100 Years Later: Women’s Fight to Win the Vote

The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted American women the legal right to vote in 1920. The fight pitted women’s groups against one another; clashed with powerful political dynasties that sought their own survival over women’s full citizenship; and intersected with painful racial legacies that denied women of color full citizenship.

Elaine Weiss is a Baltimore-based journalist, whose new book, The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote, has won critical acclaim from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker. Steven Spielberg’s Amblin production company has optioned the book for adaptation.

Elsa Barkley Brown is an associate professor of history and women’s studies and affiliate faculty in African American studies and American studies at the University of Maryland. Her expertise is in African American political culture, with an emphasis on gender.