Girl Scout Troop 50382's Suffrage Centennial Patch Project

Fighting for the Right to Vote: The Suffrage Movement

The word suffrage means the right to vote. The early framework of our government did not give the right to vote to everyone. The suffrage movement was the first time women across our nation organized to publicly demand the same voting rights and privileges as men. The suffrage movement has a very long and complex history. In fact, it began more than 75 years before the 19th amendment was ratified in 1920. The suffrage movement was inspired/came about by the anti-slavery movement Many suffragists were also fighting for the end of slavery.

States Rights

During the early days of the movement, many women tried explaining that they had the right to vote because they were US citizens. On election day in 1872, Susan B. Anthony tried making this argument to the man in charge of her polling place. He agreed with her and let her vote. But the next day, she was arrested. This argument was taken to the Supreme Court in 1875. The court ruled that voting was not a right of national citizenship. It is a privilege bestowed by the states.

Voter Suppression and Racism

By not making voting a constitutional right and leaving it up to the states to make their own decisions, voter suppression was made worse. Black men were given the right to vote before women, but because states could do whatever they wanted, many black men were not allowed to vote.

At the end of the 19th century, after the Civil War, there began a rise of racial tensions. Jim Crow laws were created to make separate laws for black men. Racism was alive and well. The suffrage movement turned to an all white-only view of American democracy. The mainstream women’s suffrage organizations no longer welcomed black women. This racism tainted the suffrage movement for the next four decades.

Growing the Base

The suffragists knew they needed to grow their base. The more support they could get, the stronger they could make their case. The largest women’s association at the time (still after the Civil War, late 19th century) was the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Women were drawn to the temperance movement initially because of its focus of how men’s drinking impoverished families and subjected women and children to physical abuse.

Frances Willard was the president of the WCTU for many years. She wrote the Home Protection Manual and argued that it was the woman’s duty to protect her home, and so she should be able to vote on the distribution of liquor licenses in their communities. Because men were very against women voting, she tried placing the reasoning on voting to be to protect the family.

Early 20th Century

The country is becoming more urban, gaining more immigrants, and more wage earners (men and women). Concerns are now turning to factory working conditions, urban living conditions, public and sanitation, etc.

Many American women are already voting in some states. Mainly western states, women are able to convince male voters to amend their state constitution to allow them to vote. This was much harder to argue for in the South and the Northeast. The South wanted to protect its Jim Crow laws and racial segregation. The men in the Northeast were worried that child labor and women labor would become more regulated if women could vote.

Getting the Vote

President Woodrow Wilson and his party controlled both houses in 1916. Also, his party was controlled by white supremacists. He was re-elected by a narrow margin by campaigning on a promise that he would keep America out of war. Well, a few months after his inauguration, America went to war. Now, more than ever, women want the right to vote. More protests, women were assaulted, jailed, and forced-fed when they went on hunger strikes.

In January of 1918 there was a full floor debate in the House. So many men were against it. Some of their reasons:

• Women’s votes will disrupt the family.
• Afraid of women challenging their wisdom
• The amendment would create a condition that would be absolutely intolerable for southern states to maintain law and order and white supremacy.

Those were the days when you could say white supremacy openly in the US Congress The bill passed and then it went to the senate where it took another 18 months.

The Last Vote

By the middle of 1920, a total of 35 states had voted to ratify the amendment. The problem was that 36 states were needed, and there was only one state left where a vote could be taken that year. Tennessee. It seemed the anti-suffragists had enough votes to block this ratification. But to everyone’s surprise, one young representative flip sides in favor of the suffragists. Many people credit this to his mom writing him a letter in which she asked him to “be a good boy” and vote for the amendment.

When Did Black Women Get the Right to Vote?

When the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920, it lifted the gender restriction on voting and should have allowed all women to vote. But many states then passed laws discriminating against African Americans, limiting their rights by enacting poll taxes and literacy tests or through threats, intimidation, and outright physical violence.

Tens of thousands of African-Americans worked over many decades to ban racial discrimination in voting, which was finally achieved when the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965 (with the help of the Civil Rights Act of 1964).

Early Famous Black Suffragists

Ida B. Wells: She was an anti-lynching activist, but also a pioneering black suffragist. She helped found the Alpha Suffrage Club in Chicago, which played a significant role in electing the first African American alderman in Chicago

Sojourner Truth: She wrote two memoirs: Narrative of Sojourner Truth, a Northern Slave, were published in 1850. She spoke at the Second Annual Convention of the American Woman Suffrage Association in 1871

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