August 18 is the 92nd birthday of the 19th amendment to the
Constitution that gave voting rights to women. American women
worked for at least 72 years – from 1848 to 1920–to expand the
franchise to include women. And as late at the 1960s, men and
women such as Fannie Lou Hamer took beatings for the right to
vote. Many religious traditions teach the importance of memory
and the importance of ancestor respect. In traditional African
cosmology, the ancestors remain a part of the living community.
We remember and rely on their wisdom and their work to inform,
inspire and strengthen our own efforts. Memory is at once moral
and holy.  Our foremothers and some forefathers worked to gain
the right to vote for women because they understood it as an
inalienable human right. They considered it sacred. In the
Declaration of Sentiments presented at the First Women’s Rights
Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, the first item on a list
of grievance of woman against man is the denial of voting
rights. It says: “He has never