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102-819: Elizabeth H. West , the State Librarian of Texas at the time, was the first president of SWLA. Dorothy Amann, president of the Texas Library Association from 1921 to 1922 was instrumental in visiting the states bordering Texas to encourage their participation. Lillian Gunter, founder of the Cooke County Library, was also a SWLA co-founder. From 1959 to 1967, the SWLA published the Southwestern Library Association Newsletter. The organization

204-456: A filibuster , 36 Republican senators were joined by 20 Democrats to pass the amendment with 56 yeas, 25 nays, and 14 not voting. The final vote tally was: Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul immediately mobilized members of the NAWSA and NWP to pressure states to ratify the amendment. Within a few days, the legislatures of Wisconsin , Illinois , and Michigan did so. It is arguable which State

306-717: A bachelor's degree from the Industrial Institute and College in Columbus, Mississippi (now Mississippi University for Women.) She later received both a bachelor's and master's degree in history from the University of Texas at Austin where she focused on the expansion of French and Spanish settlements in North America. Upon completion of her master's degree, West initially worked as a school teacher. She first returned to Mississippi where she taught in

408-538: A break with NAWSA, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns founded the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage in 1913 to pressure the federal government to take legislative action. One of their first acts was to organize a women's suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. on March 3, 1913, the day before Woodrow Wilson 's inauguration. The procession of more than 5,000 participants, the first of its kind, attracted

510-696: A collection of primarily fiction texts in Braille , Moon type , and New York Point . Her efforts were well received, and members of the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired alumni association formed a volunteer service to promote embossed text literacy which was named the Elizabeth H. West Home Teaching Circle in honor of her work. During her time in San Antonio, West opened services of

612-613: A crowd of an estimated 500,000, as well as national media attention, but Wilson took no immediate action. In March 1917, the Congressional Union joined with Women's Party of Western Voters to form the National Woman's Party (NWP), whose aggressive tactics included staging more radical acts of civil disobedience and controversial demonstrations to draw more attention to the women's suffrage issue. When World War I started in 1914, women in eight states had already won

714-655: A degree from Howard University Law School, joined the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1878 when she delivered their convention's keynote address. Tensions between African-American and white suffragists persisted, even after the NWSA and AWSA merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1890. By the early 1900s, white suffragists often adopted strategies designed to appease

816-551: A license to practice law was not a violation of the U.S. Constitution and refused to extend federal authority in support of women's citizenship rights. In Minor v. Happersett the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment did not provide voting rights to U.S. citizens; it only guaranteed additional protection of privileges to citizens who already had them. If

918-498: A means of racial uplift and as a way to effect change in the post-Reconstruction era. Notable African-American suffragists such as Mary Church Terrell , Sojourner Truth , Frances Ellen Watkins Harper , Fannie Barrier Williams , and Ida B. Wells-Barnett advocated for suffrage in tandem with civil rights for African-Americans. As early as 1866, in Philadelphia, Margaretta Forten and Harriet Forten Purvis helped to found

1020-774: A number of rural areas. Later, she would teach in both Bryan and Austin . She began training as a librarian in 1905 as a cataloger at the Texas State Library . West then took a position with the Library of Congress in Washington, DC in 1906 in the catalog division. Later, she would join the manuscript division of the Library of Congress where she compiled the Calendar of the Papers of Martin Van Buren in 1910 and

1122-513: A proposed new library in March 1929, she requested a proposal for a new library design that would hold one million volumes and support ten thousand students. Watkin provided initial sketches for the new structure, but the stock market crash that fall and the ensuing Great Depression halted the plans. West would persist in pursuing funds, and in June 1937, the state provided a $ 275,000 appropriation for

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1224-432: A regular basis, increased holdings, offered new services to special groups, sought recognition for the library's services in local newspapers, and began a public lecture series. Her activities not only enhanced the services and holdings of the library, they also brought attention to West herself. Word of her activities and success spread and in 1918, after only three years, West would become State Librarian for Texas. At

1326-725: A result of the court's ruling, Randolph and Waters were permitted to become registered voters in Baltimore. Another challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment's adoption was dismissed by the Supreme Court in Fairchild v. Hughes , because the party bringing the suit, Charles S. Fairchild , came from a state that already allowed women to vote and so Fairchild lacked standing . Adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment enfranchised 26 million American women in time for

