August 18, 1920 marked the end of a long, hard road for the women's suffrage movement. The 19th Amendment confirmed that "the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied ... on account of sex", and many women immediately exercised that right in the 1920 presidential election.
It was a close-run thing: the amendment passed serenely through the House and Senate but needed to be ratified by 36 states to become law. A single Tennessee representative cast the deciding vote; he was apparently convinced by his mother. For some women, the struggle continued, with some states using local laws to keep black women out of the polling booth.











