SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN — On June 10, 1919, Michigan became one of the first states to ratify the 19th Amendment, which was meant to give U.S. citizen women the Constitutional right to vote.

The Mitten State, Wisconsin and Illinois were the first three states to ratify it, doing so six days after it was passed by Congress.

A century later, the League of Women Voters of Berrien and Cass Counties are hosting two performances to celebrate a landmark in U.S. history while also raising awareness of voting rights issues since.

“Conversations with a Suffragist” is a one-woman show featuring Megan Burnett, associate professor of speech and theatre and theatre program director at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky.

She will portray Mattie Griffith Browne — a Kentuckian suffragette, abolitionist and author — at Vickers Theatre in Three Oaks at 3 p.m. Sept. 18 and the Box Factory for the Arts in St. Joseph at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 19. The cost is $10.

Burnett’s Berrien County performances are among the first stops of her tour as organizations book her to commemorate the 19th Amendment being officially ratified on Aug. 18, 2020.

“When we found out about this woman that was a suffragette and an abolitionist, we were overjoyed,” said Judy Scully, local League of Women Voters Suffragette Committee Chair and owner of Vickers Theatre.

Browne was born in 1828 to a slave-owning family. Later on, she wrote “Autobiography of a Female Slave” to raise money to free the African-Americans her family owned. She later became a suffragist.

Scully said that Browne is not among the well-remembered suffragists in history, but that shows the depth of the voting rights movement.

“It shows how many people were really involved in this besides the big names, which is really true of any kind of movement,” Scully said. “Isn’t it the truth, really? The groundswell of a lot of people.”

Scully also said Browne’s story is important because it teaches a part of history that many Americans forget or do not know of.

“Not only was she a suffragette, she was an abolitionist,” she said. “This really helped us solidify the direction we wanted to take. Even though the suffragettes at the turn of the [20th] Century were just incredible, forward-thinking women, they don’t joyfully embrace, for example, the black population.”

While the 19th Amendment was enacted in 1920, many minority groups still faced voting discrimination. Asian immigrants were not allowed to become U.S. citizens, let alone vote, until the McCaren Walter Act of 1952.

Native American and black citizens were often barred from voting by law loopholes or rejection at the polls. It was not until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed that some frequent forms of voting discrimination were barred by law.

Some Latino citizens were kept from voting until the Voting Rights Act was extended in 1975, making certain locations provide bilingual ballots and voting materials.

Burnett and the League of Women Voters will use “Conversations with a Suffragist” to speak about the long history of fights for voting rights and the voting restrictions that still exist today.

“At the same time, we celebrate the 19th Amendment, which was a long time coming. We also need to acknowledge that the work is incomplete,” said Marilyn Klawiter, former local League of Women Voters chapter president.

Klawiter said people like Browne across generations that were involved in setting the stage for the 19th Amendment’s passage each wanted to ensure the right to vote was extended equally.

Today, the League of Women Voters seeks to ensure everyone is able to vote, encouraged to vote, has the information they need to vote and has the ability to cast the vote, according to the league.

Klawiter said that voting rights have been better secured in some arenas.

She gave the example of the Proposal Three, which was approved by two-thirds of Michigan voters during the 2018 elections. Laws like straight-ticket voting, automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration and no-excuse absentee voting are being created because of it.

“The ability to make it to the polls does not preclude the ability to actually vote,” Klawiter said.

In other arenas, however, the former president said voting restrictions were still present.

She noted that at least a third of voting-age people tend not to vote. According to the Michigan Secretary of State’s office, 55 to 65 percent of the voting age population tends to vote in general elections, while 40 to 55 percent vote does so in gubernatorial elections.

Results from the 2018 election in Berrien County show that municipalities with larger populations of non-white citizens or low-income households had a weaker voter turnout than municipalities with smaller populations of non-white citizens and low-income households.

While Klawiter did not cite why voting issues between municipalities and low statewide turnout numbers existed, she did provide ways to encourage turnout at the polls.

She said the League of Women Voters hosts numerous events to encourage voter registration, which she said will be easier thanks to Proposal Three’s passing.

“We really had an important series of voter registrations,” she said. “We’ll do that again this coming month. Sept. 24 is National Voter Registration Day, and we’ll have some events surrounding that.”

The League of Women Voters’ lead cause, however, is informing voters, Klawiter said. It does so through candidate forums, printed materials and its website, vote411.org.

“We really do our best to provide as much information as we can on issues that are before voters, and we do this only in the completely non-partisan way,” she said. “The LWV is committed to non-partisanship, which is something that is particularly important in today’s political climate.”

Informational materials will be available at both “Conversations with a Suffragist” events.