Georgia NOW honors Women’s Right to Vote, The 19th Amendment

Written by Anna Chimo — — — Supported by President Triana Arnold James

On August 26, 1920, women gained their first and only Constitutional Right in the United States of America, the right to vote. The 19th amendment was ratified by the necessary 36 States between June 1919 and August 1920 then adopted into the US Constitution. Prior to 1776 and the initial publication women had the right to vote in many colonies. However, by 1807 every State had denied women the right to vote.

‘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 sex.’ These 28 words enfranchised 26 million women in 1920, and today there over 130 million American women able to vote.

Women’s suffrage movements began in earnest in the mid 1800’s. Initially, they tried litigation, that went all the way to the Supreme Court and was struck down. Moving on to activists like Lucy Burns, Alice Paul, Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton who called for a new constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote. The National Woman’s Party staged protests, marches, hunger strikes and other demonstrations urging the public and politicians to recognize women’s suffrage.

African American women were crucial in the grassroots efforts towards ratification and publication of the 19th amendment. In post-Reconstruction America voting rights were an essential way to regain a voice and a place in a society that had shown only cruelty and division. The mid to late 1800’s saw African American women like Margaretta Forten, Harriet Forten Purvis, Frances E.W. Harper, Josephine St. Pierre, Harriet Tubman, and Ida B. Wells Barnett founding suffrage movements as well as the National Association of Colored Women.

Women’s Equality Day has been celebrated on August 26th since 1971. Richard Nixon was the first president to issue a proclamation, in 1972, and every President since has done the same. On August 16th, 1973, Congress designated August 26th as Women’s Equality Day and that “the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation in commemoration of that day in 1920 on which the women in America were first guaranteed the right to vote”.

Women’s suffrage is enshrined in our Constitution, yet the single right women have in the United States is in peril. We see politicians and elected officials trying to silence women with legislation on our bodies, movements, finances and futures. We must continue to stand up, show up, and speak out with the most powerful voice we have, our vote. Please join Georgia NOW and our continued efforts to bring the spotlight to what women have and will achieve.

Sources: https://guides.loc.gov/19th-amendment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Equality_Day https://www.nps.gov/subjects/womenshistory/19th-amendment.htm https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/woman-suffrage https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/19th-amendment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution https://www.georgia-now.org