1428-603: A small window on the east side of the Administration Building which provided a view across the nascent campus. An association of women faculty was also given its name by West: the “Quarterly Club” so named because the group met quarterly and whose membership dues were one quarter. Ms. West founded the Lubbock chapter of the American Association of University Women in 1926. She would remain

1530-549: A state constitution limited suffrage to male citizens of the United States, then women in that state did not have voting rights. After U.S. Supreme Court decisions between 1873 and 1875 denied voting rights to women in connection with the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, suffrage groups shifted their efforts to advocating for a new constitutional amendment. Continued settlement of the western frontier , along with

1632-500: A state in 1890. Colorado granted partial voting rights that allowed women to vote in school board elections in 1893 and Idaho granted women suffrage in 1896. Beginning with Washington in 1910, seven more western states passed women's suffrage legislation, including California in 1911, Oregon , Arizona , and Kansas in 1912, Alaska Territory in 1913, and Montana and Nevada in 1914. All states that were successful in securing full voting rights for women before 1920 were located in

1734-620: A thousand civil rights workers converged on the South to support voting rights as part of Freedom Summer , and the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches brought further participation and support. However, state officials continued to refuse registration until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 , which prohibited racial discrimination in voting. For the first time, states were forbidden from imposing discriminatory restrictions on voting eligibility, and mechanisms were placed allowing

1836-472: A train, fleeing Nashville for Decatur, Alabama to block the House from taking action on the reconsideration motion by preventing a quorum. Thirty-seven legislators fled to Decatur, issuing a statement that ratifying the amendment would violate their oath to defend the state constitution. The ploy failed. Speaker Walker was unable to muster any additional votes in the allotted time. When the House reconvened to take

1938-722: A vote. The women's suffrage movement, delayed by the American Civil War, resumed activities during the Reconstruction era (1865–1877). Two rival suffrage organizations formed in 1869: the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), led by suffrage leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), led by Lucy Stone . The NWSA's main effort

2040-621: A waste of time and effort. Other opponents to ratification filed lawsuits requiring the federal amendment to be approved by state referendums. By June 1920, after intense lobbying by both the NAWSA and the NWP, the amendment was ratified by 35 of the necessary 36 state legislatures. Ratification would be determined by Tennessee . In the middle of July 1919, both opponents and supporters of the Anthony Amendment arrived in Nashville to lobby

2142-487: The 1920 U.S. presidential election , but the powerful women's voting bloc that many politicians feared failed to fully materialize until decades later. Additionally, the Nineteenth Amendment failed to fully enfranchise African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American women (see § Limitations ). Shortly after the amendment's adoption, Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party began work on

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2244-749: The Edmunds-Tucker Act in 1887 that also prohibited polygamy ; it was not restored in Utah until it achieved statehood in 1896. Existing state legislatures in the West, as well as those east of the Mississippi River , began to consider suffrage bills in the 1870s and 1880s. Several held voter referendums, but they were unsuccessful until the suffrage movement was revived in the 1890s. Full women's suffrage continued in Wyoming after it became

2346-490: The Equal Rights Amendment , which they believed was a necessary additional step towards equality. The Nineteenth Amendment provides: 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. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. The United States Constitution , adopted in 1789, left

2448-684: The National Association of Colored Women , of which Frances E.W. Harper , Josephine St. Pierre , Harriet Tubman , and Ida B. Wells-Barnett were founding members. Led by Mary Church Terrell , it was the largest federation of African-American women's clubs in the nation. After 1914 it became the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs. When the Fifteenth Amendment enfranchised African-American men, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony abandoned

2550-714: The Philadelphia Suffrage Association ; Purvis would go on to serve on the executive committee of the American Equal Rights Association (AERA), an organization that supported suffrage for women and for African-American men. A national movement in support of suffrage for African-American women began in earnest with the rise of the black women's club movement. In 1896, club women belonging to various organizations promoting women's suffrage met in Washington, D.C. to form

2652-545: The President ) would focus on passing a federal suffrage amendment; women who believed they could influence their state legislatures would focus on amending their state constitutions and Southern states would focus on gaining primary suffrage (the right to vote in state primaries). Simultaneously, the NAWSA worked to elect congressmen who supported suffrage for women. By 1915, NAWSA was a large, powerful organization, with 44 state chapters and more than two million members. In

2754-492: The Twenty-fourth Amendment was adopted in 1962, whereby the states were prohibited from making voting conditional on poll or other taxes, paving the way to more reforms with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . African-Americans continued to face barriers preventing them from exercising their vote until the civil rights movement arose in the 1950s and 1960s, which posited voting rights as civil rights. Nearly

