Women's Suffrage: women struggle for the right to vote. The later phases of the women's suffrage campaign in Britain and in the United States from 1900-1920, ending with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in America and the winning of women's suffrage in Britain. (At the time, "woman suffrage" was the term more commonly used.)
In 1915, Alice Duer Miller published this parody of the critics of woman suffrage efforts.
On March 3, 1913, the National American Woman Suffrage Association - NAWSA - sponsored a woman suffrage parade and demonstration in Washington, DC, to coordinate with the arrival of Woodrow Wilson for his presidential inauguration. Here are some contemporary photographs of that landmark women's suffrage event.
Biographies of the women, including Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Lucretia Mott and anti-suffragists, from your About Guide to Women's History.
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Alice Duer Miller, 1915: satirical pro-woman-suffrage poems, many with a Gilbert and Sullivan feel to them, most with biting sarcasm.
The Suffrage Amendment to the United States Constitution (19th Amendment) was ratified when it passed a vote in the legislature of Tennessee by a single vote. Read here the story of the last days before final ratification of woman suffrage.
In the March, 1913, suffrage parade, African American women were asked to march at the back of the demonstration. Mary Church Terrell agreed; Ida B. Wells-Barnett had a different reaction.
The story of the treatment at Occoquan Workhouse in 1917 of the woman suffrage militants arrested for protesting outside the White House.
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Life editorial from 1905 considering woman suffrage from both sides, plus its conclusion.
After the 1913 inauguration and other militant suffragist actions, the NAWSA (National American Woman Suffrage Association) pushed the militants out. The militants, led by Alice Paul, eventually formed the National Woman's Party.
This article originally appeared in the June 1912 issue of The Crisis, a journal considered one of the leading forces in the New Negro Movement and the Harlem Renaissance, addressing a failure on the part of the National American Woman Suffrage Association to support a resolution condemning the Southern disenfranchisement of African Americans, in law and in practice.
This article originally appeared in the September 1912 issue of The Crisis. It addresses the historical ties of the suffrage movement to the anti-slavery movement and regrets the later move away from defending racial justice. Martha Gruening, a white woman, worked for such causes as racial justice and peace.
An archive of oral history from some of the women who made history happen, winning the 19th Amendment in 1920.
In 1915, Alice Duer Miller published this parody of the critics of woman suffrage efforts.
An editorial from the Hearst Newspapers, written by Arthur Brisbane. Not dated, but probably about 1917.
At the 1913 Inauguration of Woodrow Wilson, militant suffragists marched, but not all the half-million observers were sympathetic to their goals.
Suffrage ribbons were commonly worn in suffrage parades and marches. This one is from a 1913 woman suffrage demonstration.
A 1915 suffrage pamphlet authored by the renowned social reformer and settlement house founder, Jane Addams.
From PBS' history site for middle school students, an article and reading list about the last years of the American struggle to win the vote for women.
New York Times article from August 26, 1920, announces the ratification of the Woman Suffrage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby signed the certification of ratification in private, angering those suffragists who wanted movies of the ceremony.
An attempt to consider working together in common cause, despite differences in strategy and tactics.
Speech by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, February, 1902, to the NAWSA Convention.
As part of the James Branch Cabell Library special collections exhibits, Virginia Commonwealth University documents Anne Clay Crenshaw and the women's suffrage movement in Virginia.
"Feminism in 20th Century America." Article written by feminist historian Jo Freeman, published in 1995. Freeman traces the 60s "second wave" to its roots in the early 20th century suffrage movement.
Maud Wood Park recalls the directions given to lobbyists in 1917.
This is actually a guide to a collection available through many libraries, but the guide itself has useful info on the Woman's City Club of New York (1916-1980) and the woman's suffrage movement in Wisconsin (1892-1925).
A history of the 1910-1913 campaign, ending successfully with the passage of a suffrage bill.
Doris Stevens, in 1920, recalls spending time in jail with Alice Paul.
1914
Atlantic Monthly article by Samuel McChord Crothers, considering typical arguments of the time for women's suffrage. Conclusions include thoughts like "Why should not the quiet stay-at-home women have the same means of expressing themselves which are allowed to quiet stay-at-home men?"
Jane Addams speech, 1906, on the importance of the vote for "city housekeeping."
Prof. Kelly presents the case for the legislature: why woman suffrage is important.
NUWSS, founded in 1897, was the main umbrella suffrage organization in the last phases of the campaign in Britain.
An article on the split from the National American Women's Suffrage Association, led by Alice Paul, emphasizing the history of the Texas branch which was founded in 1916.
In the middle of World War, the suffrage cause changed the focus of the women's convention.
The association's statement on race issues to the New Orleans
Times-Democrat on the occasion of the NAWSA convention in New Orleans, 1903.
A history of the 1915 and 1917 suffrage campaigns in New York City.
From the US National Archives, a reproduction of the signed 19th Amendment, with a short discussion of the struggle to win the vote for women.
Address by Belle Kearney, 1903, to the NAWSA Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Pro-suffrage poems from Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Report on the convention of the NAWSA and its attempts to better organize the suffrage campaign.
A reprint of the New York Times article, January 12, 1915, detailing the loss of the suffrage amendment in the United States Congress. The article includes statements from those who opposed the suffrage amendment and extended comments by Christabel Pankhurst.
William and Mary Lavender, in this article from American History magazine, detail the brutal treatment of suffragists who picketed the White House during wartime, 1917, in seeking the vote for women.
An essay, circa 1912, arguing that teachers, who educate male students to cast ballots, ought to themselves be allowed to vote.
A perspective on the differences between men and women, and why women didn't want to upset the sexual divisions of the time through gaining the vote.
Jim Zwick presents a collection of woman suffrage cartoons.
More radical of the British suffrage organizations, WSPU was founded in 1903 by the Pankhursts.
