It’s only fitting that the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment comes right in the middle of what is shaping up to be a particularly contentious election year. After all, women fought for centuries for the right to exercise their voices in moments that, like this one, determine the future our of country.
We’ve done a great deal promoting that right in the past 100 years (and, it should be noted, significantly less time for most minority groups). Women have turned out to vote in slightly higher numbers than the men for every election since 1984. And this year alone, more female candidates filed to compete for House and Senate seats at the federal and state levels than ever before—a truly historic achievement befitting a centennial of women voting.
But there’s still work to be done, especially in the Lone Star State, where, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, female political participation is ranked one of the lowest in the country (we’re an abysmal No. 45 out of 50 states, in case you’re wondering).
As we celebrate the 19th Amendment’s certification 100 years ago, on August 26, 1920, and prepare to exercise the civic duty it guaranteed us all later this fall, Houstonia‘s taking a look back at the journey of those brave women who helped make the Bayou City one of the major ignition points in Texas’s fight for equal suffrage.
Timeline: Women’s Suffrage in Houston
From the founding of the first women's suffrage club to seeing three Black candidates on the 1920 ballot, Houston has deeper ties to suffrage than you might think.
Meet a Few of Houston’s Suffragists
You've heard about Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth, but get to know the ladies who fought for the vote right here in the Bayou City.
Did You Know Houston Women Could Actually Vote Before 1920?
With some good, old-fashioned political maneuvering, Texas suffragists won the right to vote in state primaries starting in 1918.
In the Face of Segregation, Black Suffragists Fought for the Vote in Houston
As historians turn their focus to the untold aspects of the women's suffrage story, the efforts of these women are catching the public eye.
New Details Shine Light on the 1920 Election in Harris County
Houston Genealogical Forum experts think they’ve discovered a piece of history that could change historians’ understanding of Texas voter history.
Houston Suffragists Project Is Trying to Track Down Historic Harris County’s Female Voters
The group has also created an online, interactive map using all the information, but it needs you help to finish it.
|
|
|
