The women's suffrage movement did not all happen at once, New York 1912 (getty)
Today, the right to vote might seem routine but the women’s suffrage movement fought for nearly 100 years to finally earn that right. Dating all the way back to the mid 19th century, women fought against men’s idea of “True Womanhood.” Back then, men felt women should be submissive, exclusively concerned with the matter of home and family. Women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Ida B. Wells fought tooth and nail for inalienable rights for decades, enduring prison time and other indignations.
Over the course of 100 years, the Civil War, two World Wars, and other events threatened to derail the women’s suffrage movement. At multiple points differing opinions splintered the movement, creating warring factions. Here’s the long road women fought for equality.
The battle for women's voting rights took many turns.
Seneca Falls Convention
While the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 marked the first time women met en masse to discuss attaining equal voting rights, women’s role in changing the country began much earlier. In fact, most women found their way into the suffrage movement through their work in abolitionist groups like the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).
Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, pioneers of the Women's Rights Movement, 1891. (The Library of Congress)
Women Make Their Voices Heard
However, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott called the meeting, it was the first time as a group women declared, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men and women are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
It took the work of many great women to earn their voting rights.
Civil War & Disagreement
When the Civil War broke out, the women's suffrage movement naturally lost some steam. Unfortunately, as the internal war wound down and the 14th and 15th amendments came into play, disagreement broke out within the women’s movement. The 14th amendment granted protection to all “citizens,” which meant males, while the 15th gave black men the right to vote. Some women saw this as an opportunity to push for truly universal suffrage. Others felt it was “the Negro’s hour” and attaching their movement would hurt African Americans.
Jane Walker Burleson (center) leading a suffrage march on March 13, 1913, in Washington. (BainNewsService)
A Divide
Regrettably, that led Stanton and Susan B. Anthony to create the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869 which campaigned against any voting amendment that would exude women. On the other side Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe, Antoinette Brown Blackwell, and Frederick Douglass established the American Woman Suffrage Association. For 11 years they pursued their own goals before reuniting in 1890 as the National American Women’s Suffrage Association.
The powers that be dragged their feet on women's voting rights for decades.
Voting By Storm
Sometimes to initiate change you have to cause a ruckus. In 1868 172 black and white women took to the polls in Vineland, New Jersey. Over the ensuing years more and more women attempted to vote despite the laws prohibiting it. 1872 Anthony and 15 other women were arrested for violating the 14th amendment.
Only Anthony was tried but barred from taking the stand in her own defense. The judge directed the jury to issue a guilty verdict and required Anthony to pay a $100 fine. She boldly refused, daring the judge to send her to jail. He refused to do that, knowing that doing so would enable her to appeal her case to the U.S Supreme Court. The case was closed but it earned Anthony national fame and inspired more women to the cause.
Members of the National American Woman Suffrage Association during the New York Suffragists Parade on 3rd May 1913. (Getty Images)
Piece By Piece
Many people might think the women’s movement peaked at the singular moment of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. However, that’s not the case. As Robyn Muncy, a historian at the University of Maryland put it, “It’s important to remember how piecemeal a struggle it was. Seeing change as coming in one fell swoop undermines us as citizens, and gives us a false idea about the way change happens.” Idaho and Utah were the first to allow women to vote. Then in 1910, the west came to its senses. However, the east coast and southern states took more cajoling.
Brains not brawn earned women their rights.
Getting “Violent”
Inspired by their British counterparts, a group of women led by American Quaker Alice Paul formed the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage. Tired of the mild-mannered maneuverings of American suffragists, Paul and her group demonstrated outside the White House. Pathetically, the guards of the Virginia’s Occoquan Workhouse brutally beat 30 female picketers. For her actions, Paul was sentenced to seven months in prison where she was force-fed and kept in a psychiatric ward.
Eventually, all of the charges were quietly dropped and President Wilson finally did the right thing. He declared his support for the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, which became the 19th Amendment, allowing women to vote, an event 100 years in the making.
