NILES — National Women’s Month kicked off as the month of March arrived. This year marks an important anniversary in women’s history: the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

The Niles History Center and Niles District Library are teaming up to host an event on Thursday, March 12, titled “Getting the Vote: Michigan Women and the Path to Suffrage.”

Ruth Stevens will be the featured speaker at the event, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Niles District Library.

Stevens is a retired professor who taught courses, including women and the law, at Grand Valley State University.

“She’s been doing some other talks at local organizations,” said Christina Arseneau, director of the Niles History Center.  “We thought it would be good if we had her here too in Niles, because we have suffrage history here that we want her to touch on.”

The history comes together in multiple ways in the Niles area.

“The biggest local connection that we have so far, certainly she talks about Michigan, and here in Niles is the Women’s Progressive League, which was formed in 1912. It was formed to work for civic improvement. In 1916, they included a suffrage committee,” Arseneau said. “We also have the connection through Lottie Wilson, who was an African-American artist, who was also a civil rights and suffrage advocate.”

Arseneau said Stevens has expressed interest in Niles’ ties to the suffrage movement.

“Ruth Stevens, before we even talked to her, Lottie Wilson was kind of on her radar,” Arseneau said. “She mentioned her at some of her other talks, and then she got in touch with us to find out what else she could about her.”

As the fight for women’s suffrage continued on the national stage, Michigan found itself in the national conversation often due to efforts made to push for the vote on state and local levels.

Stevens will be speaking generally about Michigan and women’s suffrage, beginning as early as the mid-19th Century.

According to the Niles History Museum event page, Ruth Stevens earned a J.D. from the University of Michigan and a master’s in library and information science from Wayne State University. She is currently a member of the board of the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council. She has been published in the “Michigan Historical Review,” featuring a piece on Ella Mae Backus, who was the first female assistant U.S. attorney in Michigan.

Stevens has been working recently to fill in gaps of the women’s suffrage movement history in Michigan, according to the Niles History Center.