When Did Women Get the Right to Vote? A Look Back at U.S. History

Learn about the history of voting rights in America, including when women were allowed to vote and why voter access is still an important issue today.
A cartoon of suffragettes marching
Rose Wong

This article is part of In Session: The Teen Vogue Lesson Plan.

When did women get the right to vote? The 19th Amendment, passed in 1919 and ratified in 1920, technically guaranteed women's suffrage in the United States after years of work from activists. However, many women of color remained unable to actually exercise their right to vote, and the battle for true equality at the polls has been much more complex and fraught than some history books might make it seem. Voter access remains an important issue today, with activists fighting for a fairer election system that makes participation truly accessible. Ahead, Teen Vogue shares some highlights from the decades-long battle to secure all women’s right to vote.

1848: The Seneca Falls Convention addresses women’s rights

An idea over tea to hold a two-day meeting to discuss women’s rights turned into a convention attended by hundreds in Seneca Falls, New York. In total, some 300 people attended the convention, organized by suffrage movement leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Some 68 women and 32 men signed a “Declaration of Sentiments,” making the first formal demand in the U.S. for women’s right to vote. This convention did not address the racism and oppression specifically faced by Black women.

1850: The first National Woman’s Rights Convention

Two years after the Seneca Falls Convention, more than 1,000 people — including abolitionists Lucy Stone, Lucretia Mott, and Abby Kelley — attended a national conference in Worcester, Massachusetts to strategize ways to strengthen women’s rights. These annual conferences continued almost every year through 1860.

1866: Suffragists send petition to Congress

Suffragists sent a Congress a petition, signed by 10,000 people, requesting a constitutional amendment prohibiting disenfranchisement on the basis of sex. “We call your attention to the fact that we represent fifteen million people—one half the entire population of the country — intelligent, virtuous, native-born American citizens; and yet stand outside the pale of political recognition,” the petition read.

1869: The suffragists split

Three years later, suffragists split into two separate organizations: the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association. The former focused on achieving voting rights through a constitutional amendment while the latter approached voting rights state-by-state. Splits were also fueled by disagreements regarding voting rights for minorities. The American Woman Suffrage Association endorsed the Fifteenth Amendment — which prohibited voter denial because of race. Members included Black men and women.

1870: The Fifteenth Amendment is ratified

On February 3, 1870, the 15th Amendment was ratified, granting Black men the right to vote. The language declares that 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." But poll taxes, literacy tests, and other state laws, as well as the threat of violence, prevented many Black men from casting ballots.

1872: Susan B. Anthony votes anyway — and is arrested 

In November of 1872, Susan B. Anthony, alongside 14 other women, casted a ballot and was arrested in New York. She eventually was tried and convicted for voting illegally, resulting in a $100 fine, which she later refused to pay.

1896: The National Association of Colored Women is formed

Formed to achieve equality for women of color, the National Association of Colored Women became the era’s largest organization of Black women. The group played an active role in decrying racial stereotypes projected onto Black women and was a pivotal advocate for change in the women’s suffrage movement.

1910: Suffrage parades begin 

In 1910, the first women’s suffrage parade took place in New York City. These parades quickly gained popularity around the country, and just three years later in Washington, D.C., the parade garnered around 10,000 participants along with hundreds of thousands of onlookers down Pennsylvania Avenue.

1913: The Alpha Suffrage Club of Chicago is formed

Ida B. Wells, the muckraking Black journalist and anti-lynching advocate, established the Alpha Suffrage Club of Chicago to advocate for voting rights for Black women. 

1919: The Nineteenth Amendment is signed into law

After making it through the House and Senate — the latter by only two votes — in June 1919, the Nineteenth Amendment, granting women the right to vote, was sent to states for ratification. Months later, it was signed into law.

1920: White women are able to vote

White women were granted the right to vote after the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920. Non-white women, however, found themselves subject to the same barriers that kept non-white men from voting, including poll taxes, literacy tests, fraud, and intimidation.

1924: Native American women earn the right to vote

Through the Indian Citizenship Act, Native Americans — including Native American women — were technically granted citizenship and the right to vote. But individual states still blocked Indigenous residents from voting for many years.

1943: Chinese women gain voting rights

Via the Magnuson Act, Chinese immigrants — including women — were given the right to citizenship and in turn, the right to vote in 1943. Like other minority women, they faced steep barriers to actually being able to cast ballots.

1962: New Mexico becomes the last state to officially grant the franchise to Native Americans

The New Mexico Constitution held that Indigenous people “not taxed” could not vote because they didn’t pay property taxes on their land. The problematic provision disenfranchised many and, after gaining attention nationally and from the President’s Committee on Civil Rights, was finally overturned in 1962.

1965: Black and Latinx women are able to vote

President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law in 1965, prohibiting voting discrimination based on “race, color, or national origin.” After enduring the repression of Jim Crow laws for years, Black men and women were finally granted the right to vote — but voter discrimination against and disenfranchisement of Black and Latinx communities continues in earnest to this day.

1975: The Voting Rights Act is amended to protect “language minority citizens”

The VRA was amended to include protections for Americans who had a “history of exclusion from the political process” because of the primary languages they spoke, including Native Americans and immigrants from Latin America and Asia.

1984: The Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act Law is passed

To improve access for older voters and voters with disabilities, Congress passed a law requiring that polling sites for federally funded elections must be physically accessible for those experiencing any type of temporary or permanent disability. The law also required the provision of voting aids, such as printing ballot instructions in large font.

1990: The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 addresses accessibility issues

The Americans With Disabilities Act, passed in 1990, was intended to ensure that disabled people have equal access to the ballot box. Today, however, members of the disability community still report many instances of inaccessible venues lacking ramps, improperly trained staff, and other barriers that disenfranchise them.

Present Day: The fight for voter access continues

Across the country, politicians and activists continue to fight against harmful voter suppression tacticssuch as voter ID laws, limited polling places resulting in long lines, and gerrymandering. These issues disproportionately affect Black voters and other people of color, and also make it difficult for young people to vote, restricting polling sites on college campuses. In 2022 alone, states enacted “11 new restrictive voting laws [and] 12 election interference laws,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice. The fight for voter access remains just as important than ever.

ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Rose Wong

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