The Nineteenth Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution in 1920.
Congress approved the amendment in 1919, and Tennessee supplied the decisive 36th ratification on August 18, 1920. The amendment’s adoption was certified on August 26, now commemorated in the United States as Women’s Equality Day.
Its text prohibits the United States and its states from denying or abridging citizens’ voting rights on the basis of sex. The amendment followed decades of organizing, public demonstrations, legal arguments, and state-level campaigns by the women’s suffrage movement.
The amendment did not instantly remove every barrier to voting. Many African American women, Native American women, Asian American women, and Latina women continued to face discriminatory laws or practices. Later federal legislation and court decisions were also necessary to protect voting access.