Newspaper
The West Virginian, page 1. November 2, 1920. Fairmont, West Virginia.
Background
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on August 18, 1920. The amendment made it illegal to deny a person the right to vote based on their sex. Ten million women voted on Election Day in 1920, many for the first time in their lives. Local newspapers reported long lines of joyful first-time voters. Many towns made changes to their polling places to make them more inviting to women. Changes included banning smoking, washing floors, and providing chairs.
Despite the enthusiasm, there was cause for concern. Only one third of eligible women voted in the 1920 election. There were many complicated reasons for this. Anti-suffragists refused to vote on principle, and some places made voting more difficult for women. For example, Mississippi and Georgia blocked all women voters by closing new voter registration before the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified.
Suffragists were disappointed, but they quickly turned their attention to encouraging voter registration and participation. The National American Woman Suffrage Association was renamed the League of Women Voters. A new era of women-led activism was just beginning.
About the Resources
This is the front page of The West Virginian from Election Day 1920. West Virginia was one of the states that did not pass a woman’s suffrage bill before 1920, so this was the first time any West Virginian woman had the opportunity to vote in an election. The headline and accompanying article capture the excitement of the day.
Vocabulary
- anti-suffragist: A person who campaigned against granting women the right to vote.
- Nineteenth Amendment: The constitutional amendment that declared the right to vote could not be denied on the basis of sex; it was ratified in 1920.
- polling place: Official location where voting occurs.
- ratification: The action of signing or giving formal consent to a law, making it officially valid.
- suffragist: A person who campaigned to win women the right to vote.
Discussion Questions
- Based on this front page, how did the first day of women voting go in the US? Is this an accurate assessment? Why or why not?
- An article at the bottom of the second column describes a group of Black women voters. Why do you think the newspaper singled them out? What does it tell you about the challenges faced by Black women voters?
- Beyond voting, how else does this newspaper depict the involvement of women in the election? How did women leave their mark on Election Day 1920?
Suggested Activities
- APUSH Connection: 7.4: The Progressives
- Divide the front page into sections and assign pairs or small groups to analyze just one portion of the front page and discuss how the paper describes this historic day for West Virginians.
- Compare this newspaper with the Congressional testimony of William Pickens on behalf of the NAACP. How does each document describe the experience of women before and during the election of 1920?
Themes
POWER AND POLITICS
