On what date was the 19th Amendment ratified, granting U.S. women voting rights?

The 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, granting U.S. women a constitutional voting-rights protection.

Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, supplying the three-fourths majority then required. The decisive vote came in the state legislature after Representative Harry Burn changed his position and voted for ratification. The amendment was certified on August 26, 1920.

The amendment states that voting rights cannot be denied or abridged by the United States or a state on account of sex. It followed decades of organizing by activists including Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ida B. Wells, and Carrie Chapman Catt.

Ratification did not create equal voting access for every woman. Many women of color still faced racial barriers, discriminatory state laws, intimidation, and violence. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 later strengthened federal protection against racial discrimination in voting.