Votes for Women!
Starting in the mid-1800s, women began campaigning for suffrage, or, the right to vote. This year, 2019, marks the 100th anniversary of the United States Senate finally passing the 19th Amendment, leading to ratification on August 20, 1920 at which point many women gained the right to vote. On August 27, 1920, just a week after gaining the right to vote, South St. Paul women were among the first in the country to cast their ballots in a special bond election and Marguerite Newburgh became one of the countryâs first woman election judges under the new amendment.
Itâs important to note that not all women in the United States gained the right to vote that August. Native Americans, who were not considered citizens of the United States at the time, were barred from voting until the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, at which point many in Western states were still restricted from voting. Many African-American women in Southern states could not freely exercise their right to vote until the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which prohibited racial discrimination in voting.
The above political cartoons by Minneapolis Journal cartoonist Charles Bartholomew, illustrate the efforts of suffragettes in pushing for the right to vote. In the center, a woman looks into the future where she sees Uncle Sam as a woman, a female Senator, and a female Secretary of the Interior. The cartoon was published the day of the 1913 Women's Suffrage Convention in Washington, D.C. It would be another 20 years before the first woman would be elected to the Senate.
Interestingly, not all women were in favor of womenâs suffrage.
Learn more about Minneapolis Journal cartoonist Charles Bartholomew and see more of his political cartoons from 1901-1915 in the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections.
