SAN DIEGO–Before live performances were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the award-winning Bodhi Tree Concerts was set to present Songs of Suffrage, a concert to mark the centennial of the passing of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution granting women the right to vote.
Instead, the group will be performing the concert virtually on August 20 at 5 p.m.—one hundred years almost to the day after the ratification of the 19th Amendment.
In this important election year, Bodhi Tree Concerts, which presents eclectic musical concerts raising funds for local nonprofits, will highlight and celebrate this momentous event in American history, while acknowledging the difficulties and sacrifices that were made to achieve it. Voting rights are still under attack today and the long journey toward equity continues.
The story of the fight for the 19th Amendment is told in this concert through history, songs, stories and excerpted speeches, and features local performing artists Angelina Réaux, Mary Munger Taylor, Ines Irawati, Danielle Perrault, and Molly Smith with Michael Sokol and Jonathan Nussman.
The concert will be free to watch on Facebook and YouTube, with donations accepted to continue Bodhi Tree Concerts’ virtual offerings and support local artists.
Viewers can also join a watch party on Facebook, and watch the concert along with co-founders and directors Diana and Walter DuMelle, the concert artists, and members of the Bodhi Tree Concerts staff and board. The viewing experience will be augmented by artist interviews and a virtual talk-back.
“Songs of Suffrage” will include authentic suffrage songs from the turn of the century but also reflections on suffrage from the ensuing decades from works including “Ragtime,” “Mary Poppins,” and the opera, “The Mother of Us All,” as well as a Dolly Parton specialty number entitled “The 19th Amendment.” These songs and anthems from the suffrage movement will be presented along with historic images, documents and the spoken word that illustrate the struggle toward equality for women.
“The story of women’s suffrage in America gets little attention in most school history books,” says Bodhi Tree Concerts co-founder and director Diana DuMelle. “As a result, many grown women and men lack awareness of the historical status of women, and have little knowledge of women’s achievements or the significance of the organizing efforts by 19th and 20th century feminists.”
All proceeds from the concert will be donated to the Women’s Museum of California in Liberty Station. RSVP at bodhitreeconcerts@gmail.com.
