Other struggles for civil rights

Women’s rights

The women’s rights movement in the US began in the second half of the 19thcentury when activists systematically began to advocate and lobby for women’s suffrage (right to vote).

Women’s suffrage associations formed starting 1869 and merged into a single big association in 1890. During this time, women’s voting rights were typically advocated through state and national conventions, but also through peaceful marches and protests.

In 1869, activists lobbied for the Fifteenth Amendment of the US Constitution, granting African Americans voting rights, to also include women, but without success. However, suffrage activists managed to obtain voting and civil rights for women in several states in the following years. The movement for women’s suffrage was met with opposition from many politicians and even from some women.

By 1916, women’s suffrage became a national issue thanks to strong activism. Following World War I, all women were granted voting rights in 1920 through the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution.

The women’s rights movement was also supported by the civil rights movement as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ...