FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 07, 2013
Contact: Communications Department, (573) 526-0949

Kander announces program on Missouri suffragettes

Jefferson City, Mo. – Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander today announced a program in recognition of National Women’s History Month highlighting how women gained the right to vote in Missouri. The program will be held at the Missouri State Archives, a division of his office, on Thursday, March 14, 2013, at 7 p.m. Author Margot McMillen will be discussing her new book,The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History.

In "The Golden Lane," author Margot McMillen shares how a protest by thousands of women at a 1916 convention in St. Louis changed minds and helped make voting rights for women a reality. On the morning of June 14, 1916, delegates to the convention found themselves the object of a protest. Outside the Jefferson Hotel, where many of the all-male delegates were staying, thousands of women lined both sides of Locust Street, standing shoulder to shoulder and wearing yellow sashes on which was printed "Votes for Women." Any man who would conduct the party's business was obliged to take an uncomfortable walk down this "Golden Lane."

In her book, McMillen explores the struggle for women’s suffrage in Missouri and the instrumental part the 1916 protest played in advancing the issue.

The Missouri State Archives is the official repository for state documents of permanent historic value, and is located at 600 W. Main St. in Jefferson City. All programs at the Archives are free of charge and open to the public, with seating available on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information on this and other programming at the Archives, contact Emily Luker, (573) 526-5296 or emily.luker@sos.mo.gov.

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