Today marks the 89th anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.


The amendment states:



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 sex.


Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.


Wikipedia lists the dates that states ratified the amendment. Some states came later to the party than others (I’m looking at you, Mississippi: the state finally passed it on March 22, 1984, after initially rejecting it on March 29, 1920.)


In the face of anti-suffragists who claimed, among other things, that women’s “frailty” made them unsuited to vote, that women could hide extra ballots in their “voluminous sleeves,” and that allowing women to vote would lead to foreign aggression and war, activists fought on and eventually convinced the nation that their cause was just.


We remember the suffragists for their tireless dedication and hard work they put into making this dream a reality. Thanks, ladies.