2856-580: The United States Constitution prohibits the United States and its states from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex, in effect recognizing the right of women to vote. The amendment was the culmination of a decades-long movement for women's suffrage in the United States , at both the state and national levels, and was part of the worldwide movement towards women's suffrage and part of

2958-465: The establishment of territorial constitutions , allowed the women's suffrage issue to be raised as the western territories progressed toward statehood. Through the activism of suffrage organizations and independent political parties, women's suffrage was included in the constitutions of Wyoming Territory (1869) and Utah Territory (1870). Women's suffrage in Utah was revoked in 1887, when Congress passed

3060-736: The "Anti-Suffs" would rely on "lies, innuendoes, and near truths", raising the issue of race as a powerful factor in their arguments. Prior to the start of the General Assembly session on August 9, both supporters and opponents had lobbied members of the Tennessee Senate and House of Representatives. Though the Democratic governor of Tennessee, Albert H. Roberts , supported ratification, most lawmakers were still undecided. Anti-suffragists targeted members, meeting their trains as they arrived in Nashville to make their case. When

3162-514: The "Susan B. Anthony Amendment", was once again considered by the Senate, where it was again rejected. In April 1917 the "Anthony Amendment", which eventually became the Nineteenth Amendment, was reintroduced in the House and Senate. Picketing NWP members, nicknamed the " Silent Sentinels ", continued their protests on the sidewalks outside the White House. On July 4, 1917, police arrested 168 of

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3264-531: The 1920 U.S. presidential election. Many legislators feared that a powerful women's bloc would emerge in American politics. This fear led to the passage of such laws as the Sheppard–Towner Maternity and Infancy Protection Act of 1921, which expanded maternity care during the 1920s. Newly enfranchised women and women's groups prioritized a reform agenda rather than party loyalty and their first goal

3366-477: The AERA, which supported universal suffrage, to found the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869, saying black men should not receive the vote before white women. In response, African-American suffragist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and others joined the American Woman Suffrage Association , which supported suffrage for women and for black men. Mary Ann Shadd Cary , the second African-American woman to receive

3468-678: The Calendar of the New Mexico Papers. She did not complete this latter tome as in 1911 she returned to Texas to become archivist of the Texas State Library, a position she would hold until 1915. Her first foray into library administration came in 1915, when she moved south to San Antonio to take the directorship of the San Antonio Public Library . West worked hard to develop and improve the San Antonio library. She began issuing library bulletins on

3570-491: The Constitution. Leser said the amendment "destroyed State autonomy" because it increased Maryland's electorate without the state's consent. The Supreme Court answered that the Nineteenth Amendment had similar wording to the Fifteenth Amendment, which had expanded state electorates without regard to race for more than fifty years by that time despite rejection by six states (including Maryland). Leser further argued that

3672-456: The Fifteenth Amendment, which prohibited denying voting rights "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude", implied suffrage for women. Despite their efforts, these amendments did not enfranchise women. Section   2 of the Fourteenth Amendment explicitly discriminated between men and women by only penalizing states which deprived adult male citizens of the vote. The NWSA attempted several unsuccessful court challenges in

3774-464: The General Assembly convened on August 9, both supporters and opponents set up stations outside of chambers, handing out yellow roses to suffrage supporters and red roses to the "Antis". On August 12, the legislature held hearings on the suffrage proposal; the next day the Senate voted 24–5 in favor of ratification. As the House prepared to take up the issue of ratification on August 18, lobbying intensified. House Speaker Seth M. Walker attempted to table

3876-562: The General Assembly. Carrie Catt, representing the NAWSA, worked with state suffragist leaders, including Anne Dallas Dudley and Abby Crawford Milton . Sue Shelton White , a Tennessee native who had participated in protests at the White House and toured with the Prison Special , represented the NWP. Opposing them were the "Antis", in particular, Josephine Pearson , state president of the Southern Women's Rejection League of

3978-445: The Nineteenth Amendment forward. Entry of the United States into World War I helped to shift public perception of women's suffrage. The National American Woman Suffrage Association , led by Carrie Chapman Catt , supported the war effort, making the case that women should be rewarded with enfranchisement for their patriotic wartime service. The National Woman's Party staged marches, demonstrations, and hunger strikes while pointing out

4080-513: The Proclamation of the Women's Suffrage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in the presence of his secretary only. Congress proposed the Nineteenth Amendment on June 4, 1919, and the following states ratified the amendment. The ratification process required 36 states, and completed with the approval by Tennessee. Though not necessary for adoption, the following states subsequently ratified

