{"id":844,"date":"2020-08-26T15:19:27","date_gmt":"2020-08-26T19:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/?p=844"},"modified":"2023-11-29T13:08:30","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T18:08:30","slug":"remembering-the-ladies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/2020\/08\/26\/remembering-the-ladies\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering the Ladies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><style type=\"text\/css\">\n<!--\n.ludwig {\n  position: relative;\n  padding-left: 5%;\n  padding-right: 5%;\n  border-left: 0.2em solid lighten($black, 40%);\n  font-family: 'Roboto', serif;\n  font-size: $base-font-size;\n  line-height: $base-line-height;\n  font-weight: 100;\n  &:before, &:after {\n      content: '\\201C';\n      font-family: 'Sanchez';\n      color: lighten($black, 40%);\n   }\n   &:after {\n      content: '\\201D';\n   }\n}\n\n--><br \/>\n<\/style><\/p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"477\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-845 img-fluid img-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/display-banner.jpg\" alt=\"19th Amendment exhibit at the Eagle Commons Library.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/display-banner.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/display-banner-300x179.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/display-banner-768x458.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\n\n\n<hr \/>\n<p>One hundred years ago today, at 8:00 a.m. on August 26, 1920, without fanfare, in the privacy of his own home and unseen by the press or the public, Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby formally certified Tennessee\u2019s ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, bringing to a culmination a 72-year, non-violent campaign to acknowledge women&#8217;s right to vote.<\/p>\n<p>The language was simple:<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/exhibits\/featured-documents\/amendment-19\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"659\" height=\"113\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-846 img-fluid img-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/amendment.jpg\" alt=\"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 power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/amendment.jpg 659w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/amendment-300x51.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 659px) 100vw, 659px\" \/><\/a>\n<p><\/p>\n\n<h3>Earlier Attempts at Woman Suffrage<\/h3>\n<p>Today it is difficult to comprehend a world where it\u2019s considered perfectly normal for people to own other people, while the concept of women voting is considered the height of absurdity, but for decades even the staunchest advocates for women&#8217;s rights often disagreed on whether it was appropriate for women to demand the right to vote.<\/p>\n<p>On March 31, 1776, as her husband John was in Philadelphia arguing the cause of American independence from Great Britain, Abigail Adams sent him the following forward-thinking suggestion:<\/p>\n\n\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"ludwig\"><em>\u2026and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors.\u2026 If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<hr \/>\n<p>Although John Adams often depended on his wife\u2019s wise counsel, this time his response was shortsighted and frivolous:<\/p>\n\n\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"ludwig\"><em>As to your extraordinary Code of Laws, I cannot but laugh.\u2026 Depend upon it, We know better than to repeal our Masculine systems. Altho they are in full Force, you know they are little more than Theory&#8230;, and in Practice you know We are the subjects. We have only the Name of Masters, and rather than give up this, which would compleatly subject Us to the Despotism of the Peticoat, I hope General Washington, and all our brave Heroes would fight.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<hr \/>\n<p>American women continued to have no right to vote even after African-Americans were emancipated from slavery by the Thirteenth Amendment and guaranteed full citizenship and equal protection by the Fourteenth Amendment, which in 1868 introduced the word \u201cmale\u201d into the Constitution\u2014for the first time, and in connection with voting rights\u2014arousing the ire of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.womenshistory.org\/education-resources\/biographies\/susan-b-anthony\">Susan B. Anthony<\/a>, among others.<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/century1040.rssing.com\/chan-8220727\/all_p19.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"795\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-879 img-fluid img-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/ELIZABETH-CADY-STANTON-AND-SUSAN-B.-ANTHONY-Image.jpg\" alt=\"Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/ELIZABETH-CADY-STANTON-AND-SUSAN-B.-ANTHONY-Image.jpg 650w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/ELIZABETH-CADY-STANTON-AND-SUSAN-B.