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Wisconsin Women Vote
The campaign for women’s voting rights at the national level began in July 1848 when suffragists convened in Seneca Falls, New York. Considered one of the largest reform movements in United States history, the struggle for women’s suffrage would last more than seven decades, leading to the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution and its successful ratification by the states on August 18, 1920. U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the ratification on August 26, 1920.
Wisconsin played a pivotal role in this movement as the first state to officially ratify the 19th Amendment on June 10, 1919.
In the summer of 2020, PBS Wisconsin joined the nation in commemorating the centennial of this landmark moment — emphasizing its complexity, contradictions and connections to historical and contemporary struggles for voting rights, equal rights, Indigenous rights, civil rights, free and fair elections, and the diverse representation of women and gender nonconforming people at all levels of government.
This page hosts a collection of PBS and PBS Wisconsin on-demand programming, as well as educational resources commemorating the Suffrage Centennial and the trailblazing women and allies who sacrifice and sustain wide-ranging struggles for equality and justice today.
Wisconsin Voter Stories
Wisconsin Voter Stories: Christy Clark-Pujara
Christy Clark-Pujara feels that, as an African American woman, voting is critical.
Wisconsin Voter Stories: Alejandra Muñoz Contreras
Alejandra Muñoz Contreras feels that voting allows her to be a voice for her community.
Wisconsin Voter Stories: U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore
U.S. Representative Gwen Moore recognizes that voting represents power.
Wisconsin Voter Stories: Angela Lang
Angela Lang knows that voting is just one part of a larger civic responsibility.
Wisconsin Voter Stories: Sean Kendricks
While waiting to have his rights restored, Sean Kendricks works to register new voters.
Wisconsin Voter Stories: Emily Flood
Emily Flood challenges her peers to get engaged in politics and to vote.
Wisconsin Voter Stories: Toby Cohen
Toby Cohen has voted in 19 presidential elections.
Wisconsin Voter Stories: Cate Zeuske
Former State Treasurer Cate Zeuske’s grandmother voted in the first election permitted.
Wisconsin Voter Stories: U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin
Baldwin was raised by her grandmother who lived to see the passage of the 19th Amendment.
American Experience: The Vote
Part 1 | The Vote | American Experience
The fiery campaign that led to passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the vote.
Part 2 | The Vote | American Experience
Part Two examines the mounting dispute over strategies and reveals the pervasive racism.
The Vote: Interactive
Celebrate the strategies and tactics of suffrage with a new interactive experience.
The Early Suffragists
They united to abolish slavery and advance the rights of women in the 19th Century.
Alice Paul: The Militant
Alice Paul joined the 'suffragettes' while studying in London to demand the right to vote.
Ida B Wells : The Advocate
Ida B. Wells was a prominent journalist who exposed racial violence in the South.
Carrie Chapman Catt: The Politician
Carrie Chapman Catt was the president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.
Harriot Stanton Blatch: I Believe in Women
Harriot S. Blatch believed working-class women were the key to win the ballot.
University Place
Before and After Women’s Suffrage
Genevieve McBride and Christina Wolbrecht discuss barriers that kept women from voting.
How the Battle for Woman Suffrage Was Won
Bob Kann shares the stories of the women who fought for their right to vote.
Suffragettes, Loyalty, and Wartime Activism
Ashley Barnes-Gilbert explores women’s roles and the fight for their right to vote.
The Life of Carrie Chapman Catt
Rebecca Rodriguez discusses Carrie Chapman Catt, an advocate for women’s rights.
Wisconsin Public Media News: Suffrage Centennial
State Marks Centennial of Being First to Ratify Women's Vote
100 years ago, Wisconsin was the first state to ratify the 19th Amendment.
Wisconsin Governor, First Lady Discuss 100th Anniversary Of State’s 19th Amendment Ratification
Governor Tony Evers and First Lady honor the women’s suffrage movement.
Women In The Suffrage Movement With Wisconsin Connections
Learn about women with Wisconsin connections who played integral roles helping women gain the right to vote.
Women’s Suffrage And The 1918 Flu, Gender Disparities Of A Health Crisis
The 1918 flu pandemic halted the marches and rallies of the women’s suffrage movement.
Votes For Women: Suffrage In The US
Learn about the beginnings of the suffrage movement and its legacy with the curator of an exhibit at the Smithsonian.
The Fight For Women’s Suffrage
Women won the right to vote 100 years ago. WPR talks with a historian about the path to that win.
PBS NewsHour
Celebrating trailblazers for women's suffrage centennial
Celebrating female trailblazers for women's suffrage centennial.
Cultural institutions celebrate women’s suffrage centennial
Cultural institutions celebrate women’s suffrage centennial.
Women’s Suffrage
During the 2016 presidential election hundreds of ‘I Voted’ stickers were left at Susan B. Anthony’s grave.
Exclusions and Untold Stories of Suffrage
Noon Wednesday: The Untold Story of Women’s Suffrage
The 19th Amendment and women’s right to vote, but not all women.
Black Women’s 200 Year Fight for the Vote
For two centuries, black women have linked their ballot access to the human rights of all.
TURNING POINT SUFFRAGIST MEMORIAL
African American Women Leaders in the Suffrage Movement
An annotated list of African American women leaders in the American women’s suffrage movement.
