The Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920, giving U.S. women a constitutional voting right.
The amendment states that the right to vote cannot be denied or abridged by the United States or a state on account of sex. Congress approved it in June 1919, and Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify it on August 18, 1920, supplying the required three-quarters majority.
The amendment was the result of decades of organizing, petitioning, speeches, marches, and legal campaigns by women’s-rights activists. Leaders and groups used different strategies, including state-by-state campaigns and a federal constitutional amendment effort.
Ratification did not immediately remove every barrier to voting. Many Black women, Native American women, Asian American women, and other groups still faced discriminatory laws, citizenship restrictions, intimidation, or unequal enforcement. The Nineteenth Amendment therefore marked a major constitutional milestone without ending the broader struggle for equal voting access.