A History of Voting Rights by Tamra Orr

Author:Tamra Orr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mitchell Lane

The fight for voting rights for women was a slow one. Year after year passed and little progress was made, despite the dedication and efforts of countless women. In the end, it was their perseverance that helped them achieve equal rights.

Just as the movement seemed to be making progress, another national crisis interfered. This time it was World War I (1914–1918). Women set aside their passion for equal rights and concentrated instead on nursing injured soldiers. They also took on the jobs that men had traditionally held, from firefighting and farming to teaching and working in factories. They filled in wherever they were needed, and their ability to do so helped to prove to many people that women were as strong and capable as men.

At long last, in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was added to the Constitution, and women were given the right to vote. In the first election following its ratification, more than 26 million women voted.4

One Last Minority

It took decades, but finally African Americans and women had achieved their full rights as American citizens. Ironically, the group that still wasn’t allowed to vote was the people who had been in the country longer than anyone else—the Native Americans. Some of them had earned citizenship through marriage, and others through treaties, but many still were barred from their rights. It was not until 1924 that the federal government finally passed the Indian Citizenship Act. Dr. Joseph K. Dixon wrote at the time: “The Indian, though a man without a country, the Indian who has suffered a thousand wrongs considered the white man’s burden and from mountains, plains, and divides, the Indian threw himself into the struggle. . . . Now, shall we not redeem ourselves by redeeming all the tribes?”5 That redemption came—but it took a very long time.

U.S. President Calvin Coolidge stands on the White House lawn with four Osage Indians after he signed the bill granting Native Americans full citizenship.

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