EUREKA – Eureka College will mark the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in Illinois with a commemorative program featuring music, dance, poetry, dramatic readings and stories about Eureka College alumnae who were important in the women’s suffrage movement. 

The program will be at 7:30 p.m. March 26 in Becker Auditorium in the Cerf Center. It is free and open to the public. A reception will follow. 

“Eureka College has a rich history linked to the suffrage movement, as reform-minded women and men from this institution promoted women’s voting rights both in Illinois and across the nation,” said Eureka College history professor Junius Rodriguez.  

The program will feature two speakers who will highlight the century of progress and encourage those who will be the next generation of leaders, Rodriguez said. 

 Annette Dyar Sherman, a Eureka College alumna from the class of 1941, will speak about the tremendous expansion of opportunities for women and girls that she has witnessed in her lifetime. 

Rebecca “Becky” Weber of Metamora, who recently was installed as the national Director of Junior Clubs for the General Federation of Women’s Clubs International, will speak about the expanded opportunities that exist today for girls and women and the outlook for progress in the years ahead.

The story of expanded rights for women has always been central to the story of Eureka College, Rodriguez said. Eureka College was the first school in Illinois and the third in the nation to educate women on an equal basis with men, he said. 

On June 26, 1913, Gov. Edward F. Dunne signed the Illinois Municipal Voting Act into law making Illinois the first state east of the Mississippi River to allow women to vote in local and presidential elections. Many Illinois women participated in suffrage events in Washington, D.C., to gain the right for women in the rest of the country.

On Aug. 26, 1920, women across the nation received the right to vote with the final ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.