-ANTHONY-Image-245x300.jpg 245w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>In 1869, Anthony and her long-time friend and collaborator <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Elizabeth_Cady_Stanton\">Elizabeth Cady Stanton<\/a> split from the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/American_Equal_Rights_Association\">American Equal Rights Association<\/a> over support of the <a href=\"http:\/\/href=\">Fifteenth Amendment<\/a>, which would prohibit denial of suffrage based on race, and co-founded the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.crusadeforthevote.org\/nwsa-organize\">National Woman Suffrage Association<\/a> (NWSA), which worked for women\u2019s suffrage, divorce reform, and equal pay for women. Although they both supported universal suffrage, and Stanton had in fact included it in her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/wori\/learn\/historyculture\/declaration-of-sentiments.htm\">Declaration of Sentiments<\/a> introduced at the 1948 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/item\/today-in-history\/july-19\/\">Seneca Falls Convention<\/a>, which is often held to be the place where the women&#8217;s rights and women&#8217;s suffrage movements officially began in the United States, both opposed ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment because it failed to recognize women as citizens with voting rights.<\/p>\n<p>In 1871, the iconoclastic <a href=\"https:\/\/history.house.gov\/Historical-Highlights\/1851-1900\/The-first-woman-to-address-a-congressional-committee\/\">Victoria Woodhull<\/a> became the first woman to address a congressional committee, arguing before the House Judiciary Committee that women already had the right to vote because that right was guaranteed to all citizens by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments. The chairman objected, \u201cMadam, you are no citizen\u2014you are a woman!\u201d and the committee tabled her request. Still, her speech attracted so many suffragists and reporters that, in one reporter\u2019s words, \u201cWashington became one grand conversational salon.\u201d<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/history.house.gov\/Collection\/Listing\/2007\/2007-331-005\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"690\" height=\"482\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-950 img-fluid img-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/woodhull.jpg\" alt=\"Victoria Woodhull\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/woodhull.jpg 690w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/woodhull-300x210.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 690px) 100vw, 690px\" \/><\/a>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>In 1872, after ratification of the Fifteenth amendment, Anthony was arrested for voting illegally. <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/anaccountprocee00statgoog#page\/n3\/mode\/2up\">She fought the charges unsuccessfully<\/a> and was fined $100\u2014a debt she refused to pay. Because the judge declined to sentence her to prison time, she lost her right to file an appeal, which would have allowed the suffrage movement to take the question of women\u2019s voting rights to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<p>From 1892 to 1900, Susan B. Anthony served as president of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.crusadeforthevote.org\/nawsa-united\">National American Woman Suffrage Association<\/a> (created by a merger of the NWSA with the competing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.crusadeforthevote.org\/awsa-organize\">American Woman Suffrage Association<\/a>). In this role she canvassed the county giving speeches, gathering petition signatures, and lobbying Congress in support of women\u2019s suffrage.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, neither Anthony nor Stanton saw the culmination of all their hard work, although they never lost faith that their vision would eventually come to pass. In 1902 the now elderly Susan B. made these remarks about the matter:<\/p>\n\n\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"ludwig\"><em>If I could live another century! I do so want to see the fruition of the work for women in the past century. There is so much yet to be done, I see so many things I would like to do and say, but I must leave it for the younger generation. We old fighters have prepared the way, and it is easier than it was fifty years ago when I first got into the harness. The young blood, fresh with enthusiasm and with all the enlightenment of the twentieth century, must carry on the work.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3>A New Generation<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.womenshistory.org\/education-resources\/biographies\/carrie-chapman-catt\">Carrie Chapman Catt<\/a> was one of the members of that \u201cyounger generation.\u201d A schoolteacher and newspaper editor, Catt took over leadership of the NWSA after Susan B. Anthony retired in 1900. Catt developed the NWSA&#8217;s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/suffragistmemorial.org\/carrie-chapman-catt-1859-1947\/\">Winning Plan<\/a>,\u201d a conservative, incremental approach to women&#8217;s suffrage that focused on winning voting rights in at least 36 states, the number needed to ratify a federal amendment.<\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.loc.gov\/loc.mss\/mnwp.149004\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"390\" height=\"531\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-942 img-fluid img-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/carrie-chapman-catt-5.jpg\" alt=\"Carrie Chapman Catt\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/carrie-chapman-catt-5.jpg 390w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/carrie-chapman-catt-5-220x300.jpg 220w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 390px) 100vw, 390px\" \/><\/a>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.loc.gov\/service\/pnp\/ds\/00100\/00180v.