Women’s Right To Vote

WE’VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY!!!

Happy Wednesday, Golden Divas!! 

Ladies, did you know August 2020 not only serves as National Women’s Suffrage Month but also commemorates the 100th anniversary of the passing of the 19th amendment, forever protecting an American woman’s right to vote in elections. The certification of this amendment to the U.S Constitution on August 26, 1920, was a tremendous victory for the women’s suffrage movement after nearly a century of fighting for voting rights. This historic centennial offers an unparalleled opportunity to commemorate a milestone of democracy. 

Golden Divas, 2020 has set a new record of defining moments with world-changing, paradigm-shifting developments. Yes, our world is in chaos right now, with systemic racism stemming from a global racial justice movement—a deadly pandemic, forcing us into another lockdown and unemployment continuously soaring to a new high, with no relief in sight.

Dismal as this may seem, this is another chance to exercise our right to vote and let our voices be heard in this election! 

We have less than a week to go before ‘Election Day’ unless you did early voting, voted by mail, or you’re planning on voting on election day; we’re down to the home stretch. So, let’s turn up, and turn out in groves on Tuesday, November 3rd, to cast our votes and make a difference.

Everything is at stake in this monumental election. This is a do or die election, where you should vote like your life depends on it, because it does. A hundred years ago, our sisters fought hard so that we can vote. If you are able, there is NO excuse not to vote! The power of women voters is a colossal feat, especially in this historic election with Kamala Harris running for Vice President. Let that sink in, ladies; Kamala Harris is the first woman of color on a Major-Party Ticket. 

Since the first women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls, New York, we’ve come a long way. Where a woman can hold one of the world’s highest positions and have a seat at the table with the good ole boys, teach a girl to lead, and women will rule the world!

However, it was not easy to get where we are today. Let’s take a trip back down memory lane to see why women must get out and vote!

Let’s start with the following:

The Anti-Suffragist, American periodical, from 1908 to 1912, the voice of a movement whose proponents opposed giving women the vote because they believed it contrary to nature. In short, antisuffragists thought it was against the laws of nature for women to seek enfranchisement.

What were the main arguments for and against women’s suffrage?

Anti-suffragists argued that most women did not want the vote. They said women did not have time to vote or stay updated on politics because they took care of the home and children. Some argued women lacked the expertise or mental capacity to offer a useful opinion about political issues.

What was the purpose of women’s suffrage?

The women’s suffrage movement was a decades-long fight to win the Right to vote for women in the United States. It took activists and reformers nearly 100 years to win that Right, and the campaign was not easy: Disagreements over strategy threatened to cripple the movement more than once.

What was the main goal of the women’s suffrage movement?

1869 Split among the suffragist movement. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association. The organization’s primary goal is to achieve women’s voting rights through a Congressional amendment to the Constitution.

Timeline of the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the U.S. Compiled by the Center for American Women and Politics- August 2014.

1848: The first women’s rights convention is held in Seneca Falls, New York. After two days of discussion and debate, 68 women and 32 men sign a Declaration of Sentiments, which outlines grievances and sets the women’s rights movement’s agenda. A set of 12 resolutions is adopted, calling for equal treatment of women and men under women’s law and voting rights.

1850: The first National Women’s Rights Convention takes place in Worcester, Mass., attracting more than 1,000 participants. National conventions are held yearly (except for 1857) through 1860.

1868: Ratification of the 14th Amendment declaring, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.” That Right may not be “denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States.”

1869: Split among the suffragist movement. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association. The organization’s primary goal is to achieve women’s voting rights through a Congressional amendment to the Constitution. Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, and others form the American Woman Suffrage Association, which focuses exclusively on gaining voting rights for women through the individual state constitutions.

1870: Congress ratifies the 15th Amendment: “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 race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

1872: Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting for Ulysses S. Grant in the presidential election.

1878: The Women’s Suffrage Amendment is first introduced to Congress.

1890: The National Women Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association merge to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). As the movement’s mainstream organization, NAWSA wages state-by-state campaigns to obtain voting rights for women.

1893: Colorado is the first state to adopt an amendment granting women the Right to vote.

1896: The National Association of Colored Women is formed, bringing together more than 100 black women’s clubs. Leaders in the black women’s club movement include Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, Mary Church Terrell, and Anna Julia Cooper.

1913: Alice Paul and Lucy Burns formed the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage. Their focus is lobbying for a constitutional amendment to secure the Right to vote for women. The group is later renamed the National Women’s Party. Members picket the White House and practice other forms of civil disobedience.

1916: Alice Paul and her colleagues formed the National Woman’s Party (NWP) and began introducing some of Britain’s suffrage movement methods. Tactics included demonstrations, parades, mass meetings & picketing the White House over the refusal of President Woodrow Wilson and other incumbent Democrats to support the Suffrage Amendment actively.

1917: In July, picketers were arrested on charges of “obstructing traffic.” including Paul. She and others were convicted and incarcerated at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia. While imprisoned, Alice Paul began a hunger strike.

1918: In January, after much bad press about the treatment of Alice Paul and the imprisoned women, President Wilson announced that women’s suffrage was urgently needed as a “war measure.”

1919: The federal woman suffrage amendment was originally written by Susan B. Anthony; it was introduced in Congress in 1878. It is passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate and is sent to the states for ratification.

1920: August 26 1920 The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the Right to vote, is signed into law.

When Congress ratified the 19th Amendment on August 18, 1920, giving American women the Right to vote, it reflected the culmination of generations’ worth of work by resolute suffragists of all races and backgrounds. Historically, attention has focused on white movement leaders’ efforts like Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. But they worked alongside many lesser-known suffragists, such as Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin, Dr. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, and Nina Otero-Warren, who made crucial contributions to the cause—while also battling racism and discrimination.

Other names contributing to the fight were five Black suffragists whose resourcefulness and persistence became instrumental in passing the 19th Amendment. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, Mary Church Terrell, Nannie Helen Burroughs, and Ida B. Wells.

The passage of the 19th Amendment, which was ratified by the United States Congress on August 18 and then certified as the law on August 26, 1920, technically granted women the Right to vote. However, the 19th Amendment did not initially extend to women of African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and American Indian heritage because of widespread voter suppression enacted against Black women and other women of color. It wasn’t until the Voting Rights Act was passed nearly a half-century later, on August 6, 1965, that Black women were in-practice able to exercise their Right to vote.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their Right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment U.S. Constitution. The Voting Rights Act is considered one of the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history.

Let’s keep it 100 and go out there and vote!! 

VOTE!! VOTE!!! VOTE!!!

Golden Divas, you have the Right to vote. If anyone tries to stop you, call the Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-687-8683.

Sources:

https://www.vote.org/

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/voting-rights-act

https://www.history.com/news/black-suffragists-19th-amendment