[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 94 (Wednesday, June 5, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S3247]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 19TH AMENDMENT

  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I am proud to rise today to celebrate the 
100th anniversary of the day my home State of Wisconsin became the 
first State in the Nation to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. 
Constitution, giving women the right to vote.
  Although the outcome was a historic victory, women did not gain the 
right to vote without a struggle. The road to Wisconsin's ratification 
of the 19th Amendment was paved with more than 70 years of advocacy and 
speeches, marches and rallies, legislation and lawsuits by strong 
Wisconsin suffragists. Many of the battles were lost before they were 
won.
  When Wisconsin became a State in 1848, only White male landowners 
over 21 years of age could vote. In 1869, women won the right to run 
for local school boards in Wisconsin but ironically could not vote for 
themselves. In 1886, Wisconsin voters approved a statewide referendum 
allowing women to vote in school elections. When women tried to 
exercise their new rights for the first time in 1887, however, many 
women's ballots were discarded because there was no way to verify that 
women voted only in school elections. Racine suffragist Olympia Brown 
sued to have her ballot accepted, but the State supreme court said the 
law was vague and needed to be rewritten. Fourteen years later, the 
Wisconsin Legislature approved the creation of separate ballots for 
women that only included school elections.
  In 1911, Wisconsin suffragists persuaded the legislature to authorize 
a statewide referendum on voting rights for women, but it was soundly 
defeated by an electorate that didn't include women. Two years later, 
the legislature again called for a referendum on women's suffrage, but 
it was vetoed by the Governor. In 1915, another attempt at a referendum 
was rejected by lawmakers.
  Women's suffrage fared much better when the debate over voting rights 
shifted from individual States to the national stage. Congress passed 
the 19th Amendment on June 4, 1919. Less than a week later, on June 
10th, the Wisconsin Legislature ratified the amendment, narrowly 
beating out its neighbor to the south. Illinois had actually ratified 
the amendment an hour before Wisconsin, but a paperwork error delayed 
the filing of the Illinois documents. By August 26, 1920, the necessary 
36 States had ratified the 19th Amendment, and women were granted full 
voting rights.
  As we celebrate the centennial of this historic moment, it is 
important to acknowledge that ratification of the 19th Amendment did 
not extend voting rights to all women. Advocacy for suffrage for Black 
women was often abandoned in an attempt to gain support for 
ratification in the South. African-American women faced 
disenfranchisement tactics that ranged from separate long lines and 
civics tests to poll taxes and even beatings. Many of these tactics 
continued until passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
  Wisconsin owes its unique position in history to the voices of 
powerful Wisconsin women who not only spoke truth to power but who also 
shattered the glass ceiling in their professional lives. Belle Case 
LaFollette, originally from Summit, was the first woman to graduate 
from law school in Wisconsin. Laura Ross Wolcott from Milwaukee was 
Wisconsin's first woman physician. Olympia Brown of Racine was the 
first woman to be ordained a minister in the entire country. Nationally 
renowned suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt from Ripon was indispensable to 
passage of the amendment. As the first woman to represent Wisconsin in 
the U.S. House of Representatives and now the U.S. Senate, I am humbled 
to walk the path these strong women helped forge for their successors.
  One hundred years ago, after decades of struggle by brave women and 
men, our Nation finally extended to women the most fundamental right in 
our democracy--the right to vote. As we celebrate this historic 
milestone in our Nation's history, let us vow to continue to fight for 
full equality for women, including access to health care, in workplace 
salaries, and in representation the Halls of Congress.

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