In 2020, we celebrated six historic anniversaries related to the work of the better angels of the human spirit:
- The one hundredth anniversary of passage of the Woman Suffrage Amendment to the US Constitution in 1920.
- The one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the League of Women Voters in 1920.
- The fiftieth anniversary of the Servant Leadership Movement, launched by Robert Greenleaf with the 1970 publication of his epochal essay, The Servant as Leader.
- The fiftieth anniversary of Earth Day, founded in 1970 by US Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin.
- The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Wisconsin Leadership Institute, devoted to supporting and celebrating four core values: courage, compassion, continuous learning, and service to the human community.
- The fifth anniversary of Our Better Angels, originally created as a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Leadership Institute.
All of these anniversaries have strong ties to Ripon, Wisconsin, which is the home of Our Better Angels, the Wisconsin Leadership Institute, and Ripon College. Ripon College supports an endowed professorship in Servant Leadership. US Senator Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day, was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from Ripon College. Carrie Lane Catt, leader of the movement for woman suffrage and founder of the League of Women Voters, was born in Ripon. Check out the video clips below. Individual segments are available by clicking the links. To watch the full clip, just click on the window.
The Nineteenth Amendment and the League of Women Voters