As we celebrate 100 years since the ratification of the 19迟丑听Amendment and the granting of universal suffrage to women in the United States, it鈥檚 a reminder that such watershed moments are a true reflection of our nation鈥檚 complicated relationship with equality. The passage of the 19th聽Amendment was the culmination of decades of effort by suffragists to ensure women could not just vote, but become full and equal participants in our national life. In doing so, however, many white suffragists were willing to sacrifice progress for Black women. And in the century since, our national myth-making has continued to erase and discount the importance of women of color to the suffrage movement.
The complexity and contradiction inherent in this piece of our history is quintessentially 鈥淎merican.鈥� Our progress toward true equality has rarely followed a straight or simple line, and the same leaders who inspired transformational change also left confounding and difficult legacies. One way we can honor the spirit of their contributions is to reckon honestly with the ways in which they did and did not live up to their ideals and then dedicate ourselves to continuing the equity work left undone. Ultimately, future generations will have the same task of reckoning with the ways in which we both succeed and fail today.
It鈥檚 been said that history is written by the victors, but a crucial function of higher education is to interrogate, analyze and critique from more than just that comfortable perspective. In doing so, we develop and teach a more complete understanding of our history. To do this important work,聽colleges聽and聽universities must better聽engage with and聽reflect a fuller range聽of the perspectives of聽our聽students,聽faculty,聽staff and the communities we serve.
At the UW, we are committed to this work. It is reflected in our faculty鈥檚 powerful research on聽inequities聽from the聽criminal justice system to the health care system, and in the students whose lives are changed when they access a world-class education. As an institution, we continue to work for change through our聽Race & Equity Initiative, and through structural changes that remove barriers to admission and degree completion for our first-generation and BIPOC students.聽This requires us to look squarely at the ways in which higher education has served to maintain privilege and do the hard work of聽interrogating聽systems built on centuries of racism and sexism to uphold the status quo.
In that spirit, on the occasion of the centennial of the 19th 聽Amendment, the聽words of the Black suffragist Frances Harper resonate as聽clearly聽today as they did in 1893:聽鈥�.鈥澛燭hrough learning and critical engagement with the world, we honor the achievements of Harper and everyone whose work ultimately led to expanded suffrage, enfranchisement and equality. This is the core of our mission and our highest calling.