Photo courtesy of The History Channel.
TIMELINE
1820s | Women’s Rights Movement
As women-led reform groups (related to movements such as anti-slavery and temperance) assembled, women reflected on their leadership positions and began to question their role in society, and what it meant to be to a citizen of the United States.
1848 | Seneca Falls Convention
The Seneca Falls Convention (formerly, the Woman’s Rights Convention) catalyzed the women’s suffrage movement. The convention’s manifesto, the Declaration of Sentiments, “called on women to fight for their constitutionally guaranteed right to equality as a United States citizen.” [i]
1890 | National American Woman Suffrage Association
Founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, the National Woman Suffrage Association began their fight for universal-suffrage. In 1890, they merged with the American Women Suffrage Association (a pro-15th Amendment group led by Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell and Julia Ward Howe) to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association. The goal of the newly-formed Association was to ratify enough state suffrage amendments to reach approval on a federal-level.
1920 | Ratification of the 19th Amendment
After a 100-year fight, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. Tennessee was the 36th state to ratify and ensured that the Amendment became law. “On November 2 of that year, more than 8 million women across the United States voted in elections for the first time.” [ii]
[i] History.com Editors. (2017, November 10). Seneca Falls Convention. Retrieved August 18, 2020,
from https://www.history.com/topics/womens-rights/seneca-falls-convention
[ii] History.com Editors. (2009, October 29). Women's Suffrage. Retrieved August 18, 2020,
from https://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/the-fight-for-womens-suffrage