Tennessee provided the final ratification needed for the Nineteenth Amendment on August 18, 1920.
The amendment prohibits the United States and its states from denying the right to vote on the basis of sex. Congress proposed it on June 4, 1919, after decades of campaigning by women’s suffrage advocates. Ratification required approval from three-fourths of the states, which at the time meant thirty-six states.
Tennessee became the thirty-sixth state to ratify the amendment. The vote in the Tennessee House of Representatives was close: 50 members voted yes and 49 voted no. Representative Harry Burn changed his position after receiving advice from his mother, who supported ratification.
The amendment became part of the Constitution after Tennessee’s action, and Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified it on August 26, 1920. The amendment expanded constitutional voting protection, although many women of color still faced discriminatory laws and practices that restricted voting for decades.