WATCH: Burlington County Video Celebrates Women's Suffrage

BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ — Burlington County officials marked the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment extending the right to vote to women with the release of a video celebrating the amendment and its impacts. The video can be seen below.

Titled “19 Powerful Women to Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment,” the 30-minute video features women leaders from Burlington County and New Jersey speaking about the amendment’s importance and impact, and the role of suffragists like Alice Paul, who was raised on her family’s farmstead in Mount Laurel.

“The amendment’s ratification was more than just a political victory. It was the culmination of a decades-long battle by women for not only full citizenship, but also equality,” Burlington County Freeholder Director Felicia Hopson said in the video’s introduction.

Speakers also discuss how Black women remained disenfranchised for another 45 years, as well as the still ongoing struggle to protect voting rights and achieve equality for all men and women, regardless of race, sex, religion or social class.

“While we still have a great deal of work to do in reaching the full participation of women in leadership at all levels of decision-making — political, economic and public life — we must pause for a moment and look back at how far we’ve come,” First Lady Tammy Murphy said.

“Suffragists like Alice Paul faced taunts, threats, mobs and even imprisonment. Through their courage and perseverance, they helped secured for women their long-denied political voice,” Hopson said. “Our Freeholder Board decided we wanted to honor these women and celebrate their historic achievement. The question became ‘How can we safely do that during this ongoing pandemic? The answer became this video. We recorded messages from 19 New Jersey women we believe epitomize what Alice Paul and the suffragists fought for.”

Hynes said she hoped the video would serve as inspiration for future women leaders.

“My message on this 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment is simple: we must support, we must mentor, we must inspire,” Hynes said. “Our next generation is our future, so we must do all we can to preserve their future.”

A complete list of speakers on the video is as follows:

• Dawn Marie Addiego, New Jersey Senator
• Lucienne Beard, Executive Director Alice Paul Institute
• Meghan Campbell, Palmyra Police Chief
• Crystal Charley-Sibley, Southern Burlington County NAACP President
• Eve Cullinan, Burlington County Administrator
• Carole Johnson, New Jersey Commissioner of Human Services
• Karen Henderson, Burlington County League of Women Voters
• Linda Hynes, Burlington County Freeholder
• Felicia Hopson, Burlington County Freeholder Director
• Lorene Moore, Burlington County Institute of Technology/Special Services School District Board of Education member
• Malika Morris, Burlington County Minority and Equality Rights Task Force Chair
• Carol Murphy, New Jersey Assembly member
• Tammy Murphy, First Lady, State of New Jersey
• Mary Ann O’Brien, Burlington County Surrogate
• Jean Stanfield, New Jersey Assembly member
• Millie Scholtz, retired Burlington County Warden
• Joanne Schwartz, Burlington County Clerk
• Jaclyn Veasy, Evesham Mayor
• Tiffani Worthy, Willingboro Mayor