Women’s Equality Day celebrates suffrage

y Emily Hess

Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017 | 2 a.m.

Women’s Equality Day, observed annually on August 26, commemorates the 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote. Specifically, the amendment states: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

The quiz below, from the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio, provides an opportunity for you to test your knowledge of the women’s suffrage movement and the 19th Amendment.

1. Which was the first state to grant women’s suffrage?

A. New York

B. Wyoming

C. Wisconsin

D. California

2. Before becoming involved in the women’s movement, many female suffragists previously were:

A. Presbyterians

B. Abolitionists

C. Democrats

D. Shakers

3. Which state did not grant women the right to vote before the 19th Amendment was ratified?

A. Oregon

B. Arizona

C. Illinois

D. Ohio

4. Which country was the first to give women the same voting rights as men?

A. New Zealand

B. France

C. Norway

D. Sweden

5. In 1848, suffragists gathered at the Seneca Falls Convention in New York and produced this document, modeled after the Declaration of Independence:

A. Declaration of Grievances

B. Declaration of Abuses & Usurpations

C. Declaration of Equality

D. Declaration of Sentiments

6. Which prominent reformer did not believe women should have the right to vote?

A. Frederick Douglass

B. Catharine Beecher

C. Jane Addams

D. Margaret Sanger

7. By a one-vote margin, Tennessee became the 36th and final state to ratify the 19th Amendment. Twenty-four-year-old Harry Burn, an anti-suffrage legislator, changed his vote at the last minute after he received a note from:

A. His girlfriend

B. A war veteran

C. His mother

D. His sister

8. This woman founded the National Woman’s Party and organized “Silent Sentinels,” round-the-clock protests outside the White House, calling for President Woodrow Wilson to support women’s suffrage:

A. Elizabeth Cady Stanton

B. Carrie Chapman Catt

C. Susan B. Anthony

D. Alice Paul

9. After the 19th Amendment was ratified, some suffragists focused on this effort that wouldn’t pass until 1972:

A. Title IX

B. Equal Rights Amendment

C. Birth control for all women

D. Equal Pay Act

10. After the Civil War, the suffrage movement split due to disagreements concerning the:

A. Temperance Movement

B. Property rights

C. 15th Amendment (granting black men the right to vote)

D. Role of women in the church

ANSWERS: 1-B, 2-B, 3-D, 4-A, 5-D, 6-B, 7-C, 8-D, 9-B, 10-C

Emily Hess is a visiting assistant professor of history and an academic adviser at Ashland University. She wrote this for InsideSources.com.