By Ancestry®
Suffragist Movement
Making Them Count:
The Continuing Path to Voting Equality
Making Them Count:
The Continuing Path to Voting Equality
What did the ratification of the 19th Amendment mean to the story of women in America?
What did the ratification of the 19th Amendment mean to the story of women in America?
Updated July 8, 2020
It was a crucial milestone in decades of hard work and struggle for women from a diverse range of backgrounds and perspectives. They shared a common goal: to count in our democracy. And although the road was rocky, together they mapped out a path for the vote for women.
It was a crucial milestone in decades of hard work and struggle for women from a diverse range of backgrounds and perspectives. They shared a common goal: to count in our democracy. And although the road was rocky, together they mapped out a path for the vote for women.
Beyond the “stars” of the suffrage movement like Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, or Alice Paul, everyday women stepped up in ways, large and small. As Susan Ware contends in Why They Marched: Untold Stories of Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote, participating in the suffrage fight and then exercising the right to vote changed women’s lives in ways they had never imagined. Even though many of these women were foot soldiers rather than leaders, their rank-and-file contributions made a difference to the larger movement, to the larger society, and to the participants themselves. Think of suffragists as the voting rights activists of their day.
Beyond the “stars” of the suffrage movement like Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, or Alice Paul, everyday women stepped up in ways, large and small. As Susan Ware contends in Why They Marched: Untold Stories of Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote, participating in the suffrage fight and then exercising the right to vote changed women’s lives in ways they had never imagined. Even though many of these women were foot soldiers rather than leaders, their rank-and-file contributions made a difference to the larger movement, to the larger society, and to the participants themselves. Think of suffragists as the voting rights activists of their day.
The 19th Amendment by no means addressed or solved all the inequities for women in the 20th century—or even the 21st—but it was an important milestone in the broader story of equality in America. From the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to Virginia’s ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in January 2020, women’s stories are still being written today by women who carry the strength and resilience of the suffragists who led the way. Connecting to their stories—learning who they were and why they mattered—makes them real. And that makes them count.
The 19th Amendment by no means addressed or solved all the inequities for women in the 20th century—or even the 21st—but it was an important milestone in the broader story of equality in America. From the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to Virginia’s ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in January 2020, women’s stories are still being written today by women who carry the strength and resilience of the suffragists who led the way. Connecting to their stories—learning who they were and why they mattered—makes them real. And that makes them count.