August 18, 1920
Votes for Women
The day American women finally won the right to vote — after 72 years of asking.
The Story
For most of American history, women were not allowed to vote in elections.
Starting in 1848 at a meeting in Seneca Falls, New York, brave women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony began asking for that to change.
It took 72 years of marches, speeches, and even going to jail before Congress finally passed the 19th Amendment.
To become a law, 36 states had to agree — and it all came down to one young man in Tennessee named Harry Burn.
His mother had sent him a letter telling him to vote yes, and he did — and that made women's right to vote part of the Constitution on August 18, 1920.
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