85 Years Ago Today

as reported in the New York Times

Washington, Aug. 26 -- The half-century struggle for woman suffrage in the United States reached its climax at 8 o'clock this morning, when Bainbridge Colby, as Secretary of State, issued his proclamation announcing that the Nineteenth Amendment had become a part of the Constitution of the United States.

"I confidently believe," said the Secretary, "that every salutary, forward and upward force in our public life will receive fresh vigor and reinforcement from the enfranchisement of the women of America. To the leaders of this great movement I tender my sincere congratulations."

Women won the right to vote by fearlessly standing up to those who insisted that enfranchisement would cause the breakup of families and the decline of the moral fabric of society. They overcame prejudice and tyrannical fundamentalism. But winning the vote was not the end of the struggle for equality. That fight goes on.

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