The Nineteenth Amendment, guaranteeing women’s suffrage in the United States, was ratified on August 18, 1920.
The amendment states that voting rights cannot be denied by the United States or a state on the basis of sex. Congress approved the proposal in June 1919, after decades of organizing, petitioning, conventions, and state-level campaigns by the women’s suffrage movement.
Tennessee became the thirty-sixth state to ratify the amendment, supplying the three-fourths majority then required for constitutional amendments. Harry Burn, a young Tennessee legislator, cast the decisive vote after receiving advice from his mother, Febb Burn.
Ratification did not create equal voting access for every woman. Many women of color continued to face discriminatory state laws, intimidation, violence, and administrative barriers. The amendment was a major constitutional milestone, but later federal legislation was still needed to address voter suppression.