Bill > SR103

This Resolution celebrates July 2, 2019, as the 100th anniversary of Iowa's ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a landmark amendment that guaranteed women the right to vote nationwide. The resolution acknowledges the long and arduous struggle for women's suffrage, spanning 72 years and involving numerous activists and events, from the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 to the passage of the amendment by the U.S. Senate in 1919. It highlights the contributions of Iowans like Mary Jane Coggeshall and Carrie Chapman Catt, and recognizes that while Iowa women gained limited voting rights on bond issues in 1894, the Nineteenth Amendment, officially enacted in 1920, provided full enfranchisement for women across the country, including African American women outside the American South. The resolution also notes the significance of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which fully enfranchised African American women in the South, and celebrates the ongoing legacy of women exercising their right to vote and running for office.