Cassie Reddick Whitmore
Cassie’s great-granddaughter, Gale Arlene Brooks Ogden.
The 14th Amendment became law in 1919, making it possible for all adults to vote, but Virginia did not ratify the 19th Amendment until 1952. Women throughout Virginia protested for the right to vote and they were allowed to vote in the 1920 Presidential election. The Presidential candidate Warren G. Harding was favored by African Americans.
Cassie Reddick Whitmore was one of those African Americans who registered to vote on Sept. 30, 1920. She was ready for her role as a full-fledged citizen to vote for a President that will help African Americans.
It was a rainy day on Nov. 2, 1920; the local newspaper had predicted the day before that the women who are voting should not wear their fancy dress because the weather will be very wet. That predication did not keep Cassie from casting her vote for Warren G. Harding, the man that many African Americans wanted to see in office. He was the man of Lincoln’s Party.