 In the late 1800’s more women began to obtain higher
education by attending college
 Most women who attended college were part of the
middle or upper class
 However, after graduating many women still found
themselves shut out of many high prestige careers
 Women worked as teachers, nurses, journalists, and in
industry
 Women became some of the most important leaders of the
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Progressive Era
Lillian Wald founded the Henry Street Settlement to tend to the
needs of poor children in New York City
Women were particularly active in the prohibition movement –
called for a ban on making, selling, and distributing alcohol
Groups like the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
and leaders like Cary Nation (who went into saloons in Kansas
with a hatchet and a bible) fought to eliminate alcohol in
America
Prohibitionists eventually won when the 18th Amendment was
passed in 1919. However, it was so unpopular that the
amendment was repealed in 1933 when the 21st Amendment was
passed.
 African-American
women also fought for
civil rights
 Many AfricanAmerican women
joined the National
Association of Colored
Women (NACW). The
NACW campaigned
against lynchings,
segregation, and
poverty.
 Women had been campaigning for suffrage since the
1848 Seneca Falls Convention
 Many women were especially angered that the 15th
Amendment did not include women
 In 1869 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
founded the National Woman Suffrage Association
(NWSA). The NWSA pushed for a constitutional
amendment to give women the right to vote.
 In 1872 many NWSA women supported Victoria
Woodhull, the first female candidate for President
 In 1869 the Wyoming territory became the first to grant
women suffrage
 Susan B. Anthony fought tirelessly for women’s suffrage
 In 1872 she led a small group of women in a protest. The
women registered to vote and actually voted on Election day.
 Two weeks later she was arrested for unlawfully voting
 At her trial the judge refused to allow Anthony to testify on
her own behalf
 In 1875 the Supreme Court ruled that women were citizens,
but that citizenship did not grant the right to vote
 Many people
were against
women’s
suffrage for
several
different
reasons
 There were disagreements among women about how to
obtain suffrage.
 One group wanted to work state by state, while others wanted
immediate suffrage
 In 1913 Alice Paul and Lucy Burns broke away from the
NWSA and founded the National Woman’s Party (NWP).
 This group focused on passage of a constitutional amendment
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to give women the right to vote
In 1917 the NWP picketed the White House and chained
themselves to the railings
Iron Jawed Angels
Many of the women were arrested. Some went on hunger
strikes and there was much violence
Iron Jawed Angels
 In 1917 the United States entered
World War I. During the war women
worked for the war effort which led to
a weakening in the opposition to
suffrage
 Under the leadership of Carrie
Chapman Catt, the NWSA
campaigned for women’s suffrage on
the state and national level
 In 1920 the 19th Amendment was
passed finally giving women the right
to vote.
 Unfortunately Susan B. Anthony,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and many of
the other suffrage fighters were not
alive to see passage of the 19th
amendment.