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Teaching With Documents:
Woman Suffrage and the 19th Amendment

Background

Thumbnail of Suffrage Rally Program, 1913 Beginning in the mid-19th century, several generations of woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change in the Constitution. Militant suffragists used tactics such as parades, silent vigils, and hunger strikes. The records of the National Archives and Records Administration reveal much of this struggle.

As the 150th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 approaches, historical documents and a script that the National Archives commissioned about the decades long struggle entitled Failure is Impossible serve as valuable teaching tools.