4182-539: The Southern states at the expense of African-American women. At conventions in 1901 and 1903, in Atlanta and New Orleans, NAWSA prevented African Americans from attending. At the 1911 national NAWSA conference, Martha Gruening asked the organization to formally denounce white supremacy. NAWSA president Anna Howard Shaw refused, saying she was "in favor of colored people voting", but did not want to alienate others in

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4284-688: The Susan. B. Anthony Amendment, who had served as dean and chair of philosophy at Christian College in Columbia. Pearson was assisted by Anne Pleasant , president of the Louisiana Women's Rejection League and the wife of a former Louisiana governor. Especially in the South, the question of women's suffrage was closely tied to issues of race. While both white and black women worked toward women's suffrage, some white suffragists tried to appease southern states by arguing that votes for women could counter

4386-502: The U.S. House of Representatives called for limited suffrage for women who were spinsters or widows who owned property. By the 1890s, suffrage leaders began to recognize the need to broaden their base of support to achieve success in passing suffrage legislation at the national, state, and local levels. While western women, state suffrage organizations, and the AWSA concentrated on securing women's voting rights for specific states, efforts at

4488-538: The U.S. women's suffrage movement, often referred to at the time as the "woman suffrage movement". Mott's support of women's suffrage stemmed from a summer spent with the Seneca Nation, one of the six tribes in the Iroquois Confederacy, where women had significant political power, including the right to choose and remove chiefs and veto acts of war. Activism addressing federal women's suffrage

4590-457: The West. A federal amendment intended to grant women the right to vote was introduced in the U.S. Senate for the first time in 1878 by Aaron A. Sargent , a Senator from California who was a women's suffrage advocate. Stanton and other women testified before the Senate in support of the amendment. The proposal sat in a committee until it was considered by the full Senate and rejected in a 16-to-34 vote in 1887. An amendment proposed in 1888 in

4692-457: The amendment and attempted to prevent other states from doing so. Carrie Catt began appealing to Western governors, encouraging them to act swiftly. By the end of 1919, a total of 22 states had ratified the amendment. Resistance to ratification took many forms: anti-suffragists continued to say the amendment would never be approved by the November 1920 elections and that special sessions were

4794-787: The amendment. Some states did not call a legislative session to hold a vote until later, others rejected it when it was proposed and then reversed their decisions years later, with the last taking place in 1984. With Mississippi's ratification in 1984, the amendment was now ratified by all states existing at the time of its adoption in 1920. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the amendment's validity in Leser v. Garnett . Maryland citizens Mary D. Randolph, "'a colored female citizen' of 331 West Biddle Street", and Cecilia Street Waters, "a white woman, of 824 North Eutaw Street", applied for and were granted registration as qualified Baltimore voters on October 12, 1920. To have their names removed from

4896-611: The back of the parade; Ida B. Wells defied these instructions and joined the Illinois unit, prompting telegrams of support. Mary B. Talbert , a leader in both the NACW and NAACP , and Nannie Helen Burroughs , an educator and activist, contributed to an issue of the Crisis , published by W. E. B. Du Bois in August 1915. They wrote passionately about African-American women's need for

4998-418: The black vote, strengthening white supremacy. For the anti-suffragists in the south (the "Antis"), the federal amendment was viewed as a "Force Bill", one that Congress could use to enforce voting provisions not only for women, but for African-American men who were still effectively disenfranchised even after passage of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Carrie Catt warned suffrage leaders in Tennessee that

5100-597: The boundaries of suffrage undefined. The only directly elected body created under the original Constitution was the U.S. House of Representatives , for which voter qualifications were explicitly delegated to the individual states. While women had the right to vote in several of the pre-revolutionary colonies in what would become the United States, after 1776, with the exception of New Jersey , all states adopted constitutions that denied voting rights to women. New Jersey's constitution initially granted suffrage to property-holding residents, including single and married women , but

5202-471: The bulk of the collection was not books. By June 1926, the libraries holdings had increased to 13,040 pieces, but included only 1,767 books. Despite such modest beginnings, West envisioned greatness for the library. She was a vocal proponent for the library, its collection and its staff, from the very beginning. She requested additional funds to increase the libraries holdings from the administration at every turn. In correspondence with architect W.W. Watkin over

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5304-409: The construction of a new library. West and other university took turns ringing the victory bells in the Administration Building in celebration. Groundbreaking for the new building was held on October 27, 1937, and the cornerstone laid on March 8, 1938. West left her mark on Texas Tech in other ways. She came up with the name of the university's yearbook, “La Ventana” (The Window); a name inspired by

5406-474: The contradictions of fighting abroad for democracy while limiting it at home by denying women the right to vote. The work of both organizations swayed public opinion, prompting President Woodrow Wilson to announce his support of the suffrage amendment in 1918. It passed in 1919 and was adopted in 1920, withstanding two legal challenges, Leser v. Garnett and Fairchild v. Hughes . The Nineteenth Amendment enfranchised 26 million American women in time for

5508-500: The federal government to enforce its provisions. Native Americans were granted citizenship by an Act of Congress in 1924, but state policies prohibited them from voting. In 1948, a suit brought by World War II veteran Miguel Trujillo resulted in Native Americans gaining the right to vote in New Mexico and Arizona, but some states continued to bar them from voting until 1957. Poll taxes and literacy tests kept Latina women from voting. In Puerto Rico, for example, women did not receive

5610-441: The final minutes before the vote, he received a note from his mother, urging him to vote yes. Rumors immediately circulated that Burn and other lawmakers had been bribed, but newspaper reporters found no evidence of this. The same day ratification passed in the General Assembly, Speaker Walker filed a motion to reconsider. When it became clear he did not have enough votes to carry the motion, representatives opposing suffrage boarded

5712-456: The final procedural steps that would reaffirm ratification, Tennessee suffragists seized an opportunity to taunt the missing Anti delegates by sitting at their empty desks. When ratification was finally confirmed, a suffragist on the floor of the House rang a miniature Liberty Bell. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee narrowly approved the Nineteenth Amendment, with 50 of 99 members of the Tennessee House of Representatives voting yes. This provided

5814-424: The final ratification necessary to add the amendment to the Constitution, making the United States the twenty-seventh country in the world to give women the right to vote. Upon signing the ratification certificate, the Governor of Tennessee sent it by registered mail to the U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby , whose office received it at 4:00 a.m. on August 26, 1920. Once certified as correct, Colby signed

5916-451: The first national elections after the Nineteenth Amendment gave them the right to do so. In 1920, 36 percent of eligible women voted (compared with 68 percent of men). The low turnout among women was partly due to other barriers to voting, such as literacy tests, long residency requirements, and poll taxes. Inexperience with voting and persistent beliefs that voting was inappropriate for women may also have kept turnout low. The participation gap

6018-406: The goal of federal recognition. Thousands of African-American women were active in the suffrage movement, addressing issues of race, gender, and class, as well as enfranchisement, often through the church but eventually through organizations devoted to specific causes. While white women sought the vote to gain an equal voice in the political process, African-American women often sought the vote as

6120-433: The head librarian at Tech until her retirement in 1942. She would later supplement her retirement income by working as a researcher with the Department of History there. After suffering a heart attack in 1946, West retired from Texas Tech in 1947 and moved to Pensacola, Florida . She died on January 4, 1948. Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Nineteenth Amendment ( Amendment XIX ) to

6222-449: The issue of women's suffrage directly. Fifteen states had extended equal voting rights to women and, by this time, the President fully supported the federal amendment. A proposal brought before the House in January 1918 passed by only one vote. The vote was then carried into the Senate where Wilson made an appeal on the Senate floor, an unprecedented action at the time. In a short speech, the President tied women's right to vote directly to

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6324-458: The issue, that suffrage was something they wanted. Apathy among women was an ongoing obstacle that the suffragists had to overcome through organized grassroots efforts. Despite the suffragists' efforts, no state granted women suffrage between 1896 and 1910, and the NAWSA shifted its focus toward passage of a national constitutional amendment. Suffragists also continued to press for the right to vote in individual states and territories while retaining

6426-429: The list of qualified voters, Oscar Leser and others brought suit against the two women on the sole grounds that they were women, arguing that they were not eligible to vote because the Constitution of Maryland limited suffrage to men and the Maryland legislature had refused to vote to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. Two months before, on August 26, 1920, the federal government had proclaimed the amendment incorporated into

6528-437: The mid-1870s. Their legal argument, known as the "New Departure" strategy, contended that the Fourteenth Amendment (granting universal citizenship) and Fifteenth Amendment (granting the vote irrespective of race) together guaranteed voting rights to women. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected this argument. In Bradwell v. Illinois the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Supreme Court of Illinois 's refusal to grant Myra Bradwell

