Women's Suffrage In The United States

Suffrage is the right to vote in political affairs. Only recently did women receive the right to vote in the United States. From the earliest civilizations, the women have been confined to working at home and and have been thought of “inferior” to men. Therefore, before modern-day, women were unable to enjoy the same rights as men. Not even one-hundred years has gone by since the nineteenth amendment was passed, giving the vote to women. The event that spurred such an amendment to being pushed was the women’s rights movement starting in 1848. Some of the more influential women’s rights activists during the movement include Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Jane Addams, Madam C.J. Walker, and Dorothy Height.
Sojourner Truth was born into slavery
She was considered a pioneer in social work and an internationalist. Growing up, her father was state senator for 16 years and fought as an officer in the Civil War. While studying and traveling in Europe with her friend Ellen G. Starr, she visited a settlement house, Toynbee Hall, in London’s East End. Seeing this house made Jane and Ellen put the finishing touches on her idea to open their own Settlement house, the Hull House. With this house they helped the community and encouraged women of wealthy families to help in the Hull House. The house ended up expanding enough to the point where it has its own library and many other useful resources for the community to use. The purpose for the house was later expressed by both Jane and Ellen as “..to provide a center for a higher civic and social life; to institute and maintain educational and philanthropic enterprises and to investigate and improve the conditions in the industrial districts of Chicago…” (Addams 112). As Jane started to grow a reputation, she received the first honorary degree awarded to a woman by Yale University. She was a very passionate feminist by approaching philosophy from the point of view of a feminist. Before men actually paid attention to how horrible women’s suffrage was and it was brought to the attention of the world, Jane believed women should speak out and make the legislation hear their voices. She wanted women to have the right to vote and for them to start standing up for themselves. She believed that women should make their own aspirations and search for opportunities to realize them. Jane, even though she refused to be labeled, was a feminist, socialist, and pacifist who never alienated any group of people from any conversation and participation needed for effective inclusive