Dear Humans,

When I was growing up and learning history I remember thinking of it as a march. The right things would and will eventually happen for everyone if they just waited long enough. Justice would prevail through consensus…eventually.

But as I read more and learn more, I see how wrong that point of view is. This year is the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. 100 years ago was 1920, a full 144 years after the American Revolution. And for all of those 144 years (and in the hundred years up to today), women were fighting to gain the right to vote and their rights to be full citizens.

But there was resistance because the people who had the power did not want to share it. But suffragists (the name for the women from all walks of life who fought for the vote) insisted. And they marched and they protested and they wrote letters. And they kept at it for 144 years and they still keep at it today.

And that’s the only way history ever changes.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck