US History

The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)

Women

Law and Government

This collection uses primary sources to explore the campaign for women&#39;s suffrage through the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. 

Teaching Guide: Exploring the Campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment

“Votes for women,” a 1912 suffrage map showing the status of women’s suffrage in each state.

An anti-suffrage lithograph illustration. It reads: “The home or street corner for woman? Vote no on woman suffrage.”

An anti-suffrage postcard from a campaign to reach government officials, 1916.

A 1914 poster for the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. It reads, “Men! Give women votes to protect the children!”

A flyer listing reasons for a constitutional amendment, printed by the National American Woman Suffrage Association, July 1918.

The House of Representatives’ joint resolution on the Nineteenth Amendment.

A 1915 postcard of Kewpie dolls titled “Votes for Women: The Spirit of ’76.”

A 1912 postcard from a suffragette discussing her work on state suffrage campaigns.

A postcard of nurses marching in a suffrage parade, 1913.

A photo of a suffragette appealing to striking workers in Paterson, New Jersey in 1913.

A card “to a suffragette valentine.”

Part of a set of banners ridiculing objections to women’s suffrage; this one says, “It would make women less attractive to men.”

A photograph of a suffrage parade, 1913.

A National Woman’s Party woman suffrage banner, 1914-1917.

A photo portrait of Ida B. Wells, a social reformer who campaigned for the inclusion of black women in the national suffrage movement.

Resources

1. [Woman Suffrage Postcard collection](http://dp.la/search?partner%5B%5D=Smithsonian+Institution&q=suffrage+postcard&utf8=%E2%9C%93), National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center, Smithsonian Institution, Digital Public Library of America. 

2. [*History of Woman Suffrage*](http://dp.la/item/c20072262cc89421d1325ef5fabb432d), edited by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Josyln Gage, Internet Archive, Digital Public Library of America. 

3. [Activism in the US: Women’s Activism](http://dp.la/exhibitions/exhibits/show/activism/women---s-activism), DPLA. 

4. [Women’s Suffrage](http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/womens-suffrage/), The Library of Congress.

5. [The Fight for Women’s Suffrage](http://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/the-fight-for-womens-suffrage), History.com. 


Overview

On August 18, 1920, Congress ratified the Nineteenth Amendment, giving women across the country the right to vote. This historic moment was largely the result of the work of activists and organizations advocating for universal voting rights. While these efforts started earlier, work for the amendment was the culmination of a twentieth-century women’s suffrage movement. This movement faced formidable political and social opposition and delay in moments of national concern like World War I. This set of primary sources—photos, advertisements, maps, and other documents—sheds light on that struggle toward the Nineteenth Amendment. 

English

Women’s Suffrage: Campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment

womens-suffrage_08_62a52d372aff12514c83c96cc6a7fa9b.jpg

Courtesy of the Postal History Foundation via Mountain West Digital Library.

Colby, Clara Dorothy Bewick, “1912 Suffrage postcard,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/62a52d372aff12514c83c96cc6a7fa9b.

Transcription:

619 7 NW Washington DC. Dec. 22 '12. Dear Friend - I congratulate you in winning success in Arizona so easily. I worked 6 mos in the campaigns of Oregon, Kansas & Wis [Wisconsin]. My home is Portland, Ore. but I am at above address for the season. Secy of the Federal Women's Equality Assn. I am working for a Bill to enable women in all the states to vote for members of the H of R [House of Representatives]. Have been getting Hon. Vice Pres from the States where women vote & your member & senator Ashurst responded most heartily. Their names will be on our letter-heads. I wish you would join me soon & help us. The fee is $1.00 a year. I saw Laura Gregg at the Convention in Philadelphia with best wishes Sincerely yours, Clara Bewick Colby. 


A 1912 postcard from a suffragette discussing her work on state suffrage campaigns.

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Item 8 of 15 in the Primary Source Set Women’s Suffrage: Campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment