“While I am president, America will always honor its heroes, and we will always celebrate the patriots who secured women’s right to vote,” President Trump declared in August at the signing of a proclamation on the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. On that day, he issued a long-overdue pardon to Susan B. Anthony, a well-known and much-beloved leader of the women’s suffrage movement who was unjustly convicted for voting because of her sex.
Last week, the Trump administration honored a lesser known trailblazer in the fight for a women’s right to vote.
This year is the 150th anniversary of Seraph Young Ford making history as the first woman to vote in the United States under an equal suffrage law, when she cast an early-morning ballot in the Salt Lake City municipal elections. Seraph went on to marry a Civil War veteran, Seth Ford, and bore three children in Utah before moving to New York and later Maryland. Seraph’s husband struggled with health challenges related to his service during the Civil War; Seraph took care of him until his death in 1910, when he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
After her own death in 1938 at the age of 91, Seraph was buried next to her husband at Arlington. Although it was his status as a veteran of the Union Army that allowed her to be buried there, it is appropriate that Seraph rests with so many other courageous men and women who played a vital role in American history.
Unfortunately, Seraph’s name was misspelled on the headstone marking her final resting place. It remained misspelled for 82 years, through 13 U.S. presidencies. After being made aware of the mistake on the headstone by Better Days 2020, a Utah-based nonprofit, the Trump administration led the effort to correct the spelling of Seraph’s name, 100 years after the 19th Amendment granted all American women the right to vote.
In order to further honor this pioneering woman and lift up her story, the White House organized a commemorative ceremony last week, held beside Seraph’s newly corrected headstone. The White House also worked with Arlington to make sure Seraph is highlighted in the cemetery’s list of prominent women buried in that hallowed ground. Seraph Young Ford will never be forgotten, and visitors from all over the world will now learn about her first vote and her pivotal role in America’s suffrage history.
President Trump understands that empowering women means implementing an agenda that enhances freedom and creates opportunities for women and families. Under his leadership, women saw their lowest unemployment rate in 65 years and filled 71% of all new jobs in 2019. His policies have led to the doubling of the child care tax credit, 12 weeks of paid parental leave for federal employees, expanding apprenticeships and vocational education, massive investments to combat human trafficking and launching the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative that will reach 50 million women in the developing world.
Not only does President Trump empower women across the country and around the globe, but I have seen the way he empowers women in his administration. Some of the smartest, toughest and most talented women I have ever met are the women that work for or around the president. We hold leadership positions in domestic policy, legislative affairs, cabinet affairs, press and communications, the legal office and more. The president we serve recognizes that women contribute to the strength and security of our country, and makes supporting women and working families a top priority. We are particularly proud that he has made history by nominating the first working mother of school-age children to the Supreme Court.
Today, 131 women serve in Congress, nine serve as governors of their states and more than 11 million women own successful businesses. I, my colleagues in the White House, and all of these women stand on the shoulders of Seraph Young Ford and many others like her who paved the way to women’s full participation in the civic and economic life of our nation. The White House is proud to celebrate the legacy of women’s suffrage in this centennial year, and will continue to empower women in all walks of life whose talent and hard work make this country great.
Brooke Rollins serves in the White House as an assistant to the president and the acting director of the Domestic Policy Council.