The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1920.
The amendment prohibits the United States and its states from denying citizens the right to vote on the basis of sex. Tennessee supplied the decisive thirty-sixth state ratification on August 18, 1920, completing the number then required for adoption. The federal government formally proclaimed the amendment incorporated into the Constitution on August 26.
The amendment followed decades of organizing, petitions, conventions, state campaigns, and national lobbying by women’s suffrage activists. The movement included major figures such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ida B. Wells, Alice Paul, and Carrie Chapman Catt, although activists disagreed over strategy and priorities.
Ratification did not instantly eliminate every barrier to voting. Many women of color, particularly Black women in the South, continued to face discriminatory laws, intimidation, and violence. Later federal civil-rights measures were necessary to strengthen voting protections. The amendment remains a major constitutional milestone in the evolving history of American citizenship.