Constitution Day

September 17

Resources for Constitution Day

This page contains links to a variety of resources celebrating and giving historical context to the Constitution of the United States. In 2020, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. We are also examining the issue of race and the Constitution, noting that it was not until the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 that black women were effectively guaranteed the right to vote.

At the bottom of the page is some important information about registering to vote as a college student in Maine.

Also, check out the Residential Life Events Calendar for more info about the Constitution Day trivia contest.

Women and the Constitution

See a variety of resources at the National Constitution Center

The Right to Vote

What did the original Constitution say about the right to vote? How did that change over time, and why? In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment, join election law experts Alexander Keyssar of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Derek Muller of the University of Iowa College of Law, and Franita Tolson of the University of Southern California Gould School of Law for a conversation exploring the evolution of suffrage from the American Revolution to today. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.

National Constitution Center

This site includes virtual tours

Baratunde Thurston

How to Deconstruct Racism One Headline at a Time

Baratunde Thurston explores the phenomenon of white Americans calling the police on black Americans who have committed the crimes of ... eating, walking or generally "living while black." In this profound, thought-provoking and often hilarious talk, he reveals the power of language to change stories of trauma into stories of healing -- while challenging us all to level up.

The First Africans Brought to Virginia

At the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond’s exhibit on 400 years of African American history, curator Karen Sherry described the first Africans who were bought to the Virginia colony as slaves in 1619.

Florence Brooks Whitehouse

Voting Down the Rose

by Anne Gass

Voting Down the Rose is a lively account of Maine native Florence Brooks Whitehouse’s efforts to win women voting rights in the decisive final years of the campaign, 1914-1920. Considered radical for picketing the White House, Florence helped win women suffrage against a backdrop of conservative views of women’s roles, political intrigues, WWI, and the 1918 influenza epidemic.

Anne Gass will be a featured speaker at SMCC later this fall!

Women's Vote 100

Official site commemorating 100 years of women's right to vote

The Vote

One hundred years after the passage of the 19th Amendment, The Vote tells the dramatic culmination story of the hard-fought campaign waged by American women for the right to vote, a transformative cultural and political movement that resulted in the largest expansion of voting rights in U.S. history.

Women's Suffrage March

On March 3, 1913, after months of strategic planning and controversy, thousands of women gathered in Washington D.C. for the Women's Suffrage Parade -- the first mass protest for a woman's right to vote. Michelle Mehrtens details how the march rejuvenated the fight for the 19th amendment.