The story of American women getting the right to vote begins with “the radical women reformers of the anti-slavery movement, who created their own societies” (Lemay, 2019, p. 89). These activists planned, shaped reforms, and promoted those changes through persuasive speeches. This gave a growing group of women the skills they needed to champion the right to vote. No doubt you have heard of Susan B. Anthony and perhaps even Elizabeth Cady Stanton, key players in this struggle. But have you also heard of Victoria Claflin Woodhull, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and Sara Bard Field? Did you realize there were two key suffragette groups? All played important roles in the lengthy journey from the first national Women’s [rights] Convention at Seneca Falls, NY in 1848, until the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

The suffragette movement was never solely about voting. It ran counter to societal views about the inferiority of women and intersected with racism. It was further impacted by popular Biblical interpretations about the role of women. It was even influenced by concerns about what was labeled “race suicide” and the need for white women to keep reproducing as women’s access to higher education expanded and family size decreased. There were strong opponents, other women, as well as men. Some used the latest “scientific evidence” to support views about the limitations of women. One of those, Herbert Spencer, an English philosopher, biologist, anthropologist, and eugenicist argued in 1896 that women lacked, “…those two faculties, intellectual and emotional, which are the latest products of human evolution – the power of abstract reasoning and the most abstract of emotions, the sentiment of justice.”

Through lecture, discussion, PowerPoints, and instructor-provided materials, this course will follow the history of the American Suffragette Movement while focusing on the contributions of other, less familiar players. Issues that influenced beliefs about whether women could vote will simultaneously be examined, including the increased education of women and the contributions of women in World War I. Parallels between the rhetoric used in the 1800’s and statements made more recently will also be investigated and the implications explored.