Women’s History

This form letter from Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucy Stone asks friends to send petitions for women's suffrage to their representatives in Congress.

Petition was part of the first national drive to focus on women’s voting rights and includes signatures of some of the most prominent advocates at the time: Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ernestine Rose, Lucy Stone, and Antoinette Brown Blackwell. It asks for an amendment to the Constitution that shall prohibit the several states from disfranchising any of their citizens on the grounds of sex.

Citizens of Macon, Georgia, sent this petition to Congress asking them to vote against the the women's suffrage amendment. The petition claims that the proposed amendment "is dangerous and hurtful to the best interests of our Country and especially to the South, in that the inevitable result of the legislation proposed would be to destroy white supremacy and States' rights."

Tennessee was the 36th out of the existing 48 states to ratify this amendment, clinching the passage of the amendment allowing women the right to vote.

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) introduced to Congress for the first time, introduced by Congressman Daniel Anthony (Susan B. Anthony's nephew). His amendment failed, as it did over 1,100 more attempts.

Although not passed by Congress, this bill, introduced by Representative Winifred Stanley, was the first to propose that employers be required to pay women equal pay for equal work. This principle was later enacted in the Equal Pay Act of 1963.

The Equal Pay Act is passed by Congress, promising equitable wages for the same work, regardless of the race, color, religion, national origin or sex of the worker.

On June 23, 1972, President Nixon signed the Education Amendments of 1972 that included Title IX, which prohibits discrimination in academic activities based on sex. The amendment did not specifically mention sports, but it’s far-reaching impact is widely credited for opening up opportunities for women in athletics.  

This file consists of the civil cases, Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Wade. This plaintiff was seeking to obtain an abortion in Dallas, Texas.

Photograph of First Lady Betty Ford Congratulating President Gerald Ford for Signing an Executive Order Establishing a National Commission for the Observance of International Women's Year 1975, 1/9/1975