6630-601: The national level persisted through a strategy of congressional testimony, petitioning, and lobbying. After the AWSA and NWSA merged in 1890 to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), the group directed its efforts to win state-level support for suffrage. Suffragists had to campaign publicly for the vote in order to convince male voters, state legislators, and members of Congress that American women wanted to be enfranchised and that women voters would benefit American society. Suffrage supporters also had to convince American women, many of whom were indifferent to

6732-469: The next seven years, she would develop the state's first library service for the blind, facilitate the development of numerous county public libraries, and to increase overall holdings. West was also notable for lobbying the state for tenure for librarian staff as well as for increased salaries for all library employees. She also worked to lessen the political control of the state library. However, her ongoing frustration with stagnant salaries, budgets, and

6834-493: The opening of numerous new county public libraries including four in the first two years after the law was passed. West was instrumental in the development of services for library patrons from diverse backgrounds during her career. She created the first services for Blind patrons at any library in Texas while head of the San Antonio Public Library. She repeated this as State Librarian, commencing services in alternate format books for Blind patrons in September 1919. She acquired

6936-440: The opposition to the amendment came from Southern Democrats; only two former Confederate states ( Texas and Arkansas ) and three border states voted for ratification, with Kentucky and West Virginia not doing so until 1920. Alabama and Georgia were the first states to defeat ratification. The governor of Louisiana worked to organize 13 states to resist ratifying the amendment. The Maryland legislature refused to ratify

7038-606: The passage of the amendment. Election officials regularly obstructed access to the ballot box. As newly enfranchised African-American women attempted to register, officials increased the use of methods that Brent Staples , in an opinion piece for The New York Times , described as fraud, intimidation, poll taxes, and state violence. In 1926, a group of women attempting to register in Birmingham, Alabama were beaten by officials. Incidents such as this, threats of violence and job losses, and legalized prejudicial practices blocked women of color from voting. These practices continued until

7140-414: The point was moot because Connecticut and Vermont had subsequently ratified the amendment, providing a sufficient number of state ratifications to adopt the Nineteenth Amendment even without Tennessee and West Virginia. The court also ruled that Tennessee's and West Virginia's certifications of their state ratifications was binding and had been duly authenticated by their respective secretaries of state . As

7242-402: The process. Ms. West came to Texas Technological College in 1925 as Head Librarian, a role she would maintain until 1942. At the time, the university consisted of only a handful of buildings and the library was limited to a single room on the first floor of the Administration Building ; the total collection including all books, pamphlets, and other materials was roughly 11,000 works. However,

7344-459: The protesters, who were sent to prison in Lorton, Virginia. Some of these women, including Lucy Burns and Alice Paul, went on hunger strikes; some were force-fed while others were otherwise harshly treated by prison guards. The release of the women a few months later was largely due to increasing public pressure. In 1918, President Wilson faced a difficult midterm election and would have to confront

7446-536: The public library to African Americans for the first time. These services took the form of four stations inside existing African American schools in the city (public schools in Texas would remain segregated by race for decades to come). In Austin, she extended services to African Americans at the state library as well. It would be decades before African Americans would gain full and unfettered access to libraries in Texas, but West's efforts were instrumental in facilitating

7548-399: The ratification resolution, but was defeated twice with a vote of 48–48. The vote on the resolution would be close. Representative Harry Burn , a Republican, had voted to table the resolution both times. When the vote was held again, Burn voted yes. The 24-year-old said he supported women's suffrage as a "moral right", but had voted against it because he believed his constituents opposed it. In

7650-481: The right to sit on juries . In California, women won the right to serve on juries four years after passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. In Colorado, it took 33 years. Women continue to face obstacles when running for elective offices, and the Equal Rights Amendment, which would grant women equal rights under the law, has yet to be passed. In 1920, about six months before the Nineteenth Amendment

7752-600: The right to vote until 1929, but was limited to literate women until 1935. Further, the 1975 extensions of the Voting Rights Act included requiring bilingual ballots and voting materials in certain regions, making it easier for Latina women to vote. National immigration laws prevented Asians from gaining citizenship until 1952. After adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment, women still faced political limitations. Women had to lobby their state legislators, bring lawsuits, and engage in letter-writing campaigns to earn

7854-472: The right to vote, but support for a federal amendment was still tepid. The war provided a new urgency to the fight for the vote. When the U.S. entered World War I, Catt made the controversial decision to support the war effort, despite the widespread pacifist sentiment of many of her colleagues and supporters. As women joined the labor force to replace men serving in the military and took visible positions as nurses, relief workers, and ambulance drivers to support

