20 The political organization played a critical role in the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 that granted U.S. women the right to vote. With Alice Paul, suffragist, feminist, and women’s rights activist, at the helm, the National Woman’s Party regrouped in 1923 and turned its attention to the issue of gender equality and passing the Equal Rights Amendment. She did not believe the 19th Amendment would be enough to ensure that men and women were treated equally. The National Woman’s Party published the first issue of “Equal Rights” early that same year. Several months later, Paul drafted the Equal Rights Amendment and presented it during the 75th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention and the Declaration of Sentiments that first proposed equal rights for women in July 1848. The primary focus of the “Equal Rights” publication was to bring attention to “the progress and ongoing challenges of women in the U.S. to gain equal rights socially and economically, as well as politically,” shared Dr. Catherine Oglesby, professor of history and coordinator of VSU’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program. “Significantly, the publication also reported on the same issues of women around the world. It was designed to educate the public, as well as to encourage women here and around the world to keep the faith, so to speak, and not give up the fight for the cause of gender equality.” “Equal Rights” was published from 1923 to some time in the 1950s. VSU’s collection covers the publication from 1924 to 1954, as well as a few copies of an offshoot publication known as “Equal Rights: Independent Feminist Weekly.” “Reading this is like living through it moment by moment,” said Elizabeth Kay Cavender, who helped index “Equal Rights” while serving as a Women’s and Gender Studies Program intern one semester. “You experience the success and the setbacks as history unfolds before you.” The Griffin, Georgia, native said the experience significantly improved her analytical skills, while also increasing her appreciation for women’s history and the commitment to fight for social justice. She completed her studies during Spring Semester 2019 and graduated from VSU with a Bachelor of Science in psychology and a double minor in both philosophy and women’s and gender studies. “You are reading this content line by line, often multiple times, looking for keywords, dates, names, anything of value and notating it,” she explained. Davis said that creating digital images of the collection as a whole is not an option due to copyright restrictions. However, the indexes will allow scholars from any location to discover what each issue of the publication contains and then request specific parts of it to be scanned according to fair use. “Once indexed, this publication will be a great scholarly resource,” she added. Once indexed, this publication will be a great scholarly resource. — DEBORAH DAVIS “ “