Black Suffrage in Early Wisconsin
Christy Clark-Pujara focuses on the disenfranchisement of black males in early Wisconsin.
Wisconsin’s Halting Path Toward Black Suffrage
Understanding the history of black suffrage in Wisconsin requires unpacking the little-discussed role of slavery in the Upper Midwest.
Wisconsin Suffragists
WISCONSIN WOMEN MAKING HISTORY
Olympia Brown
Olympia Brown was the first woman to be ordained a minister in the U.S. and was president of Wisconsin’s Woman Suffrage Association for 28 years.
WISCONSIN WOMEN MAKING HISTORY
Carrie Chapman Catt
Women’s suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt was crucially important in getting the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed.
WISCONSIN WOMEN MAKING HISTORY
Ada James
Ada James was a Wisconsin suffragist leader who worked for women’s rights and other reforms in the early 20th century.
WISCONSIN WOMEN MAKING HISTORY
Clara Bewick Colby
Clara Bewick Colby, a prominent suffragist, orator, and journalist, started a newspaper called the Woman’s Tribune.
WISCONSIN WOMEN MAKING HISTORY
Zona Gale
In 1921, American author and playwright Zona Gale became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, for the play Miss Lulu Bett.
WISCONSIN WOMEN MAKING HISTORY
Jessie Jack Hooper
Jessie Jack Hooper, a suffragist, was president of the Wisconsin League of Women Voters and also ran for the U.S. Senate in 1922.
WISCONSIN WOMEN MAKING HISTORY
Belle Case La Follette
Belle Case La Follette was the first woman to graduate from law school in Wisconsin and an outspoken advocate for women’s right to vote.
WISCONSIN WOMEN MAKING HISTORY
Lutie Eugenia Stearns
Lutie Stearns, “the Johnny Appleseed of books,” started free libraries all over Wisconsin and was an outspoken advocate for social justice.
WISCONSIN WOMEN MAKING HISTORY
Laura Ross Wolcott
Laura Ross Wolcott was the first woman physician in Wisconsin and was active in the women’s suffrage movement.
PBS Wisconsin Education and PBS Learning Media
Belle Case La Follette
An educator resource to teach about Belle La Follette, a Wisconsin women’s suffrage and civil rights activist.
Teaching Women’s Suffrage
This collection details key figures, events, and regional movements of the fight to win the right to vote for women.
Primary Source: 19th Amendment
Educators can teach about the 19th Amendment using these primary sources.
Library of Congress Media Gallery
A LOC media gallery for educators to teach the history of women’s suffrage.
We the Voters
PBS Education partnered with We The Voters, a nonpartisan digital project featuring short films to activate voters across the country.
Let’s Talk About Election 2020
Middle and high school educators across the U.S. are empowering students to share their take on issues that matter to them.
Election Collection
Resources to help students study the history and process of presidential elections, explore voting rights, and engage in classroom debates.
Local Election Toolkit
Resources for engaging in local elections — from identifying issues that matter to connecting with local officials.
WisContext
Women in Wisconsin’s Democracy
Women’s struggle for representation in government continues in the 21st century.
Voter ID in Wisconsin
Over the past 15 years, voting has become increasingly difficult for some Wisconsinites.
Gerrymandering, Wisconsin and the Courts
An in-depth series on partisan legislative redistricting in Wisconsin.
The Equal Rights Amendment
From Women’s Suffrage to the ERA
Is the U.S. at a tipping point in the nearly 100-year-long fight to ratify the ERA?
After Va. ratifies ERA, what 'procedural hurdles' remain?
With Virginia ratification, where does the Equal Rights Amendment go from here?
News Wrap: Virginia becomes 38th state to ratify ERA
News Wrap: Virginia becomes 38th state to ratify Equal Rights Amendment
40 years later, the ERA is still not part of Constitution
Forty years later, the ERA is still not a part of the Constitution
WISCONSIN RESOURCES TO CELEBRATE THE SUFFRAGE CENTENNIAL
OFFICE OF THE GENDER & WOMEN’S STUDIES LIBRARIAN
Centennial of Wisconsin’s Ratification of the 19th Amendment
A bibliography compiled by UW-Madison librarians for further research on Wisconsin’s ratification of the 19th Amendment.
Wisconsin Suffrage Centennial
On April 11, 2019, Governor Tony Evers signed Executive Order 19 creating the Committee to Celebrate the Centennial of Wisconsin’s Ratification of the 19th Amendment.
OFFICE OF THE GENDER & WOMEN’S STUDIES LIBRARIAN
Black Women’s Suffrage in Wisconsin
An evolving bibliography for researching the history of Black women’s suffrage in Wisconsin.
OFFICE OF THE GENDER & WOMEN’S STUDIES LIBRARIAN
Wisconsin Suffragists
A list of Wisconsin women suffragists maintained by the UW-Madison libraries.
Women’s Suffrage Centennial Celebration Toolkit
A comprehensive historical guide published by WHS for Wisconsin’s Suffrage Centennial Celebration.
OFFICE OF THE GENDER & WOMEN’S STUDIES LIBRARIAN
Timeline of Wisconsin Women’s Suffrage
A historical timeline of Wisconsin’s suffrage story compiled by UW-Madison librarians.
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