7956-565: The same right to vote possessed by men. By the late 19th century, new states and territories, particularly in the West , began to grant women the right to vote. In 1878, a suffrage proposal that would eventually become the Nineteenth Amendment was introduced to Congress, but was rejected in 1887. In the 1890s, suffrage organizations focused on a national amendment while still working at state and local levels. Lucy Burns and Alice Paul emerged as important leaders whose different strategies helped move

8058-405: The sexes and included a resolution urging women to secure the vote. Pro-suffrage organizations used a variety of tactics including legal arguments that relied on existing amendments. After those arguments were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court , suffrage organizations, with activists like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton , called for a new constitutional amendment guaranteeing women

8160-438: The state constitutions in some ratifying states did not allow their legislatures to ratify. The court replied that state ratification was a federal function granted under Article V of the U.S. Constitution and not subject to a state constitution's limitations. Finally, those bringing suit asserted the Nineteenth Amendment was not adopted because Tennessee and West Virginia violated their own rules of procedure. The court ruled that

8262-462: The state rescinded women's voting rights in 1807 and did not restore them until New Jersey ratified the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. While scattered movements and organizations dedicated to women's rights existed previously, the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention in New York is traditionally held as the start of the American women's rights movement. Attended by nearly 300 women and men, the convention

8364-403: The suffrage movement. Even NAWSA's more radical Congressional Committee, which would become the National Woman's Party , failed African-American women, most visibly by refusing to allow them to march in the nation's first suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. While the NAWSA directed Paul not to exclude African-American participants, 72 hours before the parade African-American women were directed to

8466-413: The tendency of both governors and the state legislature of using the state library as a place to employ patrons of elected officials, led West to resign her position in 1925 to become the first librarian at Texas Tech. As state librarian, West worked to develop the language of the 1919 County Library Law which meant to facilitate the development of new public libraries across the state. This resulted in

8568-457: The time of her appointment as Director of the Texas State Library, West was the first woman to ever head a department of the Texas state government and only the second woman in the history of the U.S. to hold such a position. West became state librarian on September 1, 1918, nearly two years before the passage of the 19th Amendment West entered the position with the same degree of passion and enthusiasm she had shown previously in San Antonio. Over

8670-717: The vote. Burroughs, asked what women could do with the ballot, responded pointedly: "What can she do without it?" In 1900, Carrie Chapman Catt succeeded Susan B. Anthony as the president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Catt revitalized NAWSA, turning the focus of the organization to the passage of the federal amendment while simultaneously supporting women who wanted to pressure their states to pass suffrage legislation. The strategy, which she later called "The Winning Plan", had several goals: women in states that had already granted presidential suffrage (the right to vote for

8772-408: The war effort, NAWSA organizers argued that women's sacrifices made them deserving of the vote. By contrast, the NWP used the war to point out the contradictions of fighting for democracy abroad while restricting it at home. In 1917, the NWP began picketing the White House to bring attention to the cause of women's suffrage. In 1914 the constitutional amendment proposed by Sargent, which was nicknamed

8874-425: The war, asking, "Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?" On September 30, 1918, the proposal fell two votes short of passage, prompting the NWP to direct campaigning against senators who had voted against the amendment. Between January 1918 and June 1919, the House and Senate voted on the federal amendment five times. Each vote

8976-627: The wider women's rights movement. The first women's suffrage amendment was introduced in Congress in 1878. However, a suffrage amendment did not pass the House of Representatives until May 21, 1919, which was quickly followed by the Senate , on June 4, 1919. It was then submitted to the states for ratification, achieving the requisite 36 ratifications to secure adoption, and thereby went into effect, on August 18, 1920. The Nineteenth Amendment's adoption

9078-594: The women's bloc they had feared did not actually exist and they did not need to cater to what they considered as "women's issues" after all. The eventual appearance of an American women's voting bloc has been tracked to various dates, depending on the source, from the 1950s to 1970. Around 1980, a nationwide gender gap in voting had emerged, with women usually favoring the Democratic candidate in presidential elections. According to political scientists J. Kevin Corder and Christina Wolbrecht , few women turned out to vote in

9180-508: Was Moses Waddel , former President of the University of Georgia and Chancellor of the University of Mississippi . West moved to Texas when her father, a Presbyterian minister, assumed duties at a church in Bryan when she was twelve years old. She would return to Mississippi to attend college. An avid learner who was intent on attaining as much education as possible, West would go on to earn two bachelor's and one master's degree. She received

