Women’s Equality Day

  • Published
  • By Dawn W. Smith
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- In 1971 Congress designated Aug. 26 as "Women's Equality Day." The date commemorates the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote.

The passage of the 19th Amendment was the culmination of a massive, peaceful civil rights movement by women that had its formal beginnings in 1848 at the world's first women's rights convention, in Seneca Falls, New York. Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton led the movement.

Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and other women’s rights pioneers, led a suffrage movement in 1869 that circulated petitions and lobbied Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to empower women.

At the turn of the century, suffragists fell into two groups: the club movement and the settlement house movement. Both groups attempted to influence reform legislation. However, many politicians were unwilling to listen to either of these disenfranchised groups.

Women quickly realized that, in order to achieve reform, they needed to win the right to vote. The woman suffrage movement became a mass movement.

Early in the 20th century, leadership of the suffrage movement divided into two organizations. Carrie Chapman Catt led the first, the National American Woman Suffrage Association. This organization undertook campaigns to secure individual states’ support for the movement, while simultaneously lobbying President Woodrow Wilson and Congress to pass a women’s suffrage constitutional amendment. In the 1910s, NAWSA’s membership numbered in the millions.

Alice Paul led the second group, the National Woman’s Party. Paul led activists to picket at the White House and Congress. She and her colleagues were arrested and imprisoned. While in jail, Paul and others engaged in hunger strikes and endured forced feedings.

The 19th Amendment was finally proposed to Congress on June 14, 1919. The amendment could not become law without the ratification by a minimum of 36 of the 48 states. By the summer of 1920, 35 states had ratified the amendment, one short of passage. Four states were asked to hold legislative voting sessions on the issue: three states refused; Tennessee, however, agreed to call a special session.

Tennessee’s decision came down to Harry T. Burn, a 24-year-old representative who cast the deciding vote. Burn had originally made clear his intention to vote “nay.” However, a letter from his mother, Phoebe Ensminger Burn, asking him to vote in favor of the amendment, helped to change his mind. The letter reads as follows: “Hurrah, and vote for suffrage! Don't keep them in doubt. I notice some of the speeches against. They were bitter. I have been watching to see how you stood, but have not noticed anything yet. Don't forget to be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the “rat” in ratification.”

Burn heeded his mother’s advice, casting the deciding vote on Aug. 26, 1920. Because of Burn’s vote, Tennessee became the 36th state to vote “yay,” ratifying the 19th Amendment into law.

The passage of the 19th Amendment is a testament to the courage and tenacity of the women — and men — who challenged the nation to live up to its founding principles. The legacy of brave women who served — and continue to serve — our nation and the Department of Defense further inspire us to strive for liberty and equality for all Americans.