Today marks 55 years since North Carolina ratified the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, which gave women the right to vote. But wait! That was May 6, 1971, and the 19th amendment had become the law of the land in 1920! What happened?
In a year of important anniversaries, let me introduce you to the convoluted and confusing story behind North Carolina’s ratification of the 19th amendment. Here’s some background.
Nationally, the first formal effort for women’s suffrage took place in Seneca Falls, New York, in July of 1848. More than 300 people attended, and the meeting spurred marches, protests, and other efforts over the following decades. However, it was not until 1894 that the women’s suffrage movement began in North Carolina.
In 1894, the first public women’s suffrage meeting in North Carolina was sponsored by Helen Morris Lewis in Asheville. Lewis came from an influential family. She was the great-great granddaughter of Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The meeting consisted of people from all walks of life. One week after the meeting, Lewis was selected to be president of North Carolina’s new Equal Suffrage Association.
The work of the Equal Suffrage Association was not ignored, but it is hard to determine if it was fully respected. In 1897, a women’s suffrage bill was introduced in the NC Senate. However, it was moved to the Committee on Insane Asylums, where it died.
This effectively killed the women’s suffrage movement in North Carolina, until 1913.
The revival of the women’s suffrage movement in North Carolina came in 1913, with a meeting of the Equal Suffrage Association, in Charlotte. The association, now led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate Barbara Henderson, continued to gain influence.
Nationally, women’s important roles in World War I provided support to the women’s suffrage movement. Then, on June 4, 1919, the amendment was passed, and the ratification process began.
The ratification process in North Carolina was nothing short of controversial. By the time the 19thAmendment reached the NC legislature, 35 states already ratified the amendment. It was believed that North Carolina or Tennessee would be the 36th and final state necessary to ratify it. In North Carolina, the view was different. The suffrage movement evoked strong resistance.
Textile mill owners and white supremacists fought against it. Textile mill owners were concerned that women would vote largely in favor of labor reform because they would try to curtail child labor, which the mills relied on heavily. Furthermore, white supremacists argued that allowing the federal government to decide voting rules violated states’ rights. North Carolina had effectively disenfranchised black men in 1900 and wanted to maintain that control.
On Aug. 17, 1920, the NC State Senate voted 25-23 to postpone the final vote. The next day, Tennessee approved the amendment, making it law. Women’s suffrage became law across the land. So, what did North Carolinians do? Not much.
By 1971, however, feminism and women’s rights were emerging issues, and North Carolina had not ratified women’s most basic political right, the right to vote. North Carolina legislators decided it was time to right their wrongs, and the 19th Amendment came up again in the North Carolina General Assembly. This time it was mostly approved for symbolic reasons.
That ratification occurred on May 6, this very day 55 years ago.
