The McNay Celebrates the Centennial of Women’s Suffrage
By Kira Sandoval, Educator, K–12 Engagement
To celebrate the centennial of the ratification of the 19th amendment, we would like to honor a young woman in our San Antonio community and one of our recently graduated Teen Art Guides (TAGs), Ciara Casarez! We are proud to have her as part of the McNay family, proud of her contributions as a TAG, and proud of her commitment to the San Antonio community.
On May 21, 1919, the House of Representatives passed the 19th amendment. A year later on August 18, 1920, Tennessee was the 36th state to ratify the amendment, finalizing agreement among three-fourths of the United States, a long fought-for and anticipated accomplishment. On August 26, 1920, the ratification was officially certified, thus officially adding the amendment to the US Constitution. This monumental event ushered in women’s suffrage, and guaranteed women’s right to vote:
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
One hundred years later, we celebrate this milestone by amplifying the award-winning design of graduating senior Ciara Casarez.
Ciara served as one of the McNay’s TAGs for the 2019-2020 school year. An emerging designer who graduated from Communications Arts High School, Ciara’s TAG experiences included assisting with family programs, co-organizing College Night, and supporting education programs at the Museum.
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If you have exercised your right to vote this 2020 election cycle, you might already be familiar with some of her design work. Last October, Ciara entered a Bexar County contest to design the “I Voted” sticker for the county. The contest was open to high school students in Bexar County. Ciara won the category for digital design and Celeste Partida, a sophomore at Memorial High School, won the category for hand-drawn design. These students were chosen from close to seventy image submissions. Both of their designs will be available at polling locations in Bexar County throughout the remainder of the 2020 election cycle, notably an important year for voting as there is a presidential election.
Ciara put much thought and research into her digital design. She researched voting stickers from multiple other states to see what was commonly visually incorporated into the designs, and many times landmarks were used as the imagery for stickers. Keeping that information in mind, she then pondered how to represent both Texas and Bexar County at the same time– coming to the conclusion that she wanted to use Texas colors with the iconic San Antonio landmark, the Alamo. As a bilingual Latina herself, she also wanted to be inclusive and representative of the San Antonio community by representing the Latinx community through language. She then incorporated “¡Yo voté!” in Spanish to accompany the classic “I Voted!” text on the sticker. Lastly, Ciara utilized the help of friends and teachers by polling them (pun intended) through text and Instagram polls on which of her initial 4 designs they liked best. (See final design pictured at the top of this page)
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Ciara’s initial designs
Ciara is headed to the University of Texas in Austin this fall to study– what else? Design! We are excited to see where her journey takes her. This presidential election will be the first election Ciara will be eligible to vote in. It is inspiring to see that Bexar County teens are paying attention to current events and election cycles, and expressing their political voices through whatever creative outlets they can!
Related:
Visit the League of Women Voters website for non-partisan voter guides and educational materials regarding elections. Use these resources to make you your most informed self before voting in any election!
https://my.lwv.org/texas/voters-guide
Are you registered to vote? Did you move recently? Not sure if you are still registered? Want to know what is on your ballot? Where your polling site is?
Visit Vote411 to answer all of your questions and get ready to VOTE!
Need a ride to the polls? Check out Via’s Ride Via to Vote program here for a free ride with your voter registration card:
https://www.viainfo.net/community/#vote
More on women’s suffrage:
