Women's Equality Day

Today, August 26, 2010, marks the 90th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving women the right to vote. I think it's impossible to overstate the importance of this event. So much work led up to it, so much has since been done to further equal rights for women, and so much has yet to be done.

Some highlights of the woman suffrage movement:

Seneca Falls, New York, Women's Rights Convention, 1848--The first organized gathering to demand civil rights for women, including the right to vote.

First State Campaign: Kansas, 1867--Suffragists travel the state for the first of state elections to change the law to allow women to vote.

First Equal Suffrage Territory: Wyoming, 1869. Utah Territory followed suit immediately after Wyoming.

Susan B. Anthony attempts to vote, 1872--Testing the newly amended Constitution after the Civil War, the suffrage leader personally claims, and later eloquently defends, women's right to vote.

Introduction of the Woman Suffrage Amendment, 1878--California Senator A.A. Sargent introduces what will eventually become the 19th Amendment, but it languishes in Congress.

Suffragists lobby Congress, 1878-1919.

First State Victory: Colorado, 1893.

Washington, D.C. suffrage parade, 1913--The demonstration draws national attention when an unruly mob attacks the women and blocks the parade.

Picketing and hunger strikes, 1917--Police are ordered to arrest suffragists picketing the White House but the women refuse to eat or cooperate in jail, forcing the Administration's hand.

The Amendment passes the House of Representatives, 1918, but the Senate defeats it.

Tennessee Ratifies the 19th Amendment, 1920--The final battle after 35 states ratified, waged down to the wire and won by the slimmest of margins; then Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby disregards opponents' objections an signs the final proclamation.

This information came from the Nation Women's History Project. They have lots more information on their website. The following books are also recommended:

In Her Own Right by Elisabeth Griffith
Century of Struggle by Eleanor Flexner
New Women of the New South by Marjorie Spruill Wheeler
Winning the Vote by Robert P.J. Cooney, Jr. (a photographic record)
Harriot Stanton Blatch and the Winning of Woman Suffrage by Ellen Carol Dubois

So, let's celebrate. Anyone for a party?