HSLIC News

The Library is working to make sure you have the support you need to reach your goals and this includes workshops to assist with a variety of topics. Our calendar of events is updated regularly and can be found on the Library homepage (to the right of the search box). We currently have classes up for Zotero, PubMed, Impostor Syndrome, and Implicit Bias. Dates, times, and registration information is all listed on our calendar. You can reach out to our Student Success and Engagement Librarian, Kelleen Maluski, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions.

Just because the physical building is closed doesn't mean HSLIC isn't still here to assist in any way we can! You can still book a consultation with a librarian to get assistance with your research and literature search needs. Simply go to our Ask a Librarian page to submit your request and a librarian will reach out as soon as possible to set up a time and send you your Zoom link. Not sure about the process? You can also submit questions through email or chat on that page!

100 years ago this week, the 19th Amendment was ratified. The 19th Amendment legally gave women the right to vote on a federal level.

The common narrative of the Suffrage Movement in the United States was initially relayed by wealthy white women from the movement in the series “History of Woman Suffrage.” This book series and the adoption of this particular group of women’s narrative as the primary historical record of the Suffrage Movement has perpetuated a lack of intersectionality and white supremacy within our understanding of how the 19th Amendment was fought for and came to be ratified.

In addition to this video be sure to check out this interview with Kimberlé Crenshaw.

We are still reckoning with the discriminatory, racist, and highly damaging practices that some of the most famous suffragettes (including Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton) practiced – this included, in many cases, not allowing Black or Indigenous women to march with them or attend conventions while still benefiting from their labor and gathering inspiration from their work and Indigenous communities. We need to do more to understand the dedication and impact of women of color within the movement as we work more to amplify their voices and needs in present day feminism. To better understand the impact these women made and continue to make, see – Women of Colour Were Crucial to Women’s Suffrage, It’s Time We Acknowledge Them (Independent) and ‘Crucial Voices’: The US Women Leading the Fight Against Voter Suppression (The Guardian).

Additionally, looking at the history of the Suffrage Movement in New Mexico is crucial to moving forward with women’s rights and understanding the importance of how we can ground ourselves within our community (including the heavy involvement of a UNM Librarian!).  The history of this movement in New Mexico also aptly shows how damaging discriminatory laws, steeped in white supremacy and misogyny, are to entire communities. However, we learn these lessons from ways in which New Mexico included more diverse women in the fight, but also in how they excluded others and continued to utilize racist ideas and tactics in the local movement. This history and how we can see its impact still today further prove why an understanding of intersectionality is important when we vote now. To learn more about New Mexico Suffrage, see – UNM’s Celebrating the Right of Women to Vote in New Mexico Guide and Part 1 & Part 2 of New Mexico and the Vote.

The fight for the 19th Amendment on a federal and local level is evidence of how important our right to vote is – not because women were able to receive that right but rather because we were legally denied that right for so long. Additionally, after the 19th Amendment was ratified, states passed other laws to discriminate against Black, Indigenous, Latina, and Asian women and bar them from voting. In fact, in New Mexico, Indigenous women didn’t get the all-encompassing right to vote until 1948 due to the fact that most Indigenous persons were considered “wards of the state.” Many of the Suffrage Movement women’s clubs disbanded after the 19th Amendment was ratified, sending the clear message that the struggle was for white women and Black, Asian, Latina, and Indigenous women were left to continue the fight on their own – and they did! The 19th Amendment being ratified was not the end of the Suffrage Movement and there are countless women of color who fought on in more extreme hardships to make sure every woman truly had the right to vote. Two upcoming books delve more into this important fight – Recasting the Vote: How Women of Color Transformed the Suffrage Movement and Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All and be sure to read Time’s interview ‘It’s a Struggle They Will Wage Alone.’ How Black Women Won the Right to Vote with Martha S. Jones (author of Vanguard).

This clearly shows us that if we don’t work to understand the platforms of our politicians and how they will represent our needs and vote accordingly, we risk continuing discriminatory laws. So, be sure to check your voter registration, review candidates, and make sure you know your options for voting (including early and mail-in) at NM Voter Information Portal. If you are interested in working the polls, you can also find information for volunteering for the Election Board.

Picture of HSLIC faculty member Jon Eldredge's daughter Gabriela with her great-grandmother’s or great-great-grandmother’s “Votes for Women” sash and the original owner Isabel Wheeler Belding (during the time that she was getting her master's at Columbia)!

Additional Resources:

• Zitkala-Ša (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin) on WomensVote100
• The 19th Amendment Didn’t Give Women the Right to Vote (Vox)
• 5 Myths About the 19th Amendment and Women’s Suffrage, Debunked (Time)

Welcome to all of our new and returning learners, as well as those of you who have been here throughout the entire summer. We are very excited to work with you all during the Fall 2020 semester and to provide you with the same great service you have come to expect from the Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center, with a few changes to formatting for our current times.

It is important to note that while the physical building is currently closed, the Library is very much still open! You can still access a majority of our materials online, utilize our pick up service for physical items, and book consultations with a librarian. We also now have a chat service and a more streamlined way to ask questions and book appointments, all of which can be found at Ask a Librarian.

To get familiar with our services check out our Library Services Guide, be sure to watch our Intro to Library Services video, and let us know if you have any questions!