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Women’s Suffrage
Beginning in the mid-19th century, several generations of woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change in the Constitution – guaranteeing women the right to vote. -
National Women’s Suffrage Movement formed
Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the National Woman Suffrage Association. Later that year, Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe, and others formed the American Woman Suffrage Association. However, not until the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919 did women throughout the nation gain the right to vote. -
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Women’s Liberation Movement
women's rights movement, a diverse social movement, largely based in the United States, that in the 1960s and '70s sought equal rights and opportunities and greater personal freedom for women. It coincided with and is recognized as part of the “second wave” of feminism. -
Jeanette Rankin elected to Congress
She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Montana in 1916 for one term, then was elected again in 1940. Rankin remains the only woman ever elected to Congress from Montana. -
Margaret Sanger opens first birth control clinic in the United States
On October 16, 1916, Sanger and her sister Ethel Byrne, and activist Fania Mindell opened the country's first birth control clinic in Brownsville, Brooklyn. -
19th Amendment of the United States
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. -
The Alaska Equal Rights Act signed into law
The Daily Alaska Empire printed that her testimony "shamed the opposition into a 'defensive whisper. '" The bill was signed by Governor Gruening into law on February 16, 1945. -
Civil Rights Movement launched
When did the American civil rights movement start? The American civil rights movement started in the mid-1950s. A major catalyst in the push for civil rights was in December 1955, when NAACP activist Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man. -
FDA Approves first birth control pill
Eventually, the FDA avoided the question of long-term safety by approving contraceptive usage of Enovid for no more than two years at a time, and on May 11, 1960, the FDA officially announced its approval of the contraceptive pill. -
The Feminine Mystique was written
The Feminine Mystique is a book by Betty Friedan, widely credited with sparking second-wave feminism in the United States. First published by W. W. Norton on February 19, 1963, The Feminine Mystique became a bestseller, initially selling over a million copies. -
Equal Pay Act was signed into law
Signed into law by President John F. Kennedy on June 10, 1963, this historic legislation recognized that women's work—and their fair and equal treatment in the workplace—is vital to our country's economic prosperity. -
Civil Rights Act signed into law
Despite Kennedy's assassination in November of 1963, his proposal culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. President Lyndon Johnson signed it into law just a few hours after it was passed by Congress on July 2, 1964. The act outlawed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels. -
Title IX was passed into law
Title IX of the Civil Rights Act was signed into law on June 23, 1972, by President Richard M. Nixon. -
“Battle of the Sexes” tennis match
In tennis, "Battle of the Sexes" describes various exhibition matches played between a man and a woman, or a doubles match between two men and two women in one case. -
Roe v. Wade Court Case
In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decided that the right to privacy implied in the 14th Amendment protected abortion as a fundamental right. However, the government retained the power to regulate or restrict abortion access depending on the stage of pregnancy. -
Sandra Day O’Connor sworn in to US Supreme Court
When Justice Potter Stewart retired in 1981, President Reagan fulfilled that promise by nominating O'Connor, noting that she was a “person for all seasons.” The Senate unanimously confirmed her appointment on September 21, 1981, and four days later, she took her seat on the Bench.