The Suffrage Movement

For a long time, women in the United States and many other countries were not allowed to vote. Brave women and men fought to change this unfair rule. After decades of protests and hard work, women finally won the right to vote. In the United States, this happened in 1920.

The Fight Begins

In 1848, a meeting called the Seneca Falls Convention was held in New York. Women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott demanded equal rights. Susan B. Anthony traveled the country giving speeches about women's right to vote. These leaders faced anger and even arrest.

Victory at Last

Women marched, protested, and were sometimes put in jail for demanding the vote. After years of hard work, the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920. It gave all American women the right to vote. New Zealand had been the first country to give women the vote, back in 1893.

Fun Facts

• Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting illegally in 1872, before women had the right to vote.
• New Zealand was the first country to give women the right to vote in 1893.
• The 19th Amendment to the Constitution gave American women the right to vote in 1920.

Did You Know?

Some suffragists went on hunger strikes in jail to draw attention to their cause, which means they refused to eat.