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HomeSuffrage

Find out more:
Who got the vote? Who fought for the vote?




 Men and women of every race, economic, and religious background participated in the movement for women’s suffrage and their fight for voice and the vote continues today.Men and women of every race, economic, and religious background participated in the movement for women’s suffrage and their fight for voice and the vote continues today.



“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 Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation"

— Amendment 19, US Constitution

League founder Carrie Chapman Catt once said the League was formed to “finish the fight” to win women’s suffrage nationally. Yet within the struggle for the right to vote, we left many of our sisters behind when the fight for the 19th Amendment didn’t explicitly include securing those rights for women of color in every one of these United States. That struggle continued for decades until the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In this Centennial year of the League, we celebrate the founding of the League, the work that has been ongoing for the last 100 years, and the work that will continue into the future. 


Winning the Vote for Women:
a long & complex story

To recognize the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, we share some excellent resources on suffrage and the history of voting rights for women below. As the CEO of our organization wrote on Women’s Equality Day, it was complicated. More

Suffrage is the story of Political Geniuses from the New York Times.

Portraits of Persistence at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery outlines the more than 80-year movement for women to obtain the right to vote. That struggle was part of the larger struggle for equality that continued through the 1965 Civil Rights Act and arguably lingers today. Images and profiles of important people tell the story.

2020 Women’s Vote Centennial Initiative presents a collaboration of excellent resources from scholars and women’s organizations who are working to bring an accurate portrayal of the movement and celebrations.

The Vote: Four-part PBS program released in July 2020 presents many facets of the fight for the vote and is available on YouTube.

Smithsonian provides background for the current exhibit that attempts to dispel myths and tell the complex story.

History Channel: Native Americans won citizenship in 1924, but the struggle for voting rights stretched on much longer - until 1962.

The League of Women Voters Past

The Untold Story of Women of Color in the League of Women Voters Book by LWV Past President, Carolyn Jefferson Jenkins. Read more.

Racism in the Suffrage Fight

Native Americans and African Americans fought for their rights along side white men and women who were in the suffrage movement, but they were often excluded. Below are just a few excellent resources to help you learn more about racism in the fight.

Native American Women greatly influenced early feminists like Stanton, Gage and Mott, and inspired them as women who shared power as citizens in their nations and government

5 You Should Know: African American Suffragists featured at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

African American Women & the 19th Amendment National Park Service Presentation of History.

Other short readings that re-examine the history and racism of the suffrage movement, and the continued challenges follow:

Don’t Whitewash the Movement’s Racism: ACLU Maine

When the Suffrage Movement Sold Out to White Supremacy, NY Times

How to Celebrate a Complicated Win for Women?
The 19th Amendment simply told states that being female could no longer be a reason to bar citizens from voting. There was still much to do!

Heroes But Not Saints How should we judge reformers and radicals who were also racists?





More on video..Black Women and the Suffrage Movement


Black Women & the Suffrage Movement. This program, featuring Professor Gloria Browne-Marshall, was part of a symposium titled “Enfranchising Equality: 150 years of the 15th Amendment” hosted by the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Watch here.

African American Women in the Suffrage Movement & the Battle for the Vote. YouTube recording of a panel discussion at the National Archives, September 2019.

Civically Re-Engaged Women (CREW) looks back at the ratification movement and inspires the next generation in their video Ratification Centennial of the 19th Amendment.



Central Park Sculpture


Sojourner Truth, Susan B Anthony & Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Read more. 


The League was founded to help women use their vote