Women's History
WO N D E R WO M E N THE SUFFARAGISTS MOVEMENT & THE RIGHT TO VOTE FOR AMERICAN WOMEN
5 MILLION WOMEN
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70 YEARS
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1 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
Content provided by Pat Wirth
The Road to Victory The formal origination of the suffrage movement began in 1848 in Seneca Falls, NY, at the first women’s rights convention that resulted in the Declaration of Sentiments, a document that sought voting rights for women. Activists such as Susan B. Anthony raised public awareness and lobbied the state and federal governments to grant voting rights to women. Three generations of women persisted until they emerged victorious with the passage of the 19th Amendment on August 26, 1920.*
Women march with banner "National Woman Suffrage" at the Woman Suffrage Parade in Washington, D.C., March 3, 1913. In background: northeast corner of Pennsylvania Ave. and 11th St.
On the road to securing the right to vote, thousands of women engaged in peaceful protests throughout the country to bring attention to the movement, scores of whom were illegally arrested, beaten, and worse. Over 25 million women won the right to vote and not a single shot was fired. And one of the greatest expansions of democracy in a single day that the world had ever seen. America’s original Wonder Women indeed! *Note that, while African American women fought for and gained the right to vote in 1920, the right was denied to them during Jim Crow laws, poll taxes, and other anti-voting rights schemes prevailed. That changed when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. Native American and Asian women also did not immediately gain voting rights. 10
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