Next week, Drury University’s Meador Center will be continuing its annual speaker series by hosting award-winning journalist Elaine Weiss. The discussion will focus on the ratification of the 19th Amendment, women’s right to vote and the upcoming 100th anniversary of the amendment next year. The discussion will be held Thursday, Sept. 19 at 6 p.m., free to the public.

“Elaine Weiss has written quite a bit on women’s issues, and she has written a book called The Woman’s Hour that came out a couple of years ago, and she’s coming to speak on the book and the final push through Tennessee, which got us to the requisite number of states for the Amendment to be ratified,” said Dr. Dan Ponder, professor of political science and director of the Meador Center.

According to Dr. Ponder, the decision to have this year’s first Meador Center discussion focus on the Women’s Suffrage movement was an easy one to make.

“Back in November when I was giving a talk to the League of Women Voters, several members came up afterwards, and I said that we’re going to cover the centennial commemoration,” explained Ponder. “We all sat down and talked, and a lot of them had read [the book] and loved it, and I realized that this had struck a chord, so I started figuring out the logistics of getting her here.”

On Sept. 20, the Friday after the discussion, a second panel discussion will be hosted at Carnegie library at 11 a.m. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Katie Gilbert, professor of English and director of Drury’s humanities and ethics center, and will host discussions by Dr. Elizabeth Paddock, professor of political science; Dr. Sabrina Brinson, professor of childhood education and family studies at MSU; and Ms. Weiss.

“We were really lucky that Elaine was so willing to work with us,” said Dr. Gilbert. Dr. Gilbert also serves as a board member for Missouri’s southwest chapter of the League of Women Voters. “Elaine’s talk on Thursday will be on the suffrage movement in 1920, and the discussion the next day will be on women’s voting rights in 2019.”

If you’re interested in being able to take part in the discussion and speak with Ms. Weiss, make sure and attend the panel discussion next Thursday, and make sure to keep your eyes open for other Meador Center panels throughout the school year!

Article written by Ryan Smith