08/25/2024 | Allie Love, Education Program Specialist I at The Museum of the Grand Prairie

August 26th is Women’s Equality Day, established by Representative Bella Abzug of New York in 1971. Abzug chose the day to correspond with the Women’s Strike for Equality in 1970 and the day that adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment was certified, in 1920. Women’s Equality Day highlights the ongoing advocacy for women’s rights in the United States, reflecting its deep history rooted in the women’s suffrage movement. It encourages reflection on the women’s suffrage movement on both a national and local scale to understand how women’s coalition building and activism have influenced our country.  

The women’s suffrage movement was a decades-long effort to secure women’s right to vote. As early as 1776, women sought to establish their place in the nation. Abigail Adams famously wrote to her husband, John Adams, urging him to “remember the ladies” as he worked with other founding fathers to write the laws of the fledgling United States. While the suffrage movement would not formally begin until years later, Abigail Adams recognized the potential consequences of excluding women from power.  

The movement gained momentum in the 1830s as people began organizing in support of abolishing slavery. Although women were vocal proponents of abolition, they were often not given leadership roles. Despite this, many women, like Lucretia Mott, spoke out against slavery and gender discrimination. Women also acquired organizational strategies and methods during this period, that would later inform the establishment of women’s rights groups.  

In the 1840s, all white men received the right to vote. Previously, only white men who owned property were able to vote. This change brought voting rights into mainstream. After being denied participation at the Anti-Slavery Convention in London, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the Seneca Falls Convention, where hundreds of individuals gathered to discuss women’s issues. Notable among these was the famed abolitionist, Frederick Douglas. At this convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton presented the Declaration of Sentiments, which declared that men and women were created equal.  

The 1850s saw further organization around women’s rights. In 1855, Illinois’ earliest suffrage organization formed in Earlville. However, as the Civil War began in 1861, women redirected their organizational efforts to aid the war.  After the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to anyone born in the United States. It included the first mention of gender in the Constitution by granting voting rights to male citizens aged 21 and older. The Fifteenth Amendment, passed in 1869, extended voting rights to African American men. 

The passage of the Fifteenth Amendment led to differing strategies and priorities within the women’s rights movement.   In 1869, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed the National Women's Suffrage Association (NWSA), which opposed the Fifteenth Amendment and advocated for broader women’s rights, including nationwide suffrage. Meanwhile Lucy Stone led the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), which supported the Fifteenth Amendment and focused solely on achieving women’s suffrage through state-by-state efforts.  

In addition to these national organizations, women formed local and state-wide suffrage groups, such as the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association (IESA). Founded in 1869 by Mary Livermore, the IESA lobbied, fundraised, and organized suffrage within Illinois. In 1878, IESA president, Elizabeth Boynton Harbert introduced a bill to the United States Senate Judicial Committee to enact universal suffrage, using language that would be later echoed in the Nineteenth Amendment.  

Women from Illinois, including women from Champaign County, continued to advocate for suffrage throughout the 1880s. In 1888, Mary Melissa Harris and Elgin Ray of Champaign County attended the first meeting of the National Council of Women’ in Washington D.C. This meeting brought together multiple organizations interested in suffrage and women’s rights. Inspired, these women returned to Champaign County and established the Social and Political Science Club, which eventually sponsored the construction of Burnham Hospital. 

In the 1890s, NWSA and AWSA merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), uniting their efforts and strengthening the suffrage movement.  This collaboration led to the 1913 march on Washington, where women from across the country, including Lillie Belle Sale, Eliza Vincent, and Edith Dobbins from Champaign County, participated in the march that drew national attention to the cause. That same year, Illinois passed a law granting women the right to vote in presidential and local elections, making it the first state east of the Mississippi to do so.  

The Nineteenth Amendment, ratified in 1920, federally recognized women’s right to vote.   Illinois was the first state to ratify the amendment, though a technicality placed Wisconsin ahead on paper.  

The fight for women’s suffrage was a hard-won battle after decades of organization and activism.  While it prohibited voter discrimination based on sex, it is important to note that the Nineteenth Amendment primarily benefitted white women. Racial discrimination in voting would not be fully addressed until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  

Today, the legacy of the women’s suffrage movement is evident in continued efforts toward equality and rights for all women. Women’s Equality Day serves as a reminder of the progress made and the ongoing work needed to ensure equal rights for women of all backgrounds.  

 

Sources: 

Women’s Suffrage in the United States – The Inclusive Historian's Handbook 

The History of the Suffrage Movement — History of U.S. Woman's Suffrage (crusadeforthevote.org)  

The Ratification of the 19th Amendment – June 10, 1919 – Suffrage 2020 Illinois  

The 100th Anniversary: Illinois Led the Way To Women’s Suffrage | WGLT 

Illinois Equal Suffrage Association (IESA) – Evanston Women's History Project 

Also check out the virtual tour of the former Women’s Suffrage exhibit at the museum:  

"How Long Must Women Wait? Woman Suffrage and Women's Rights in Champaign County - Virtual Tour - HD (youtube.com)