ORLANDO, Fla. — It's a significant milestone in the fight for equality: August 18, 2020 marks 100 years since the passage of 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote.

“It is a significant, historic moment. We need to remember it and honor those women who fought so hard," said Patricia Brigham, who serves as president of the League of Women Voters of Florida. “We want women to know that nothing has been handed to us. We had to take the vote."

While suffrage was first proposed in 1878, it took decades for women to finally secure the right in 1920.

State after state ratified the amendment, with 36 needed in order to vote it into law. 

Yet, Brigham notes Florida was "behind the curve," resisting ratification until May 13, 1969.

For women of color, suffrage wasn’t immediate either.​ 

“I’m proud that the amendment passed, however we have to admit it didn’t open a whole lot of doors for African Americans," said Fairolyn Livingston, a lifelong Central Floridian. “There were black women all over the country involved in that movement. You don’t hear very much about those women.”

That's why Livingston holds close stories of Central Florida women, like Mary McLeod Bethune, who struggled for the right to vote.

“It’s so important to remember them so we can see people who look like us," she said.

Inside a tan, two-story building located on New England Avenue in Winter Park, the 74-year-old guides special projects and tours of the exhibits at Hannibal Square Heritage Center. 

Livingston carefully wipes down black and white, framed photos of prominent African Americans who once lived in the historic community. Her own picture, that of a smiling, sixth grade girl, hangs in the gallery as well. A "good student," as she describes, Livingston went to then-segregated Hannibal Square Elementary. She's since moved to Mount Dora.

But, the moment which shaped her life would be when she turned 21 in the 1960s and registered to vote.

“We realized how critical that was and important that was, ‘cause voting equals power. I wanted to have that power," she said. "You go to the voting polls and vote for change."

While voicing her opinion and exercising her right was liberating, Livingston said that years of voter suppression in the form of poll taxes and futile tests took a toll on the Black community.

It wasn't until the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 that African Americans were, too, guaranteed the right to vote.

And there's still suppression to this day, she said, adding, "We still haven't gotten there yet."

Now, Livingston spends her time encouraging family members to vote, even helping them herself by printing registrations and taking forms to their homes or making copies of their drivers' licenses. 

It's that important, Livingston said. 

“It pains me when I hear somebody say, 'Oh, no need to vote. They’re going to do what they want to do.' Yes, they’re going to do what they want to do, as long as you don’t vote," she said. “It means everything, everything.”