| The Montpelier Evening Argus was reporting
big news out of South Burlington on this day in 1920, and at the
center of it all was an 85 year old woman.
Sarah A. Burnham, a resident of South Burlington, was the first
woman to cast her vote at the primaries the previous Tuesday.
A woman’s right to vote was brand new, and Burnham wasn’t
going to let her vote go to waste. The female vote would change
American politics, and America.
For Burnham, voting was right in character. She was an active member
of her community, tended her own garden and, despite being 85, was
known to walk, ever so sprightly, to downtown Burlington and back.
Historic image courtesy Vermont State Library
Stamp image courtesy the U.S. Postal Service
|
Locally, an 85 year old woman had
gone to the polls to vote.
Nationally, the
19th Amendment had just been ratified, giving women the right
to vote.
|
