John,

As Women’s History Month comes to a close, we’ve seen over 40 states across the country putting forward bills to disenfranchise and suppress the votes of millions of eligible voters. One of the legacies of voter suppression is in the real story of the 19th Amendment, which gave some women the right to vote, but not all.

You can read that history below (and we hope you do!) -- but the TL;DR is that voter suppression is not a thing of the past. Right now, we are watching state legislatures across the country do the same thing they did in 1920 -- they’re passing legislation that will create barriers at the ballot box for Black and brown voters. You can help us fight back: Call your senators now and tell them to pass the For the People Act.

Thanks for joining us in this fight and make sure to keep reading to learn more about the history of the 19th Amendment ⬇️

What is the 19th Amendment? Why does it matter?
On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution officially took effect. The amendment reads:

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.

Often, the 19th Amendment is referred to as the amendment that gave women the right to vote, but that’s not entirely accurate. The amendment only made it so that laws reserving the ballot for men became unconstitutional. Many women, especially women of color, continued to face barriers to voting after its passage, and racism and xenophobia would continue to shape voting laws long after.

Why didn’t the 19th Amendment guarantee voting rights for all women?
The fight to give women the right to vote wasn’t just about gender. From the very beginning, it was also about race. After the passage of the 19th Amendment, state legislatures throughout the United States passed laws requiring poll taxes and literacy tests that kept many Black men and women from voting. Chinese American immigrants were also long ineligible for naturalized citizenship on account of race and only gained the right to vote in 1943. Native Americans were not recognized as citizens until 1924 and weren't widely guaranteed the right to vote until the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

The women's suffrage movement grew its roots in the movement to abolish slavery. Thousands of Black women were active in the suffrage movement, often organizing through their churches -- and, eventually, also through separate organizations dedicated to advocating for suffrage and equal rights. Black women suffragists like Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Mary Church Terrell advocated for suffrage in tandem with civil rights for all Black Americans. However, tensions emerged between white and Black women coalitions. Black women generally sought voting rights to drive broader racial equality following Reconstruction, while white women generally sought voting rights in pursuit of an equal voice in the political process. Early suffragist leaders like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony would eventually betray their alliance with abolitionists, outraged that the 15th Amendment had given Black men the right to vote but not white women -- this betrayal made it even easier for state governments to put up barriers to the ballot box for Black women (and men).

Why does this matter now?
Discrimination, segregation, “separate but equal,” and voter suppression are all part of Black American history -- and their effects persist all around us to this day. Racist laws continue to disenfranchise voters, segregate communities by race, and further deprive Black Americans of their equal rights. Right now, we are watching state legislatures across the country do the same thing they did in 1920 -- they’re passing legislation that will create barriers at the ballot box for Black and brown voters. But we can fight back by urging our senators to support the For the People Act -- a piece of legislation that recently passed in the House of Representatives and is now being considered in the Senate. It’s the most expansive voting and civil rights legislation since the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and would help stop voter suppression in its tracks. Don’t let history repeat itself. Call your senators today and ask them to support the For the People Act.

If you found this information helpful, share it with your friends and family on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, and ask them to reach out to their senators today about supporting the For the People Act.

Thanks for being a part of our team.

When We All Vote