Throwback Thursday

SCH_AUDACITYJONES_PRFL_400X400Audacity was 11 in 1910. But had she been 21, she still wouldn’t have been able to vote for President Taft, or any other candidate, due to being female (unless she lived someplace like my home state of Washington, where women got the vote November 8, 1910).

 

The 19th Amendment was ratified on this very day, August 18, in 1920, stating, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

Suffragists parade down Fifth Avenue, 1917. Advocates march in October 1917, displaying placards containing the signatures of more than one million New York women demanding the vote. The New York Times Photo Archives

Suffragists parade down Fifth Avenue, 1917.
The New York Times Photo Archives

And though the 15th Amendment states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” in reality, this was not the case.

Native American women weren’t able to vote until the passage of the Snyder Act in 1924 (and even then some states blocked Native Americans from voting). More info here.

 

Women of Japanese descent didn’t gain voting rights (with citizenship) until 1952. More info here.

And millions of African American women were prevented from casting their ballots until the passage of the Voting Rights Act, in 1965. More info here.