100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment

(Photo by Mary Long/Shutterstock.com)

Image credit: Mary Long/Shutterstock.com

Dear friends,

Today I wanted to take a moment to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted many women the right to vote. That Amendment was actually certified on this very day 100 years ago. This was a critical landmark in the then decades-long women’s suffrage movement in which men and women fought valiantly to ensure that most women were able to secure one of the critical rights that lies at the foundation of liberty and justice for all. 

We also commemorated this as we kicked off our Women’s History Month Celebration in March as the National Women’s History Alliance’s theme was “Valiant Women of the Vote.” So we take this moment to celebrate and affirm all of the brave women who bravely fought for the opportunity to more fully engage in our democratic process by securing the right to vote. Chief among them was Susan B. Anthony, who became one of the most visible faces of the women's suffrage movement. She sadly died in 1906, 14 years before the 19th Amendment's passage, but her legacy and contributions have surely resonated even up until this day. The passage of the 19th Amendment was undoubtedly one of the critical first steps taken toward women being more fully represented at all levels of political leadership—a journey that continues to this day.

The passage of the 19th Amendment also reminds us of our nuanced and complex history as a country. As crowning of an achievement as this was for women, the 19th Amendment did not extend the right to vote to every woman at that time. Similar to what transpired after the ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870, which technically gave Black men the right to vote, southern states implemented intense voter suppression tactics such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses. Sadly, despite their tireless efforts on behalf of the women’s suffrage movement which sparked the 19th Amendment’s passage, Black women would have to wait four more decades until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

They were not the only women who had to fight longer and harder to secure the right to vote. Native Americans were not granted the right to vote in all states until 1962. Asian Americans were not all granted the right to vote until the repealing of the 1952 Naturalization Act. It was not until 1975 that the Voting Rights Act was extended to protect against discrimination toward so-called “language minorities” which further secured the right to vote for Latinx voters. These challenges were another reminder of the old legal maxim that “justice delayed is justice denied.” Thankfully, women like Mary McLeod Bethune, Fannie Lou Hamer, Zitkala-Sa, Mabel Lee, Rosa Parks and Jovita Idar kept fighting even though the initial women’s suffrage movement did not secure voting rights for them.

Today, studies show that women typically vote at higher rates than men, and in the 2018 midterm election, 53 percent of those who voted were women. This example that has been set by women is another important reminder that the only thing more powerful than securing a right is having the ability (and taking the opportunity) to exercise it. Later this week, I will be sending out a separate message which will talk in more detail about the importance of us all exercising our right to vote as well as more information on voter eligibility and registration.