by Freeda Cathcart
Freeda Cathcart presented the updated virtual By The Women For The Women Vote program that she created as homage to her great-grandmother, Anne Cathcart, a suffragist. She wanted to continue the work her great-grandmother started by making sure the Equal Rights Amendment became the 28th amendment to the constitution. In 2020, Cathcart sat in the Virginia House Gallery to witness Virginia become the 38th and final state needed to ratify the ERA.
The program continued with a panel with Andrea Miller, Founding Board Member of the Center for Common Ground, Executive Director of People Demanding Action, Founding President of the National Women’s Political Caucus of Virginia and Mirna Hosney, who came to the United States from Bolivia 35 years ago and became a US citizen 10 years later.
Andrea Miller has been involved in fighting for Civil Rights since she helped her parents when they volunteered to work on the original Voting Rights Act in the 1960’s when she was only 12 years old. She was involved in the fight for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970’s and continued the fight until it finally met all the requirements for it to be added to the constitution. She is currently working on making sure Black people are receiving the support to register to vote and the correct information on where and when to vote in this November’s sAtatewide elections. Contact Common Ground to get involved in her monumental efforts www.centerforcommonground.org
Mirna Hosny shared that she wasn’t interested in politics and voting when she immigrated to the US in her twenties. She was focused on getting a job and taking the steps to earn her citizenship. After she became a citizen and started her family, she began to take an interest in the elections that affected her family and community. Now she is very involved in helping people to register to vote and making sure her community knows the importance of voting; works in finance and has built extensive experience across multiple industries, including manufacturing, insurance, and retail. Beyond her professional career, Mirna is actively engaged in her community through volunteer work with various organizations.
