About

Added to the United States Constitution on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment read:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

People across the country celebrated this monumental victory which granted every American, regardless of gender, the right to vote. While people today associate the women's suffrage movement with women like Susan B. Anthony or Elizabeth Cady Stanton, many women across the United States battled for a woman's right to vote in many different ways and on many different levels. Evanston was no exception. Nearly 100 years after women's suffrage became a reality nation-wide, Evanston Women and the Fight for the Vote honors the role these local women played in the long-fought battle for women's political equality.

This exhibit from the Evanston Women's History Project showcases the stories of Evanston women and organizations that contributed to the women's suffrage movement during the 19th and 20th centuries. Visitors can browse the collections to gain an understanding of the tools suffragists used to argue their position and to make significant strides in gaining the public's support of women's suffrage. The exhibits build on the collections, providing contexts for understanding why these Evanston women got involved in the women's suffrage movement and how each of the organizations worked to make women's suffrage a reality.

The website will continue to grow through the year 2020. Evanston individuals and groups significant to the movement will be added to the project over the coming years. By 2020, Evanston Women and the Fight for the Vote will illustrate the profound role the women of Evanston played in fighting for women's suffrage at the local, state, and national levels.