Equality Day: Thanks to Feminist Foresisters

A mere eighty-five years ago, American women gained the right to vote. The 72-year battle waged by American feminists finally paid off when Tennessee became the 36th and final state to ratify the 19th Amendment. The Tennessee legislature passed the Susan B. Anthony Amendment by one vote.

"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."

From the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum, A Women’s History Museum:


It took three roll calls before the youngest member of the Tennessee legislature, Representative Harry Burn, urged in a letter from by his mother to “be a good boy” and vote for the amendment, changes his nay vote to a yea. Explaining his vote to his colleagues on the House floor the following day Burn said, "I know that a mother's advice is always safest for her boy to follow, and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification."

Pictured left to right: Banks Turner, whose vote prevented the tabling of the suffrage resolution, Catherine Flannagan, Anita Pollitzer (members of the National Woman's Party), Harry Burn, Thomas O. Simpson, who resisted "almost inhuman pressure of anti-suffrage interests", Betty Gram, and Sue White (members of the NWP).


The state representatives of the Tennessee Legislature who voted for the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment with National Woman's Party members Betty Gram, Anita Pollitzer, Catherine Flannagan, and Sue White. Tennessee became the 36th and final state to ratify the suffrage amendment.


Alice Paul [founder and leader of the National Woman's Party] celebrated the ratification victory in Tennessee by tossing the ratification banner over the balcony of the NWP’s headquarters at Lafayette Square. As each state ratified the 19th amendment, a star was affixed to it. Unfortunately, the banner disappeared and, to this day, it is unknown whether this banner still exists.

Paul immediately recognized that winning the vote was only the first step to secure women's full equality. In 1923, in Seneca Falls, NY on the 75th anniversary of the first women’s right convention, she introduced the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The ERA became her primary goal for the remainder of her life. Today the amendment is three states short of the 38 required for ratification.

feminism equality women/'s history women/'s suffrage Alice Paul