Women's Suffrage Movement Timeline

Congress ratifies the 15th amendment: "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 race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

1870

Susan B. Anthony arrested for voting for Ulysses S. Grant in the presidential election.

1872

The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), which was the largest women's organization at that time, pursued women's suffrage and gave a huge boost to the movement.

1873

The Supreme Court ruled against women who tried to vote in the case Minor v. Happersett

1875

The Women's Suffrage Amendment is first introduced to congress.

1878

The National Women Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association merge to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). As the movement's mainstream organization, NAWSA wages state-by-state campaigns to obtain voting rights for women.

1890

Colorado is the first state to adopt an amendment granting women the right to vote.

1893

The National Association of Colored Women is formed, bringing together more than 100 black women's clubs. Leaders in the black women's club movement include Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, Mary Church Terrell, and Anna Julia Cooper.

1896

Alice Paul and Lucy Burns formed the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage. Their focus is lobbying for a constitutional amendment to secure the right to vote for women. The group is later renamed the National Women's Party. Members picket the White House and practice other forms of civil disobedience.

1913

Alice Paul and her colleagues form the National Woman's Party (NWP) and began introducing some of the methods used by the suffrage movement in Britain. Tactics included demonstrations, parades, mass meetings & picketing the White House over the refusal of President Woodrow Wilson and other incumbent Democrats to actively support the Suffrage Amendment.

1916

In July picketers were arrested on charges of "obstructing traffic." including Paul. She and others were convicted and incarcerated at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia. While imprisoned, Alice Paul began a hunger strike.

1917

In January, after much bad press about the treatment of Alice Paul and the imprisoned women, President Wilson announced that women's suffrage was urgently needed as a "war measure."

1918

The federal woman suffrage amendment, originally written by Susan B. Anthony and introduced in Congress in 1878, is passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate. It is then sent to the states for ratification.

1919

Split among the suffragist movement, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association. The primary goal of the organization is to achieve voting rights for women by means of a Congressional amendment to the Constitution. Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, and others form the American Woman Suffrage Association, which focuses exclusively on gaining voting rights for women through the individual state constitutions.

1869

The demand for women's suffrage began to gather strength through the...

1840s

The first women's rights convention is held in Seneca Falls, New York. After 2 days of discussion and debate, 68 women and 32 men sign a Declaration of Sentiments, which outlines grievances and sets the agenda for the women's rights movement. A set of 12 resolutions is adopted calling for equal treatment of women and men under the law and voting rights for women.

1848

The first National Women's Rights Convention takes place in Worcester, Mass., attracting more than 1,000 participants. National conventions are held yearly (except for 1857) through 1860.

1850

Ratification of the 14th amendment declaring "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside" and that right may not be "denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States"

1868

The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote, is signed into law.

August 26 1920