WS 101 M/W- Cora Agatucci

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (born in 1815) dies.

Australia passes woman suffrage legislation.

The Women's National Trade Union League was established, with Mary Morton Kehew as president. At the annual AFL convention, blue collar and middle class women unite to form the National Women's Trade Union League to help organize women.
League. Jane Addams was elected vice-president.. In 1907 the organization's name is changed to the National Women's Trade Union League.

Finland grants women the right to vote.

Qiu Jin, Chinese revolutionary and poet, was beheaded, then acknowleged immediately as a heroine and a martyr who died fighting enemies of the Chinese people and she became a symbol of women's independence.

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), Mexican artist, lived to be known as the 20^th century’s quintessential autobiographical artist--though it is sometimes difficult to separate the cult of personality surrounding Kahlo from her artistic accomplishment. Most of Kahlo's works depict her personal saga (see images of Kahlo's Self-Portraits): the disabilities she suffered as a result of the accident; her turbulent marriage to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera; her involvement with Communism and the Mexican Revolution; and, ultimately, her indomitable will to create. Like many artists in the decade after the Mexican Revolution of 1917, Frida Kahlo's art was influenced by the surge of nationalism known as Mexicanidad. Eschewing European models, the simple, naive character of Kahlo's imagery, the sometimes fantastic subject matter and the vividness of her colors were influenced by Mexican folk art. She, herself, often wore traditional costumes and elaborately braided her hair with ribbons, bows, combs, and fresh flowers to express her identification with Mexico's indigenous culture. (See The Original Frida Kahlo Home Page, an announcement regarding the publication of The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait, Introd. and transl by Carlos Fuentes; and "Sonnet in Primary Colors" for Frida Kahlo by Rita Dove, formerly U.S. Poet Laureate.)

The first suffrage parade in New York City is organized by the Women's Political Union.

Washington state grants women’s suffrage.

National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage is founded, issuing an official journal, the Woman's Protest.

Teddy Roosevelt's Progressive Party includes woman suffrage in their platform.

Oregon, Kansas and Arizona adopt woman suffrage.

The Territory of Alaska adopts woman suffrage. It is the first bill approved by the new governor.

The National Woman's Party is founded by Alice Paul and others to take a more "direct action" approach to gaining public attention for the suffrage cause. The day preceding President Wilson's inauguration, 5-8,000 suffragists parade in Washington, D.C., organized by Alice Paul. See also photo and bio of Ida Bell Wells-Barnett. They are mobbed by abusive crowds along the way and hundreds of women are injured but no one is arrested. The National American Woman Suffrage Association leadership expels the militants (Alice Paul, et al.).

Norway adopts woman suffrage.

"I myself have never been able to find precisely what feminism is.
I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat."
--Rebecca West, English writer, (pub. in The Clarion, 1913)

Margaret Sanger founded the National Birth Control League (now the Planned Parenthood Federation of America). Sanger began lecturing across the country and gathering supporters and funds to aid her efforts.

Denmark grants women the right to vote.

In January, National Woman's Party (NWP) pickets appear in front of the White House holding aloft two banners: "Mr. President, What Will You Do for Woman Suffrage?" and "How Long Must Women Wait for Liberty?" Sentinels remain stationed there permanently regardless of weather or violent public response, with hourly changes of shift. In June, arrests begin: nearly 500 women are arrested, 168 women serve jail time, and some are brutalized by their jailers. The jailed suffragists are released from prison in 1918, when appellate court rules that all arrests were illegal.

The Netherlands and the Soviet Union grant women the right to vote.

Canada and Luxembourg adopt woman suffrage.

The most prominent members of the NWP who had been imprisoned for picketing the White House tour the country on a train called the "Prison Special." At each stop they speak about the need for suffrage and about their prison experiences.

First Lady Edith Wilson assumed presidential powers for eighteen months after Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke.

Jan: the NWP lights and guards a "Watchfire for Freedom," to be maintained until the Suffrage Amendment passes.
May 21: The House of Representative passes the federal woman suffrage amendment, 304 to 89, a margin of 42 votes over the required two-thirds majority. Opponents block action in the Senate for another two weeks, delaying ratification as most legislatures have adjourned for the year.
June 4: The Senate passes the 19th Amendment with just two votes to spare, 56 to 25. Drafted by Susan B. Anthony and first introduced in 1878 with the same wording, it is now sent to the states: the battle for ratification by at least 36 states begins.

The Business& Professional Women/USA was founded.

Austria, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia), Germany, Poland, and Sweden grant women the right to vote.

Feb. 14: The League of Women Voters was founded as "a mighty experiment" at the Victory Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Chicago, Illinois. By now, 33 states have ratified the amendment, but final victory is still three states away.
Aug. 18: Tennessee becomes the 36th state to ratify the Amendment. A young state legislator casts the deciding vote after being admonished to do so by his mother. The ratified 19th Amendment is signed into law on Aug. 26, by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby; added to the U.S. Constitution, the Amendment grants women the right to vote nationwide.