Background
The women suffrage movement focused on the legal right of women to vote in U.S. elections. The movement began in the 1840s, when the first convention for women's rights, The Seneca Falls Convention, was held in Seneca Falls, NY. As a result, the Declaration of Sentiments was written which helped initiate a 50-year long movement aimed at advancing women's suffrage across the United States. Organizations, such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and the National Woman's Party, were influential in pursuing the women's right to vote. The movement faced a setback in the 1875 case Minor v. Happersett, in which the Supreme Court ruled against the suffragettes. The Nineteenth Amendment was passed in 1920 which granted voting rights regardless of sex. As a result, women began to register to vote in large numbers.
Additional Movements
Other students in this POL 4900 seminar are researching other U.S. social movements. You can learn about their research HERE.