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Leaguers Come to Life at Final Brechner Series Lecture

Published on 4/16/2019

You’ve heard of our LWVOC “warriors for democracy”? We saw them in the flesh April 14 during the final program in a four-part series sponsored by the League of Woman Voters and the Orange County Regional History Center.

Former LWVOC president (as well as former Orange County mayor) Linda Chapin, dressed in a white suit representing the color favored by suffragists, spoke about the early days of activism by women, including Lucy Burns. Jailed with other picketers in 1917, Burns was tortured and painfully force-fed during a jail hunger strike. The efforts by Burns and many others resulted in the 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920. It had been a 72-year fight to get the vote, Chapin said. The League of Women Voters, founded to educate women on voting, also began in 1920.

Joy Wallace Dickinson, outfitted old-school, complete with hat and gloves, said planning for a local LWV started in 1936 with the Winter Park-Orlando organization founded in May 1939, meaning that we locals celebrate our 80th birthday this year. Through the war years and the postwar years, the League was involved in such issues as affordable housing, services for the poor and milk safety, as well as advocating for an updated state constitution.

Lisa Adkins, layered in outfits representing the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, said the state LWV was finally successful in 1968 in getting that new constitution ratified. In addition, the era Lisa covered saw the admission of men into the League, environmental activism and a campaign to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.

Carol Davis, another former LWVOC president, said the late 20th and early 21st centuries saw a major push to register voters (many of them, in fact, registered by Carol and her husband Charles). And the League was a tenacious advocate for environmental preservation, fair districts and mass transit. She paid tribute to such Central Florida/League doers as Fran Pignone, Deirdre Macnab and Glenda Hood.

Finally, Joan Erwin – in her superwoman attire – guided us to the future while enumerating League triumphs in felon rights, water preservation, voter guides, gun safety leadership, juvenile justice reform, solar energy. She said that the League has taught us that we can make a difference and that grass-roots campaigns work, citing successful petition drives sponsored by the LWV.

For a complete understanding of LWVOC history, check out the just-published “Warriors for Democracy: The Story of the League of Women Voters of Orange County, Florida,” written by LWVOC member Ann Patton.

Submitted by Dean Johnson