LWVNE co-presidents Linda Duckworth and Dianne Bystrom are organizing a road trip to Iowa on Feb. 13-14, 2020, to celebrate the centennial of the founding of the national League of Women Voters and participate in events leading up to the 100 th anniversary of the 19 th Amendment. Those interested in participating in the road trip to Iowa—which will include stops in Charles City, Mason City and Ames—should email
lindabduckworth@gmail.com or
dianne.bystrom@gmail.com as soon as possible and no later than Jan. 2, 2020. Reservations for the block of rooms being held at the Historic Park Inn in Mason City on Feb. 13, 2020, are also due by Jan. 2. Members can make their reservation at the Historic Park Inn by calling 641-422-0015 and asking for a room in the LWVNE block. The website for the Historic Park Inn—the last Frank Lloyd Wright designed and built hotel in the world—is:
Duckworth and Bystrom will help organize carpools for the road trip, based on the emails they receive from those interested in participating. The trip will include a tour of suffrage leader and LWV founder Carrie Chapman Catt’s Girlhood Home in Charles City on Feb. 13, a stay at the Historic Park Inn in Mason City on Feb. 13, and participation in the Iowa 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration Committee’s kick-off events at Iowa State University in Ames on Feb. 14. The Iowa kick-off events on Feb. 14 include a lecture by Elaine Weiss, author of The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote; a performance of The Yellow Rose of Suffrage, a one-woman play about Catt by Iowa State theatre professor emerita Jane Cox; and presentations on such topics as suffrage in the South, the role of women of color in the women’s suffrage movement, women’s political participation from 1920-2020 and the history of voting rights. Carpools will depart from Omaha by
7:30 a.m. on Feb. 13 to arrive in Charles City by noon. Participants will gather for lunch in downtown Charles City before a tour of Catt’s Girlhood Home. After the tour, participants will depart for Mason City, a 40-minute drive from Charles City, to check in at the Historic Park Inn. Efforts are underway to schedule a conversation, perhaps over dinner, with a local retired educator who is writing a book, Amazing Women of Early Mason City, about suffrage leaders from Mason City, including one with Omaha ties. On Feb. 14, the LWVNE road trip will depart around
9:30 a.m. for Iowa State University in Ames, a 90-minute drive.
Events celebrating the founding of the national League of Women Voters on this date in 1920 and the upcoming 100 th anniversary of the 19 th Amendment on Aug. 26 will begin at 11:30 a.m. with a screening of an excerpt from a new documentary on Catt produced by Iowa Public Television. Weiss’ lecture is scheduled for 1-2:15 p.m., followed by the Yellow Rose of Suffrage from 2:30-3:15 p.m. Two concurrent sessions will be held from 3:30-4:15 p.m. and 4:30-5:15 p.m., with presentations on “Suffrage in the South,” “Women’s Political Participation: 1920-2020,” “Iowa Stories,” including women of color in the suffrage movement; and the “19 th Amendment as Voting Rights History.” According to organizers, all concurrent session presentations will address diversity and inclusion. The Iowa kick-off will end with a reception from 5:15 to 6:30 p.m. with suffrage displays, including “Missing Faces and Silenced Voices: African-American Women’s Involvement in the Iowa Suffragist Movement,” a suffrage “selfie” station and suffrage songs.”Although the events at Iowa State continue until 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 14, carpools can be organized to leave Ames earlier that day,” Bystrom said. “Anyone interested in participating in the road trip should email Linda or me to let us know when they wish to leave Ames on Feb. 14. It is most important that those interested in the road trip make their room reservation at the Historic Park Inn in Mason City on Feb. 13 by Jan. 2″. The League of Women Voters of Nebraska will hold its Legislative Day at the Nebraska State Capitol on Feb. 12, 2020, paving the way for a road trip to Iowa on Feb. 13-14.
