The Nineteenth Amendment, granting women voting rights nationwide, was ratified in 1920.
Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment on August 18, 1920, providing the three-fourths majority then required. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the amendment on August 26, 1920, and that date is now observed in the United States as Women’s Equality Day.
The amendment states that voting rights cannot be denied or abridged by the United States or by a state on account of sex. Its ratification followed decades of organizing by groups and leaders including Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ida B. Wells, and Carrie Chapman Catt.
A common oversimplification is saying that every woman immediately gained equal access to the ballot in 1920. In practice, racial discrimination, poll taxes, literacy tests, intimidation, citizenship restrictions, and other barriers continued to disenfranchise many women, especially Black women and Indigenous women.