This “timeline” has two purposes: it serves a review of women right’s suffrage and 2) to prepare you for class activity on the
Equal Right’s Amendment. “Timeline” is in quotes since you don’t have to actually rewrite it in timeline format (on separate
piece of paper), but rather fill in info on the events (which are in chronological order). Describe, in detail, the significance
of the event of the person. What was her/its legacy?
An (**) indicates you must provide additional notes explaining the role of person/event had on the Women’s Rights
movement (or vice versa). One to two sentences will suffice.
This “timeline” is research intensive (and worth 20 pts). Use more than just your textbook as a source.
US Suffrage Movement “Timeline,” 1780 to present
** 1780s: Abigail Adams becomes First Lady.
Example: Wife of 2nd president John Adams famous for telling her husband, “remember the ladies!”
(as he had a significant influence on the foundation of U.S. government as a Founding Father).
Abigail Adams is often considered the first advocate for women’s rights.
** 1793 Lucretia Mott is born.
** 1802 Dorthea Dix is born
** 1815 Elizabeth Cady Stanton is born.
** 1818 Lucy Stone is born.
** 1820 Susan B. Anthony is born.
1837 Mount Holyoke, the first college for women, is founded by Mary Lyon in South Hadley, MA.
1840 The World's Anti-Slavery Convention is held in London, England, which influenced American
women to lead the abolitionist movement in the United States. Precursor to political involvement.
1845 Margaret Fuller publishes Woman in the Nineteenth Century, which has a profound influence
on the development of American feminist theory.
** 1848 July 19: Seneca Falls Convention
1849 Elizabeth Blackwell graduates from Geneva College in Geneva, NY with the first medical
degree awarded to a woman.
1851 Amelia Bloomer publishes in her Seneca Falls newspaper, The Lily, a description of a
comfortable, loose-fitting costume consisting of a short skirt worn over pantaloons. Even though the
outfit was first worn by Elizabeth Smith Miller, it becomes known as the "Bloomer." Elizabeth Cady
Stanton and Susan B. Anthony meet and begin their fifty-year collaboration to win for women their
economic, educational, social, and civil rights. Sojourner Truth delivers her "And Ain't I a Woman
Speech" at the Woman's Rights Convention in Akron, OH.
**1859 January 9: Carrie Chapman Catt is born.
**1860 Jane Adams is born
** 1865 The 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified.
1866 The American Equal Rights Association is founded.
1913 Alice Paul organizes a suffrage parade in Washington, DC, the day of Woodrow Wilson's
inauguration.
1917 Members of the National Woman's Party picket the White House. Alice Paul and ninety-six
other suffragists are arrested and jailed for "obstructing traffic." When they go on a hunger strike to
protest their arrest and treatment, they are force-fed.
**1919 The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified.
** 1920 The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified.
** 1920s Flappers
1923 At the 75th anniversary of the Seneca Falls convention, Alice Paul proposes an Equal Rights
Amendment.
** 1941 United States enters World War II [women’s role in the work force].
** 1947 Rosie the Riveter goes home [1950s suburbia].
** 1960 FDA approves birth control pills.
****1963 Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique
1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits job discrimination on the basis of race or sex and establishes Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission to address discrimination claims.
1966 National Organization for Women, founded by Betty Friedan and associates, promotes child
care for working mothers, abortion rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, and "full participation in
the mainstream of American society now."
1972 After nearly 50 years, Equal Rights Amendment passes both houses and is signed by
President Richard Nixon. Civil Rights Act bans sex discrimination in employment and education.
**1973 Roe v. Wade
** 1981 Sandra Day O'Connor
** 1982 Equal Rights Amendment not ratified
So What? Give me your best narrative statement ever summarizing the plight of women in their
efforts to gain equality in the United States.