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VOLUME 10 • ISSUE 11
7124 WINDSOR LAKE PARKWAY, SUITE 5 • LOVES PARK, IL 61111
Recognizing 50 years
The Environmental Defenders of McHenry County was proud to be presented with a proclamation in honor of its 50th anniversary at the City of Woodstock’s City Council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 18. A group of volunteers, members and board members was present to receive the award from Mayor Brian Sager and the City Council. The Environ-
THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020
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mental Defenders is grateful to the City of Woodstock for the honor as well as their partnership in many areas of environmental stewardship from land and water preservation and waste reduction to sustainable energy. The Environmental Defenders will celebrate on March 8 with a special 50th Anniversary Dinner at McHenry Country Club.
Lecture Series features ‘Alice Paul’ For historic dramatist Leslie Goddard, there was an immediate connection with the suffragette firebrand Alice Paul. “My dissertation was on the women’s movement,” said Goddard, who earned a doctorate in history from Northwestern University. “And the reason I decided to do her was she was not really well known.” Goddard, a theater and history major from Darien, presents “Alice Paul: Winning Votes for Women” at 7 p.m. Monday, March 9, at the McHenry County Historical Museum, 6422 Main St. in Union. It is the first of four programs, as part of the Society’s storied 34th annual Sampler Lecture Series. “It took 72 years from the time the first call was made. This commitment to get women the vote took a lot longer and was a lot harder fought than people realize,” Goddard said. “Getting there took a lot of persistence and it encouraged a lot of innovative types of persuasion. It was like the non-violent protest of (Mahatma) Gandhi or for civil rights. It was constantly showing up and being there. “That endurance and not giving up; that is a great message for anyone interested in activism.” Born Jan. 11, 1885, into a New Jersey Quaker family, Paul embraced the cause of women’s rights with unstoppable zeal. Highly educated, with degrees in sociology, economics and law, she commanded attention—be it leading demonstrations or even while cooling her heels in jail. In 1916 she founded the National Woman’s Party and 1923 she introduced the Equal Rights Amendment. It states, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” Passed by Congress in 1972 and sent to the states for ratification, it has taken this long to secure the necessary thee-quarter approval.
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Leslie Goddard (above) will portray Alice Paul, shown at right in 1920, activist and leader in the movement to allow women to vote. (Library of Congress photo).
The last three states to ratify the ERA—Nevada (2017), Illinois (2018) and Virginia (2020)—are suing to force its adoption as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; at the very same time Nebraska, Tennessee Idaho, Kentucky and South Dakota are attempting to rescind their ratification of the amendment. “It’s funny to think what she would say about it,” Goddard said of Paul. “She often said that people make it so complicated. It doesn’t need to be.”