It looks like I missed a pretty big anniversary a couple of days ago. August 18, 2020 was the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote.
According the kids.laws.com the 15th amendment made it illegal for the government to stop anyone from voting. But it didn't include women. Weird! So women had to keep fighting to get the right to vote.
Some of the women who worked for women's right to vote were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Their work was called the suffrage movement.
According to Kids National Geographic, the movement started with something called the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 where women met to talk about being treated as individuals. At the convention they wrote the Declaration of Sentiments and Grievances which included the right for women to vote.
Women worked to try and convince states to let them vote. In the early 1900's, women started to protest for their rights and many were arrested.
During World War I, many women did jobs that men used to do while they were away at war. President Woodrow Wilson realized how important women were and changed his mind about the suffrage movement and proposed the 19th amendment to Congress 1918. It needed three quarters of the states to ratify it. Tennessee became the last state needed support the cause on August 18, 1920.
Comments