Suffrage Centennial — Votes for (Some) Women
On August 18, 2020, we celebrate 100 years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment — also known as the day that American women were granted the right to vote. Or, at least some American women. The battle for the vote began as early as 1776, when Abigail Adams implored her husband John to “remember the ladies” during the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. In 1832 Maria W. Stewart, an African American feminist, abolitionist, author and educator, became the first woman to speak to a public gathering of black and white men and women about women’s rights and politics. In 1848 the first women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, NY. However, the 19th Amendment was not introduced in Congress until 1878. By August 1920 thirty six states had voted to ratify the amendment. In 1984, Mississippi finally ratified the 19th Amendment, despite years of voting rights wins in America.
States led the way in granting (some) women the right to vote. Although women have been appearing on voter rolls since as early as the 1790’s, Wyoming was the first to officially pass a state law in 1869. In Washington State, women were casting votes as early as the 1870's. Women lost the rights to vote and to serve on juries that they had gained in 1883 in the Territorial legislature (Laws of 1883, §1, at 39), when the Washington State Supreme Court declared the statute unconstitutional in Bloomer v. Todd, 3 Wash. Terr. 599 (1888). However, Washington was still the first state in the 20th century and the fifth state in the union to pass voting rights for women with a 1910 amendment to the Washington State Constitution.
So, why do we say only some women benefited from the ratification of the 19th Amendment?
Japanese Americans were not able to vote in the U.S. until 1952. Many states prevented Native Americans from voting even after passage of the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act. And despite being active in national suffragist groups since the end of the Civil War, organizing conventions, and starting their own suffrage associations, African American women did not enjoy full voting rights until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
This is why the suffrage centennial celebrations are recognizing the women who (literally) walked beside the suffragists, but were not allowed to participate in the process themselves 100 years ago. The stories of Dr. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee (denied voting rights by the Chinese Exclusion Act), Ida B. Wells and Zitkala-Ša (Red Bird), among many other women of color in the movement are being told today. Sojourner Truth will soon be honored with a statue in New York’s Central Park as one of the trailblazers for women’s voting rights. Wells was also awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize this year, “For her outstanding and courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans during the era of lynching.”
While many of the in-person celebrations of the suffrage centennial have been cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19, there are still plenty of online commemorations happening across the country. Check out these links to learn more about these and the stories of the inspiring women who paved the way:
Washington State Historical Society Events & Programs including The Suffrage Special Whistle Stop Tour Video Series
Library of Congress: She Shall Not Be Denied
NPS: Did You Know? Suffragist vs Suffragette
National Portrait Gallery: Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence
New York Times: Unfinished Work, Finish the Fight (Premiering August 18th)
Washington Post History Series on the Suffrage Centennial (LE)