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"390\" height=\"531\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-940 img-fluid img-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/alice-paul-1.jpg\" alt=\"Alice Paul\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/alice-paul-1.jpg 390w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/alice-paul-1-220x300.jpg 220w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 390px) 100vw, 390px\" \/><\/a>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Alice Paul represented a more militant approach. After earning her master&#8217;s degree at the University of Pennsylvania, Paul had moved to London to continue her studies and there joined the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Womens-Social-and-Political-Union\">Women&#8217;s Social and Political Union<\/a> (WPSU), a militant British suffrage organization led by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Emmeline-Pankhurst\">Emmeline Pankhurst<\/a> and her daughter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Christabel-Pankhurst\">Christabel<\/a>. From them Paul learned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/static\/collections\/women-of-protest\/images\/tactics.pdf\">tactics and techniques<\/a> of direct action such as organizing huge marches, staging extravagant, theatrical demonstrations, and using acts of disruption and civil disobedience to draw attention to her cause. This unbridled approach worked brilliantly at drawing attention to the movement, but it did not please the more conservative Catt, and the two leaders often clashed. Alice Paul and her co-suffragists also often clashed with the police.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/pictures\/item\/97510669\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"568\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-867 img-fluid img-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/Inez_Milholland_1913.jpg\" alt=\"Inez Milholland\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/Inez_Milholland_1913.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/Inez_Milholland_1913-300x213.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/Inez_Milholland_1913-768x545.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>On March 3, 1913\u2014one day before Woodrow Wilson&#8217;s inauguration\u2014the Women\u2019s Suffrage Parade, organized by Alice Paul, took place in Washington, D.C. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/collections\/women-of-protest\/articles-and-essays\/selected-leaders-of-the-national-womans-party\/icon\/\">Inez Milholland<\/a>\u2014a suffragist, labor lawyer, and socialist who worked for prison reform, peace, and equality for African-Americans\u2014led the parade wearing a white cape and seated on a white horse. Milholland campaigned unceasingly despite deteriorating health, and at the age of 30 collapsed in public uttering the words &#8220;Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?&#8221; then died in a hospital shortly thereafter. She was convinced that women\u2019s unique traits qualified them to become \u201chousecleaners for the nation\u201d whose votes could help alleviate social evils such as crowded tenements, sweatshops, poverty, hunger, prostitution, and child mortality. Today many of these conditions still exist, as do voter suppression, unequal pay, and many other violations of the most basic human rights.<\/p>\n<p>In January 1917 a group of women organized by Alice Paul became the first group to ever protest outside the White House. Known as the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Silent_Sentinels#:~:text=The%20Silent%20Sentinels%20were%20a,starting%20on%20January%2010%2C%201917.\">Silent Sentinels<\/a>, they picketed several hours a day, six days a week, for almost two and a half years, never speaking a word, but silently urging President Wilson with their signs to support a suffrage amendment. Many of them were beaten, arrested, and jailed. They would continue their protests in jail by staging hunger strikes, which often resulted in more beatings and being force fed through a tube stuck up the nose. The resulting public outrage and outcry over their treatment is often credited with turning the tide toward support of women&#8217;s suffrage, and on June 4, 1919, Congress passed a joint resolution proposing a Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>\u2800<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/item\/mnwp000212\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"483\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-930 img-fluid img-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/silent-sentinels.jpg\" alt=\"Silent Sentinels\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/silent-sentinels.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/silent-sentinels-300x181.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/silent-sentinels-768x464.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>By the middle of 1920, 35 of the required 36 states had voted to ratify the amendment, four other states (Connecticut, Vermont, North Carolina and Florida) declined to put it to a vote, and all the other states except Tennessee had rejected it outright. The deciding vote therefore came down to the Tennessee state legislature, and that vote now stood at a tie, with a single vote remaining.