Women's suffrage in the United States

The movement to secure women’s legal right to vote in the United States. Its central national victory was ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, though voting barriers continued to exclude many women.

Seneca Falls Convention: An 1848 gathering in New York that issued a declaration demanding equal rights, including women’s suffrage. Its declaration helped launch organized women’s rights activism in the United States.
Nineteenth Amendment: The 1920 amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibiting denial of voting rights on account of sex. It established the national constitutional protection sought by the movement.
Sojourner Truth: An abolitionist and women's rights activist who spoke publicly against slavery and racial and gender inequality. Her 1851 speech at Akron became a lasting intervention in debates about women’s rights.
Voting Rights Act of 1965: A federal law that prohibits racial discrimination in voting and provides tools to enforce voting rights. Its protections addressed barriers that continued to prevent many Black women from voting.
Black women's suffrage: The struggle of Black women in the United States to secure voting rights amid both sexism and racial exclusion. It reveals how the movement's universal language often failed to address racial barriers.
Declaration of Sentiments: A statement adopted at Seneca Falls in 1848 that listed women’s legal and political grievances. Its demand for the vote made suffrage a stated goal of the new movement.
National American Woman Suffrage Association: A national suffrage organization formed in 1890 by the merger of two rival groups. It coordinated state campaigns and later pressed Congress and the states for an amendment.
Susan B. Anthony: An American reformer who organized for women's suffrage and was arrested for voting in 1872. Her arrest dramatized the conflict between women’s citizenship claims and voting laws.
Jim Crow laws: State and local laws that enforced racial segregation and white supremacy, especially in the American South. Their poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation obstructed Black women's access to the ballot.
Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom: The campaign for women's voting rights in the United Kingdom, achieved in stages beginning in 1918. Its timeline and militant tactics offer a comparison with the U.S. campaign.

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