligation to pass the knowledge of equality to our future generations."
In a Presidential Proclamation honoring Women's Equality Day, President Barack Obama wrote, "...when women are free to pursue their own happiness in all aspects of their lives, they strengthen our families, enrich our communities and better our country. We know that when women succeed, America succeeds."