by Pam Smith
There are hundreds of women in Gainesville and the rest of Alachua County who have worked tirelessly over the past 60 years to make the world a better place.
Some did it so quietly that the rest of us hardly knew that they were making big differences. Others thought and wrote powerful pieces that changed the way we thought in a split second. Still others created businesses, created organizations, tilled the ground, organized voters, advocated for the people who were less powerful, tended to the ones who needed hope and guidance, and in general used their one life to move humanity closer to “justice for all.”
CelebrateWomen2020 plans to bring attention to these women. We want to shine a light on them. We are publishing a commemorative magazine in February with thousands of copies to be distributed in businesses, schools, and organizations.
In this magazine, we plan to have Tribute ads to honor our local women sheros. We want pages and pages of these tributes. We especially want to honor the local women who were active in the Civil Rights movement of the ’50s and ’60s, and the women in the Women’s Liberation movement in the ’60s and ’70s, and the huge number of organizations that grew out of these two. Gainesville was at the forefront in the nation of all of this.
2020 is the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote. Can you imagine all the votes in these past 100 years that have made a difference?
In addition to the magazine, we will host a parade on March 21 to honor voting and bring light to the issues that are facing us today, host a rally at Bo Diddley after the parade, publish a calendar of events happening during March that honor women, and bring back Gainesville’s own Byllye Avery as a keynote speaker in mid March. Byllye is the founder of the Black Women’s Health Initiative and earned a MacArthur Genius Award as a result. She’s a speaker you’ll not want to miss.
To pay for this (the parade is almost $8,000 for insurance, police, etc), we are soliciting businesses to put ads in the commemorative magazine, and we’re reaching out to sponsors who can underwrite various components, keeping the Tribute ads affordable. They range from $100 for a ¼ page ad that can include a small picture and 75 words, to $225 for a ½ page with up to 120 words and a large picture. We envision friends going together to buy a space for their particular shero or group of sheros.
If you know of a woman activist or some activist organization founded by women that you think should be recognized but you can’t personally fund the Tribute, please email us and we’ll try to find a funder.
Email us at celebratewomen2020@gmail.com or (Facebook) message us at CelebrateWomen2020 Who do you want to have commemorated?