Women’s Right to Vote Centennial

100 years ago today, the 19th Amendment has passed and women were granted the right to vote! Let’s hear it for all those brave, bold and badass women who fought for decades to make it a reality!  Massachusetts became the 8th state to ratify the 19th Amendment. 

Here are some Boston suffragists who fought for Women’s Right to Vote:

Martha Foley, Dorchester: Demonstrated at President’s Wilson’s return to port of Boston in Feb. 1919, served eight days in Charles St. Jail.

Mrs. J. Irving Gross, Boston: Charter member of Massachusetts branch of National Women’s Party. Demonstrated in Lafayette Square in 1918, jailed 15 days. Demonstrated at Wilson’s return to port of Boston in Feb. 1919, served eight days in Charles St. Jail.

Maud Wood Park, Boston: Leading congressional lobbyist for women’s suffrage who became the first president of the National League of Women Voters.

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, Boston: A journalist and noted abolitionist before the Civil War, a member of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association in 1875, and American Woman Suffrage Association, and Black woman’s club leader.  She was the wife of George L. Ruffin, one of the woman suffrage representatives from Boston in the state legislature.  In 1895, she convened the first conference of the National Federation of Afro-American Women, probably the first national organization of Black women, in Boston, thereby becoming a leader in the Black woman’s club movement

Lucy Stone, Dorchester: Prominent U.S. orator, abolitionist, and suffragist, and a vocal advocate and organizer promoting rights for women. In 1847, Stone became the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree. You can read more about Lucy Stone here in our Dorchester History Lesson.

Also a reminder:

It’s a presidential election year – and it’s an election year during a pandemic. We’ve rounded up helpful information for all you voters including deadlines and dates!  You can read this helpful information here!