Citizens stand up and speak out for the right to vote in a new exhibit.
By Adam Grybowski
Inspired by a historic election in which the first African-American has been nominated for president of the United States, the Historical Society of Princeton has organized an exhibit, Stand Up, Speak Out: Princeton Citizens Find Their Voice, that examines the progress of universal voting rights in the United States and the importance of political participation.
"The exhibit was inspired by the election, but the goal is (for viewers) to understand the long-term issues," says Eileen Morales, curator and historical society project director. "We wanted to make sure the issues have meaning and resonate after the election is over."
Both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution do not mention voting rights. That is, the Constitution had to be amended to address the issue, and only through those amendments — the 15th, 19th and 26th – were African-Americans, women and young adults, respectively, granted the right to vote.
Stand Up, Speak Out traces important episodes of each group’s struggle to achieve equality, with an eye on how those episodes played out in Princeton. Through photographs, newspaper stories, political memorabilia, first-hand artifacts and interactive installments, the exhibit reinforces and informs this historic moment.
Sen. Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination Aug. 28, the anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s "I Have a Dream" speech. The next day, Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, chose Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate, the first time his party has selected a female as their vice-presidential candidate.
Neither event would have been possible without the victories of the anti-slavery, suffrage or civil rights movements. And the youth vote that has responded so favorably to Sen. Obama’s campaign is only possible because of the youth movement’s achievements of the 1960s.
The 15th Amendment
Although the 15th amendment was ratified in 1870, prohibiting the denial of a citizen the right to vote based on his or her race, nearly 100 years passed before the right was defended and upheld.
Defying the Constitution, southern states employed brutal, unreasonable tactics to deny blacks their right to vote, including literacy tests, one of which is presented in the exhibit. The tests were rigorous and graded in private. Even if test takers answered every question correctly, they could still be denied the right to vote. Such tactics, which included physical and economic retaliation, persisted until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed, outlawing discriminatory voting processes.
Princeton’s elementary schools were not integrated until 1948. One hundred and sixty-five years earlier, in 1783, Quaker groups in Princeton delivered a petition to Congress, which at the time was seated in Princeton. The petition contained over 500 signatures, all in support of ending slavery. In 1870 African Americans marched in Princeton to motivate New Jersey to ratify the 15th amendment. (New Jersey finally ratified the amendment in 1871 after initially rejecting it.) African-American citizens in Princeton formed numerous civic groups in the 1960s, including the Princeton Association for Human Rights, whose goal was "full participation in the life of its community for all its citizens."
The 19th Amendment
Women first organized to demand for the right to vote at a convention in Seneca Fall, N.Y., in 1848. More than 70 years would pass before their demand was answered.
In the 1900s women began a direct lobbying campaign combined with public action to voice their cause. Alice Paul founded the National Women’s Party. Suffragists picketed the White House. The Princeton Suffrage Committee was formed in 1915. Images and memorabilia of the time are presented in the exhibit.
New Jersey held a referendum on a suffrage amendment to the state constitution in 1915. President Woodrow Wilson, reversing his early opposition, traveled to Princeton borough to cast his vote of support. The referendum was defeated.
The 19th amendment, prohibiting any state or federal government from denying a citizen’s right to vote based on sex, was ratified in 1920. In 1932 women in Princeton formed a branch of the League of Women Voters. The group is still active today. A portrait of the group is presented in the exhibit alongside an installment of the mayors of Princeton borough and township, both of whom are women.
The 26th Amendment
Congress ratified the 26th amendment in 1971, standardizing voting age at 18. Student activism fighting for voting rights occurred alongside civil rights. The voting age of 21 was based on English and Colonial precedent, and remained intact through World War II, when President Roosevelt lowered the draft age to 18. "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote" became a slogan for proponents of lowering voting age to 18. The tipping point came during the Vietnam War. College students across the country took up the cause.
The first disruptive political protest at Princeton University happened in 1967, with students standing up against the Princeton branch of the Institute for Defense Analysis, a nonprofit that conducted research for the Pentagon. Stand Up, Speak Out presents numerous images of student activists.
"The university students weren’t sheltered," Ms. Morales says. "You think of Kent State, but things were happening here too. Normally we think of the university students as isolated, but they were interested in what was going on — in Vietnam especially."
The 1970 graduation honored Bob Dylan and Coretta Scott King. The graduating class wore business attire and armbands, a departure from the tradition of cap and gowns. They requested the FitzRandolph Gateway, a barrier between the university and the rest of the community that was opened only for special occasions, be opened permanently
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Stand Up, Speak Out: Princeton Citizen’s Find Their Voice, presented by the Historical Society of Princeton, Bainbridge House, 158 Nassau St., Princeton, Sept. 3-July 5, 2009; curator’s talk, Oct. 5, 2 p.m.; hours: Tue.-Sun., noon-4 p.m., free; (609) 921-6748; www.princetonhistory.org