WEST POINT – By 1913, an already decades-old suffrage movement had helped earn women the right to vote in some state and local elections. But a procession on March 3 of that year down Washington, D.C.’s Pennsylvania Avenue drew thousands of women from all over the country demanding their voting rights be fully equal to men.
Members of a startup sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, participated in that march. It was the group’s first public act since forming two months before.
“It really sealed our focus on scholarship, service, social action and sisterhood,” Reita Humphries, president for the Clay County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Theta Sorority, told The Dispatch. “It also put us on the forefront of the political scene.”
Wearing a blouse, skirt and hat reminiscent of early 20th century garb, Humphries stood Sunday afternoon in the West Point Post Office parking lot on Commerce Street holding an American flag and donning a sash that read, “Votes For Women.” Her friend, Carolyn Poston, wore a similar outfit and held a poster board sign that read, “Physical Integrity Rights!”
They weren’t alone.
Roughly 50 women marched through downtown Sunday to reenact the 1913 National Woman Suffrage Association procession, celebrating both Women’s History Month and the sorority’s “Sisterhood Month,” Humphries said. The route started at the Post Office, went north on Commerce Street, down East Main and East streets and concluded with a short program outside Sally Kate Winters Family Services on North Division Street.
Some marchers held signs calling back to the old fight, demanding the vote for women. Others carried signs for more contemporary issues, such as reproductive rights and equal pay for equal work.
All were encouraged to wear period dress from 1913. A vast majority obliged.
Poston, a Delta Sigma Theta alumna who helped organize the event, said finding those outfits was easier than you might imagine.
“Google and Amazon,” she said, laughing. “It’s out there.”
Timika James-Jones, the sorority alumnae’s social action coordinator for Mississippi and District 51 representative in the state legislature, drove 2 1/2 hours from her home in Yazoo City to take part.
She said both the idea for the reenactment and the turnout were “phenomenal,” and she hopes other communities do their own.
“We must celebrate all the accomplishments of womanhood,” she said.
But for all the progress, Poston said women still have work to do to achieve their right to true social and political equality.
“There’s still some resistance,” she said. “… We’ve come a long way since 112 years ago. But we still have some rights (we need). Social rights, like the rights to take care of our own body.”
Elizabeth Bailey, a member of the West Point Clay County School District Board, jumped at the chance to participate in Sunday’s march, also dressed for the part. Without the women’s suffrage movement, she noted, she’d likely never have gotten to serve on the school board. But like Poston, she believes modern women’s movements must remain vigilant.
“Take your eyes off the prize, and you lose the prize,” Bailey said.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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