Welcome to Women's Suffrage
Suffrage means the right to vote. In America, women weren't able to vote legally until the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920.
The journey to the vote was long and hard In 1648, a lawyer who is an unmarried women with property demands the right to vote in Maryland. She is denied. in 1756, a widow is Massachusetts is allowed to vote in a town meeting regarding the French and Indian Wars. State views on women's suffrage changed often. Women may be allowed to vote in a local election, but not a state election. Women may be able to vote one year but the right could be taken away by the next election. In 1848, one hundred attendees of the Women's Right Convention sign the Declaration of Sentiments, which calls for many rights including access to the vote. In 1888, the International Council of Women is established to advocate for women's rights, including suffrage.
Over the years, many societies, associations, councils, and unions are created by women to secure the right to vote. In 1917, Silent Sentinels in support of women's suffrage stand outside the White House in the first ever White House pickets. Many of the Silent Sentinels are arrested, but the women continue picketing until early 1919.
Until the change of women's roles in society during World War I, President Woodrow Wilson was not convinced that women should be allowed to vote. In January 1918, Wilson proposed supporting women's suffrage as a war measure. Later that month, Jeannette Rankin, the first woman to hold federal office in the US, introduced the 19th Amendment to the House of Representatives. On June 4, 1919, the US Senate votes to pass the 19th Amendment. Supporters had to wait for 36 states to ratify the amendment for it to become law. The National Woman's Party rallied supporters for years to ensure ratification of the amendment. In August of 1920, the vote for ratification in Tennessee, also known as the War of the Roses took place. On August 26, 1920, The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is certified into law by the U.S. Secretary of State.
How to Find Out More
To put a book on hold or read it online, click on the book cover.
To see a list of books on suffrage available at the library, click on the stack of books.
To watch Bad Romance: Women's Suffrage and find out more from Soomo Learning, click on the tv mounted on the wall.
To watch videos about suffrage from Films on Demand, click on the poster of the National American Women Suffrage Association.
To find out more about the War of the Roses in a quick video, click on the poster.
To read the Yellow Rose Journal from the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission, click on the yellow rose bush.
To win a free book about women's suffrage, click on the chalkboard.
To visit Vote.org, click on Miss Ashlin's ballot box.
