One hundred years ago, women won the right to vote.

In her twenties, Alice Paul learned about the struggle for women’s voting rights while studying in England.  Back home in 1910, she joined the American movement.  Unlike her peers, Paul took a more radical approach.  She organized 5,000 women to parade Pennsylvania Avenue on March 3, 1913, the day before President Wilson’s inauguration.  Onlookers attacked them with obscenities and physical violence.  The police simply watched but national headlines made suffrage a hot topic.  

On Wednesday, dozens of bright yellow signs were sprinkled across more than a dozen towns in Putnam and Kanawha counties, some accompanied by purple balloons, others leading to tents and tables with bright yellow bags and pamphlets.

“FREE NALOXONE TODAY,” the signs advertised. “OVERDOSE REVERSAL DRUG.”

Naloxone, sometimes called Narcan, is a medication that can be administered nasally or by injection, to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. It can prevent an otherwise fatal outcome, and advocates say it can offer someone dealing with addiction a chance at recovery.

On this West Virginia Morning, we check in with teams distributing anti-overdose drugs to some communities in West Virginia. Also, in this show, West Virginia isn’t the only state grappling with coal industry challenges. We explore how declines in the industry have affected Colorado.

This week we continue our look back at some favorite episodes from the Mountain Stage archives. We’re going back to 2010 for a show recorded in Morgantown, W.Va. with Jakob Dylan & Three Legs, The Watson Twins, The Tallest Man on Earth, April Smith and the Great Picture Show and Clare & The Reasons.

Listen this week on these NPR stations.

One hundred years ago, women won the right to vote.  

The activists who led West Virginia’s suffrage movement faced more than sexism. Despite political setbacks, personal tragedies, and bad roads, they persisted.