Service OneThe XIX Amendment to the United States decreed that insofar as states confer voting rights on the population, they cannot withhold them on the basis of sex. The Amendment passed the national senate in June 1919, and was finally passed when Tennessee became the 36th state (and last needed) to ratify it in August 2020.
For an account of the last push and Tennessee, read Elaine Weiss's Book The Woman's Hour. |
Service TwoAlthough the occasion was momentous, the ratification reflected a long battle for suffrage across the states -- with many states granting full national voting rights, or the right to vote in presidential election -- before the amendment passed.
The timeline above (from Teele 2018, chapter 4) shows that state-by-state breakdown of various suffrage reforms. The states that do not have "A"s at the end of their timeline did not ratify the amendment in that period. |
Service ThreeFor an analysis of the state level reforms, and a discussion of the amendment, see my writings from Forging the Franchise. (Read Here.)
In addition to discussing the United States, my book puts the suffrage struggle into global perspective, documenting the ways that cleavages other than race dominated both the strategies of suffragists and the calculations of politicians in the quest for the vote. |
Websites with useful information:
Library of Congress Writings by Suffragists
Resource Guide
Further Reading in the Popular Press:
"How Racism Almost Killed Women's Right to Vote", Washington Post, 4-June-2019, by Dr. Kimberly Hamlin (Historian).
"The Crooked Path to Women's Suffrage" New York Times, 4-June-2019 by Dr. Susan Shelton (Historian).
"Record Representation, Unequal History as Women's Voting Rights Amendment Turns 100". Voice of America 3-June-2019.
"How the Suffrage Movement Betrayed Black Women", New York Times, 28-July-2018, Brent Staples, an editorial board member at the Times.
My relevant opinion pieces:
2018. "Why (Women's) politics hasn't changed that much" 1 November. OMNIA UPenn.
2015. “Militancy shines on the big screen, but democratic tactics actually won British women the vote”. The Democratic Audit UK. 23-Nov-15. Link.
2015. “What the movie ‘Suffragette’ doesn’t tell you about how women won the right to vote.” The Monkey Cage, in the Washington Post. 1-Nov-15. Link.
Library of Congress Writings by Suffragists
Resource Guide
Further Reading in the Popular Press:
"How Racism Almost Killed Women's Right to Vote", Washington Post, 4-June-2019, by Dr. Kimberly Hamlin (Historian).
"The Crooked Path to Women's Suffrage" New York Times, 4-June-2019 by Dr. Susan Shelton (Historian).
"Record Representation, Unequal History as Women's Voting Rights Amendment Turns 100". Voice of America 3-June-2019.
"How the Suffrage Movement Betrayed Black Women", New York Times, 28-July-2018, Brent Staples, an editorial board member at the Times.
My relevant opinion pieces:
2018. "Why (Women's) politics hasn't changed that much" 1 November. OMNIA UPenn.
2015. “Militancy shines on the big screen, but democratic tactics actually won British women the vote”. The Democratic Audit UK. 23-Nov-15. Link.
2015. “What the movie ‘Suffragette’ doesn’t tell you about how women won the right to vote.” The Monkey Cage, in the Washington Post. 1-Nov-15. Link.