9282-536: Was certified on August 26, 1920. Before 1776, women had a vote in several of the colonies in what would become the United States, but by 1807 every state constitution had denied women even limited suffrage. Organizations supporting women's rights became more active in the mid-19th century and, in 1848, the Seneca Falls convention adopted the Declaration of Sentiments , which called for equality between

9384-747: Was a librarian and archivist active in the United States during the early 20th century. West was appointed the Texas State Librarian in 1918, was two time President of the Texas Library Association , co-founder and first President of the Southwestern Library Association , and was the first Head Librarian of Texas Technological College (later Texas Tech University). West was born to Rev. James Durham West D.D. and Mary Robertson (née Waddell) West in Pontotoc, Mississippi on March 27, 1873. Her maternal grandfather

9486-434: Was considered first to ratify the amendment. While Illinois's legislature passed the legislation an hour prior to Wisconsin, Wisconsin's delegate, David James, arrived earlier and was presented with a statement establishing Wisconsin as the first to ratify. By August 2, 1919, 14 states had approved ratification. By the end of 1919, 22 had ratified the amendment. In other states support proved more difficult to secure. Much of

9588-448: Was designed to "discuss the social, civil, and religious rights of women", and culminated in the adoption of the Declaration of Sentiments . Signed by 68 women and 32 men, the ninth of the document's twelve resolved clauses reads, "Resolved, That it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise." Conveners Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton became key early leaders in

9690-402: Was extremely close and Southern Democrats continued to oppose giving women the vote. Suffragists pressured President Wilson to call a special session of Congress and he agreed to schedule one for May 19, 1919. On May 21, 1919, the amendment passed the House 304 to 89, with 42 votes more than was necessary. On June 4, 1919, it was brought before the Senate and, after Southern Democrats abandoned

9792-470: Was granted in name only, as state constitutions kept them from exercising that right. Prior to the passage of the amendment, Southern politicians held firm in their convictions not to allow African-American women to vote. They had to fight to secure not only their own right to vote, but the right of African-American men as well. Three million women south of the Mason–Dixon line remained disfranchised after

9894-652: Was lobbying Congress for a women's suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The AWSA generally focused on a long-term effort of state campaigns to achieve women's suffrage on a state-by-state basis. During the Reconstruction era, women's rights leaders advocated for inclusion of universal suffrage as a civil right in the Reconstruction Amendments (the Thirteenth , Fourteenth , and Fifteenth Amendments). Some unsuccessfully argued that

9996-414: Was lowest between men and women in swing states at the time, in states that had closer races such as Missouri and Kentucky, and where barriers to voting were lower. By 1960, women were turning out to vote in presidential elections in greater numbers than men and a trend of higher female voting engagement has continued into 2018. African-Americans had gained the right to vote, but for 75 percent of them it

10098-616: Was minimal during the Civil War . In 1865, at the conclusion of the war, a "Petition for Universal Suffrage", signed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony , among others, called for a national constitutional amendment to "prohibit the several states from disenfranchising any of their citizens on the ground of sex". The campaign was the first national petition drive to feature woman suffrage among its demands. While suffrage bills were introduced into many state legislatures during this period, they were generally disregarded and few came to

10200-623: Was perhaps best known for its SLICE program (Southwestern Library Interstate Cooperative Endeavor) for interstate networking and continuing education. In 1983, Louisiana joined the Southeastern Library Association . Shortly thereafter, the SWLA dissolved due to dwindling financial support. This article relating to a library organization, association, or consortium is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Elizabeth H. West Elizabeth H. (Howard) West (March 23, 1873 – January 4, 1948),

10302-616: Was ratified, Emma Smith DeVoe and Carrie Chapman Catt agreed to merge the National American Woman Suffrage Association and the National Council of Women Voters to help newly enfranchised women exercise their responsibilities as voters. Originally only women could join the league, but in 1973 the charter was modified to include men. Today, the League of Women Voters operates at the local, state, and national level, with over 1,000 local and 50 state leagues, and one territory league in

10404-586: Was the Sheppard-Towner Act. It was the first federal social security law and made a dramatic difference before it was allowed to lapse in 1929. Other efforts at the federal level in the early 1920s that related to women labor and women's citizenship rights included the establishment of a Women's Bureau in the U.S. Department of Labor in 1920 and passage of the Cable Act in 1922. After the U.S. presidential election in 1924 , politicians realized

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