Try Your Hand at This Women’s Suffrage Quiz

“The Revolution” was published weekly from 1868 until 1872. It was very influential in the women’s rights movement, becoming the official voice of the National Woman Suffrage Association.

The famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass was in attendance at the Seneca Falls Convention, and his enthusiastic speeches helped pass the controversial resolution demanding the right to vote. Suffrage eventually became the cornerstone of the women’s rights movement.

New Zealand beat out every other country to become the first nation to grant women the right to vote in 1893, nearly 30 years before the U.S. ratified the 19th Amendment. In fact, 10 other countries — Australia, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Canada, Austria, Poland, Russia, Germany, and the Netherlands — granted their female citizens the right to vote before the U.S.

Sojourner Truth, a suffragist and emancipated enslaved worker, gave this memorable speech on May 29, 1851, at a Women’s Rights Convention. “Ain’t I A Woman” had a profound impact on the audience, highlighting the discrimination Sojourner experienced every day as a Black woman in America.

In 1889, Wyoming became the first territory in the nation to approve a state constitution provision granting women the right to vote. This came as a surprise to everyone, including key suffragists of the time who expected that their eastern home states would be more progressive. Wyoming was formally admitted into the Union the following year.

Susan B. Anthony was famously arrested in 1872 when she and 14 other women illegally cast their ballots in the presidential election between Ulysses S. Grant and Horace Greeley. After a two-day trial, she was convicted for voting illegally and sentenced to a $100 fine, but Anthony told the judge, “I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty.”

The suffragists’ first national meeting, known today as the Seneca Falls Convention, set the framework for the suffrage movement that ultimately led to the passing of the 19th Amendment. The convention, held in July 1848, was organized to fight for the social, religious, and civil rights of women, including the right to vote.

Perhaps the most well-known advocate of the 19th-century women’s suffrage movement, Susan B. Anthony was depicted on the dollar coin minted from 1979 to 1981. This came after women’s rights groups, as well as individuals in Congress, called for a woman to be honored on the U.S. Treasury’s next coin.

On August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, officially giving American women the same rights and responsibilities of citizenship as men, including the right to vote in U.S. elections. Less than two months later, on November 2, 1920, over 8 million women showed up to vote for the first time.

A major focus of the suffragists was gaining the support of Woodrow Wilson throughout his presidency. Activists often appeared in front of the White House holding banners addressing him directly, with slogans like, “Mr. President How Long Must Women Wait for Liberty?” Wilson spoke in favor of the 19th Amendment in 1918, and saw the amendment pass while he was still in office.