Tennessee supplied the final ratification needed for the Nineteenth Amendment on August 18, 1920.
The amendment prohibited the United States and its states from denying citizens the right to vote on the basis of sex. Congress proposed it on June 4, 1919, and approval by 36 of the 48 states then in the Union was required for adoption.
Tennessee’s House of Representatives approved ratification by a vote of 50 to 49. Representative Harry Burn changed his vote after receiving a note from his mother urging him to support woman suffrage. Tennessee’s action provided the decisive 36th ratification.
The amendment’s adoption was certified on August 26, 1920, by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. The amendment was a major victory for the women’s suffrage movement, but it did not immediately remove every barrier to voting. Many African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American women still faced discriminatory laws and practices.