THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 19TH AMENDMENT
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10 Things You Should Know about Women’s Suffrage BY KELLEY M. HUFF, ESQUIRE
T
his year marks 100 years since the passage of the 19th Amendment, which secured the right to vote for women citizens of the United States.
The road to women’s suffrage was an arduous one, and the centennial is cause for great celebration in recognition of the strong visionary women who persisted in the fight. It is also important to recognize the limitations of the 19th Amendment and those women that were excluded from its protections. For many women, the fight for suffrage continued for decades more. And, still today, the fight for women’s equality persists. Although progress has been made, the words of Alice Paul still ring true 100 years later: “It is incredible to me that any woman should consider the fight for full equality won. It has just begun.” That sentiment can be seen in the gaping hole in our federal Constitution that fails to guarantee equal rights to women. And so the fight continues. As we continue on the path of securing equal rights for women, now is an important time to reflect upon women’s suffrage history in our country. Below are 10 important things to know about women’s suffrage. These topics are cursory at best. The hope is that they will spark an interest and curiosity to learn more about the complex history of women’s suffrage and the work that is still left to be done. 26
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The 19th Amendment did not enfranchise all women. The 19th Amendment included all women
over the age of 21 who were eligible voters. Most Black women lived in Southern states where they were effectively denied voting rights through suppression tactics such as high poll taxes and literacy tests. For many Black women (and men), the right to vote was not realized until the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, did not enfranchise women until 1929 and the right only applied to literate women until 1935. The extension of the Voting Rights Act in 1975, which mandated bilingual ballots, helped enfranchise many Latina women. Native American women could not vote before the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, and it took until 1962 for all states to enfranchise Native Americans. Voting restrictions for Asian Americans remained in effect until the 1950s with passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
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Women had voting rights in some states prior to the 19th Amendment. Wyoming was the first
territory to grant unrestricted suffrage to women in 1869, quickly followed by the Territory of Utah in 1870. The Washington and Montana Territories granted unrestricted suffrage in the 1880s. By 1919, 15 states gave full voting rights to women: Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Washington, California, Oregon, Arizona, Kansas, Nevada, Montana, New York, Michigan, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.
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There are different connotations to the words suffrage, suffragist, and suffragette. The word
“suffrage” derives from the Latin word “suffragium,” which means the right or privilege to vote. A “suffragist” is anyone who advocates for the right to vote. A “suffragette” was first coined in Great Britain to describe British suffragists that used militant tactics and engaged in civil disobedience to advocate for women’s suffrage. The suffix “-ette” refers to something small or diminutive and its use was meant to belittle women suffragists. It was similarly used in the United States to mock “unruly” women suffragists.
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The Seneca Falls Convention started the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. The first
women's rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, NY in July 1848 and organized by abolitionists Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. A Declaration of Sentiments was signed at the convention, which set the agenda for the women’s rights movement. Stanton gave a speech on the convention’s purpose: We are assembled to protest against a form of government, existing without the consent of the governed — to declare our right to be free as man is free, to be represented in the government which we are taxed to support,
