ORLANDO, Fla. — America celebrates 100 years of the 19th Amendment starting this month.
The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote, passed the US Senate on June 4, 1919. It was over a year before it was ratified by enough states to put it in the constitution.
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Meanwhile in Orlando, women voted for the first time on May 26, 1919, a full year earlier, in a municipal election.
So it made sense that Orlando honor some of its women’s rights leaders with a mural. And it’s even more fitting that women are painting it.
The new mural in Thorntorn Park, on Washington Street, was formally dedicated on June 4 by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Commissioner Patty Sheehan.
The mural features to women’s rights leaders in black and white.
Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune is best known for establishing a school for black girls in Daytona Beach that is now Bethune-Cookman University.
But she also worked to register black voters and fought efforts to block black people in the South from voting.
The other woman is Beth Johnson, the first woman to serve in the Florida Senate in 1963, who was also influential in getting women into the public arena through the local chapter of the League of Women Voters.
Johnson was also instrumental in establishing the University of Central Florida.
A quote from Johnson helped inspire the color blooms around the two ladies:
"At times their contribution may have been decisive, as other times only reiterative. In some cases the League may have planted the seed; in some it only added water or fertilizer. Sometimes we may have done a little needed plowing and harrowing; at other times, transplanting or grafting was in order. Some plants bloom quickly, and others, like the century plant - and revision of the United States Constitution - taker years of faithful husbandry before they flower."
Artists Sara Berlin, Melissa Hurcombe, Krista Hamby and Emory Alvarado created the mural on the side of the Burton’s Bar building, spending days painting in the hot Florida sun.
The women were putting the finishing touches and hope to have the piece finished by the end of this week.
The four women are part of WISP, a new group of Orlando based female artists who are working to promote art by women in the area.
The name stands for “What is She Painting?” a question they say they get often.
“We want everything to be bright, woman-inspired, powerful,” Berlin said.