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/teva.contentdm.oclc.org\/digital\/collection\/p15138coll27\/id\/75\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"463\" height=\"695\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-947 img-fluid img-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/harry-burns.jpg\" alt=\"Harry T. Burn\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/harry-burns.jpg 463w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/harry-burns-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 463px) 100vw, 463px\" \/><\/a>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>At the tender age of 24, Tennessee state representative Harry T. Burn from the McMinn County district suddenly found himself facing the responsibility of casting the deciding vote to ratify or reject the Nineteenth Amendment at the Tennessee General Assembly in 1920. The <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.loc.gov\/music\/2019\/03\/polarizing-political-issues-the-anti-suffrage-rose\/\">red rose<\/a> on his lapel, as well as his past \u201cnay\u201d votes on the issue, confirmed his anti-suffragist position. He had already voted in favor of tabling the amendment, but that vote had also ended in a tie and did not carry. What the public did not see, however, as he stood up to declare his vote was a <a href=\"http:\/\/teachtnhistory.org\/File\/Harry_T._Burn.pdf\">seven-page handwritten letter<\/a> from his mother, Phoebe Ensminger Burn (known to her friends and family as \u201cFebb\u201d), urging him to \u201cbe a good boy\u201d and \u201chelp Mrs. \u2018Thomas Catt\u2019 with her \u2018<em>Rats<\/em>.\u2019\u201d (\u201cIs she the one that put rat in ratification,\u201d she further teased.) Along with the letter, Burn had hidden a yellow suffragist rose inside his jacket pocket. It was a history-making change of heart as Burn&#8217;s \u201caye\u201d unexpectedly reverberated in the Senate chamber.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/cmdc.knoxlib.org\u000b\/digital\/collection\/p265301coll8\/id\/699\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"481\" height=\"588\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-948 img-fluid img-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/letter-from-mother.png\" alt=\"Letter from Febb Burn\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/letter-from-mother.png 481w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/letter-from-mother-245x300.png 245w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 481px) 100vw, 481px\" \/><\/a>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Fourteen years after Susan B. Anthony&#8217;s death, the act named after her was ratified as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/exhibits\/featured-documents\/amendment-19\">Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution<\/a>. Though she did not live to see the results of her life\u2019s work, Susan B. had played a crucial role in securing female suffrage at the national level.<\/p>\n<p>On February 15, 1921 (Susan B. Anthony\u2019s birthday), sculptor <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Adelaide_Johnson\">Adelaide Johnson<\/a>\u2019s monumental statue \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aoc.gov\/explore-capitol-campus\/art\/portrait-monument-lucretia-mott-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b\">The Women\u2019s Movement<\/a>\u201d was unveiled in the Capitol Rotunda. The monument contains portraits of Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and Elisabeth Cady Stanton, copied from busts the artist had sculpted earlier when the subjects were still alive. In this monument, they arise out of a block of rough-hewn Carrara marble\u2014a symbol of the unfinished struggle for women\u2019s rights\u2014and a vague, abstract shape rises behind the three women to represent all the other women who might continue their fight.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Portrait_Monument#\/media\/File:PortraitMonument.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"586\" height=\"800\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-885 img-fluid img-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/PortraitMonument.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait Monument\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/PortraitMonument.jpg 586w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/PortraitMonument-220x300.jpg 220w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 586px) 100vw, 586px\" \/><\/a>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>In 1979, the U.S. Treasury minted the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usmint.gov\/coins\/coin-medal-programs\/circulating-coins\/susan-b-anthony-dollar\">Susan B. Anthony dollar<\/a>, making her the first female to be represented on U.S. currency.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/coins.ha.com\/itm\/susan-b.-anthony-dollars\/silver-and-related-dollars\/1981-s-sba-type-two-pr70-deep-cameo-pcgs\/a\/1139-1449.s\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full style=\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/anthony-dollar-1.jpg\" alt=\"Susan B. Anthony silver dollar\" \/><\/a>\n\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3>Unfinished Business<\/h3>\n<p>Passage of the Nineteenth Amendment did not automatically secure the right to vote for all American women:<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n \t<li>Native American women were not considered U.S. citizens\u2014except under certain special circumstances, such as being married to a white man\u2014and therefore could not vote.<\/li>\n \t<li>African-Americans were prevented from voting by poll taxes, literacy tests, threats of violence, and other tools of voter suppression.