“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment by Congress in joint session.*
[This pen in @amhistorymuseum was used to sign the amendment's joint resolution. #BecauseOfHerStory #19thAt100. Smithsonian Institution]
However, before it could become the law of the land three-fourths of the states had to ratify it so the battle wasn't over yet.** There was still a lot of opposition, including from President Woodrow Wilson.
[Photograph of six suffragists at the 1920 Republican National Convention in Chicago, gathered in front of a building with suffrage banners. Mrs. James Rector, Mary Dubrow, and Alice Paul (left to right) hold center banner that reads: "No self respecting woman should wish or work for the success of a party that ignores her sex. Susan B. Anthony, 1872." National Photo Co., Washington, D.C. Republican National Convention, Chicago, Illinois. Chicago Illinois United States, 1920. [June 8-12] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/mnwp000260/.]
By March of the following year 35 states had voted in favor and Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia had already rejected the amendment. It fell to Tennessee, the 36th state, who ratified it on August 18, 1920 (by a 49-47 vote).
*The House of Representatives had voted 304-89 and the Senate 56-25 in favor of the amendment.
**And of course, this didn't guarantee
the voting rights of African Americans and other people of color who had to wait until the 1965 Civil Rights Act.
© 2019 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.
