A Voice of Our Own: Leading American Women Celebrate the Right to Vote - Hardcover

This book was conceived by the League of Women Voters in honor of the 75th anniversary of the 19th amAndment to the Constitution of the United States--the amAndment that guaranteed women the right to vote.Written by prominent American women--activists, academics, politicians, journalists, mothers, and daughters--A Voice of Our Own is a collection of twenty-nine original essays that celebrate the indomitable spirit of the American woman. The book includes an eclectic group of contributors:? Singer Mary Chapin Carpenter? Journalist Gwen Ifill? Professional athlete Martina Navratilova? lawyer and activist Antonia Hernandez? First ladies Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford, and Hillary Rodham Clinton.Each voice, every poignant story, brings a personal experience to light reflecting on what democracy means to women's lives. Their stories are sometimes painful, often humorous, and always honest. Betty Ford speaks candidly about her battles with breast cancer and alcoholism--and shows how the medical establishment shortchanges women, even first ladies. Beverly J. Harvard--who rose from the ranks of the Atlanta police force to become that city's (and the nation's) first African-American woman police chief--talks of her efforts to dispel the stereotypes that often characterize women executives. And Wilma Mankiller tells of the betrayal of the Cherokee nation, her struggles as a tribal leader, and the future of Native American youth.These and he otehr stories will inspire women--and men--to reflect on how far American women have come, and to consider the challenges that will face the next generation.

NANCY M. NEUMAN is former president of the League of Women Voters and author of The League of Women Voters in Perspective 1920-1995 (1994). A lecturer and writer on women in politics and public policy, she has been a distinguished visiting professor at Washington and Jefferson College, Bucknell University, and Pomona College.