Behind the scenes of the Alexandria Gazette Packet’s article on, “Getting Ready to Cast My Vote – Cassie Reddick Whitmore”– dated December 9, 2020.
Gale Arlene Brooks Ogden is her family’s historian. She played a major role in providing information on her family who are connected to the Alexandria Freedmen Cemetery. Her family has been in Alexandria since the Civil War.
The article that was in the Alexandria Gazette focused on Gale’s great-grandmother, Cassie Reddick Whitmore. Although, Gale never had a chance to meet Cassie, she collected family stories and researched Cassie’s life. Cassie was dead almost two decades before Gale was born.
Through Gale’s research, she was able to know a lot about Cassie’s life. Cassie had the strong fierce spirit of her parents. Both of Cassie’s parents were born in enslaved and they were bold enough to make it from Hartford, North Carolina and Loudoun, Virginia during the civil war to Alexandria.
Cassie also seek freedom just like her parents. She wanted the freedom to cast her vote. With the passing of the 19th Amendment, Cassie cast her vote in the November 2, 1920 Election for the presidential candidate Warren G. Harding. Cassie made history and that history was passed down for 100 years to her great-granddaughter Gail.
Correction to the Alexandria Gazette article on page 6, Cassie Reddick Whitmore. Correction on the first line it should be 19th Amendment. In the seven paragraph, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was 32nd President and not the 39th.
Check out this article on “Getting Ready to Cast My Vote – Cassie Reddick Whitmore”– dated December 9, 2020 in the Alexandria Gazette Packet on page 6 at
http://connectionarchives.com/PDF/2020/120920/Alexandria.pdf.
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