March Commemorates Women’s Suffrage
A march for women’s rights on this day in Washington was held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the enactment of the Nineteenth Amendment granting women the right to vote in federal elections.
The march was organized by the National Organization for Women (NOW) (founded on June 30, 1966) and Women’s Strike for Equality.
The Alice Paul Memorial March was held on August 26, 1977 to mark the anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment and also to honor the suffragist leader whose militant picketing of the White House in 1917 played a major role in securing passage of the amendment. See the events organized by Alice Paul on January 10, 1917, August 11, 1917, and October 20, 1917.
The Nineteenth Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, and women voted for the first time in federal elections on November 2, 1920.
Follow the timeline on women’s suffrage at the National Women’s History Museum: http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/votesforwomen/suffragetimeline.html
Read Paul’s biography: Jill Zahniser and Amelia Fry, Alice Paul: Claiming Power (2014)
And more: Mary Walton, A Woman’s Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot (2010)
Read Paul’s Oral History interview: http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt6f59n89c/
Learn more about marching on Washington: Lucy Barber, Marching on Washington: The Forging of an American Political Tradition (2002)