<\/li>\n \t<li>Discriminatory immigration laws prevented many Chinese women (the <a href=\"https:\/\/immigrationhistory.org\/item\/page-act\/\">Page Act<\/a>) or Chinese men and women (the <a href=\"https:\/\/guides.loc.gov\/chinese-exclusion-act\">Chinese Exclusion Act<\/a>) from becoming U.S. citizens, and in 1924 the <a href=\"https:\/\/history.state.gov\/milestones\/1921-1936\/immigration-act\">Johnson-Reed Act<\/a> excluded all Asians from immigrating to the U.S.<\/li>\n \t<li>The 1907 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/files\/publications\/prologue\/2014\/spring\/citizenship.pdf\">Expatriation Act<\/a> declared that female U.S. citizens who married non-citizens were no longer Americans.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Pioneers such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.womensvote100.org\/the-suff-buffs-blog\/2020\/4\/30\/mabel-ping-hua-lee-how-chinese-american-women-helped-shape-the-suffrage-movement\">Mabel Ping-Hua Lee<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/people\/zitkala-sa.htm\">Zitkala-\u0160a<\/a> helped pave the way for many of these women to win the right to vote years\u2014sometimes decades\u2014after the Nineteenth Amendment was passed, and some still fight today against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/research\/elections-and-campaigns\/felon-voting-rights.aspx\">felony disenfranchisement<\/a> laws, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lwv.org\/blog\/how-voter-id-laws-disproportionately-impact-women-and-what-were-doing-about-it\">voter I.D.<\/a> laws, and other laws that continue to discriminate against women and minorities.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/exhibitions\/women-fight-for-the-vote\/about-this-exhibition\/more-to-the-movement\/mabel-ping-hua-lee\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"377\" height=\"660\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-890 img-fluid img-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/mabel-pin-hua-lee.jpg\" alt=\"Mabel Ping-Hua Lee\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/mabel-pin-hua-lee.jpg 377w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/mabel-pin-hua-lee-171x300.jpg 171w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 377px) 100vw, 377px\" \/><\/a>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/people\/zitkala-sa.htm\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"340\" height=\"415\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-892 img-fluid img-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/zitkala-sa.jpg\" alt=\"Zitkala-\u0160a\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/zitkala-sa.jpg 340w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/zitkala-sa-246x300.jpg 246w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\" \/><\/a>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>On Valentine&#8217;s Day 1920, six months before the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, Carrie Chapman Catt founded the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lwv.org\/about-us\/history\">League of Women Voters<\/a>, a non-partisan, non-sectarian organization aimed at educating voters on political issues.<\/p>\n<p>After helping to secure women&#8217;s suffrage, Alice Paul penned the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brennancenter.org\/our-work\/research-reports\/equal-rights-amendment-explained\">Equal Rights Amendment<\/a> (ERA) with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/free-speech\/crystal-eastman-aclus-underappreciated-founding-mother\">Crystal Eastman<\/a> in 1923. While middle-class women were largely supportive of this amendment, working-class women pointed out that passage could result in losing certain protections regarding working conditions and hours of employment. Like the Nineteenth Amendment, this one was short and succinct. (It was also misspelled.)<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/catalog.archives.gov\/id\/7452156\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"208\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-944 img-fluid img-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/era-text.png\" alt=\"Equal Rights Amendment\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/era-text.png 683w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/era-text-300x91.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/a>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>The ERA was reintroduced in the early 1970s, but as of 2020\u2014nearly a century after it was introduced\u2014it has not been ratified.<\/p>\n<p>One hundred years after women won the right to vote, the battle for equality is still not over. We hope you have been inspired by this story and will consider how you can continue the fight for the rights of women and other oppressed people in your own neighborhood and throughout the world. What part will you play? As you join the fight for liberty, justice, and equality, let these words from <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Henry_Alford\">Henry Alford<\/a>\u2019s hymn \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/hymnary.org\/text\/forward_be_our_watchword_hearts_and_vo\">Forward Be Our Watchword<\/a>\u201d\u2014carried on a banner by Inez Milholland at her first suffrage parade, then later displayed during her memorial\u2014serve as inspiration:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-tadv-p=\"keep\"><em>Forward, out of error, <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-tadv-p=\"keep\">Leave behind the night;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-tadv-p=\"keep\">Forward through the darkness,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-tadv-p=\"keep\"><em>Forward into light!