By Sarah Rohleder–

To commemorate the Suffragists march in Washington D.C. in 1913, the American Association of University Women at U of L marched chanted empowering slogans through campus March 3.

The group began outside the Women’s Center at the Administration Annex and circled around the humanities quad before heading back to the center.

AAUW Vice President Raeven Cockrell read the group of women a short history of the 1913 march before leading the march across campus.

“They knew they were going to get ridiculed, they were going to get beat, they were going to get spit on, pushed,” Cockrell said of the suffragists. “They were putting their life on the line for women’s suffrage and women’s rights so we could have these rights today.”

Though the group no longer needed to fight for the right to vote, they chanted and held posters urging action on current women’s rights issues. At the briefing before the march, Cockrell led the group in practicing chants: “Hey hey! Equal pay!” “Hey hey ho ho! Sexual violence has got to go!” “We fight for women’s rights!” “Ho ho hey hey! Women’s rights are here to stay!” and “Daughters of freedom, we shall vote.”

The march was slated to extend further, but the weather conditions limited it. “This is nothing compared to what they went through back then. This little cold for about 15 minutes is nothing,” Cockrell said.

President Tierra Clark agreed. “That’s what I was telling myself as I walked here,” Clark said. “The suffragists would not have cried over a little bit of snow.”

Photos by Sarah Rohleder / The Louisville Cardinal