"The Woman Question": Pondering Women's Place in a Changing Society

When the 19th Amendment became part of the US Constitution in 1920, it stipulated that American citizens’ right to vote could not be denied “on account of sex.” For more than seventy years leading up to that moment, Americans debated who should shape public life and what it meant to be a woman. Both before and after ratification of the amendment, “the woman question” grew in importance, even while some women’s ability to exercise the right of suffrage remained contested. Anticipating the suffrage centenary, we will dig into historical documents to explore how race, class, and gender dynamics shaped this struggle. 3 hrs. sem.