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shorpy.com\/node\/5414\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"732\" height=\"800\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-876 img-fluid img-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/Forward-Out-of-Error-2.jpg\" alt=\"Woman holding banner at Inez Milholland memorial.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/Forward-Out-of-Error-2.jpg 732w, https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/Forward-Out-of-Error-2-275x300.jpg 275w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 732px) 100vw, 732px\" \/><\/a>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><em>\nAuthor: Bobby Griffith<\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Image credits:<\/p>\n<p>Photo of <strong>Eagle Commons Library Woman Suffrage exhibit<\/strong> by Bobby Griffith.<\/p>\n<p>Portrait of <strong>Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton<\/strong>, c.1880, from <a href=\"https:\/\/century1040.rssing.com\/chan-8220727\/all_p19.html\">19C American Women in a New Nation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Photo of <strong>Victoria Woodhull<\/strong> courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/history.house.gov\/Collection\/Listing\/2007\/2007-331-005\/\">Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Photo of <strong>Susan B. Anthony silver dollar<\/strong> from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/coins.ha.com\/itm\/susan-b.-anthony-dollars\/silver-and-related-dollars\/1981-s-sba-type-two-pr70-deep-cameo-pcgs\/a\/1139-1449.s\">Heritage Auctions Lot 1449<\/a>, 29 April 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Photo of <strong>Carrie Chapman Catt<\/strong>\u00a0courtesy of <a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.loc.gov\/loc.mss\/mnwp.149004\">Library of Congress Manuscript Division<\/a>, available under the digital ID <a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.loc.gov\/loc.mss\/mnwp.149004\">mnwp.149004<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Photo of <strong>Alice Paul<\/strong> courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/pictures\/item\/97500088\/\">Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Photo of <strong>Silent Sentinels<\/strong> courtesy of Library of Congress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/item\/mnwp000212\">American Memory Collection<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Photo of <strong>Inez Milholland<\/strong> courtesy of George Grantham Bain Collection, Libary of Congress, Reproduction Number: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/pictures\/item\/97510669\/\">LC-DIG-ppmsc-00031<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Photo of <strong>Harry T. Burn<\/strong> courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/08\/harry-burns.jpg\">Tennessee Virtual Archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Photo of <strong>letter from Febb Burn<\/strong> courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/cmdc.knoxlib.org\/digital\/collection\/p265301coll8\/id\/699\">Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection<\/a>, Knox County Public Library.<\/p>\n<p>Portrait of <strong>Mabel Ping-Hua Lee<\/strong>\u00a0from <em>New-York Tribune<\/em>, April 13, 1912. Reproduced in <a href=\"https:\/\/chroniclingamerica.loc.gov\/lccn\/sn83030214\/1912-04-13\/ed-1\/seq-3\/\"><em>Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers<\/em>, National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Photo of<strong> Zitkala-\u0160a<\/strong> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/rr\/print\/coll\/womphotoj\/kasebieressay.html\">Gertrude K\u00e4sebier<\/a>, courtesy of the <a href=\"http:\/\/n2t.net\/ark:\/65665\/ng49ca746a8-a687-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa\">Smithsonian Institution<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Photo of<strong> woman holding banner in memory of Inez Milholland<\/strong>, uploaded from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shorpy.com\/\">Shorpy.com<\/a>, a photo-blog site specializing in vintage photography. Source url: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shorpy.com\/node\/5414\">5414<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One hundred years ago today, at 8:00 a.m. on August 26, 1920, without fanfare, in the privacy of his own home and unseen by the press or the public, Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby formally certified Tennessee\u2019s ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, bringing to a culmination a 72-year, non-violent campaign to&#8230;  <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/2020\/08\/26\/remembering-the-ladies\/\" class=\"more-link\" title=\"Read Remembering the Ladies\">Read more &raquo;<\/a>","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[151,150,148,158,155,154,156,17,153,152,15,149,19,18,157],"class_list":["post-844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-special-days","tag-alice-paul","tag-charrie-chapman-scott","tag-elizabeth-cady-stanton","tag-forward-into-light","tag-harry-t-burn","tag-inez-milholland","tag-mabel-ping-hua-lee","tag-nineteenth-amendment","tag-silent-sentinels","tag-suffragists","tag-susan-b-anthony","tag-victoria-woodhull","tag-woman-suffrage","tag-womens-suffrage","tag-zitkala-sa"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2561,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844\/revisions\/2561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}