This article is about 8 years old

Women’s Equality Day: Photos of suffragettes through the years

WASHINGTON — Saturday is Women’s Equality Day, commemorating the 97th anniversary since the certification of the 19th Amendment on August 18, 1920.

The 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote.

“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,” states the 19th amendment.

It took women’s activists, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, 70 years of lobbying to finally gain the right to vote through the 19th amendment.

Here are photos of suffragettes through the years.

A line of women rally for women's suffrage and advertise a free rally discussing women's right to vote in Washington D.C. on Oct. 3, 1915.  (AP Photo)
A line of women rally for women’s suffrage and advertise a free rally discussing women’s right to vote in Washington D.C. on Oct. 3, 1915. (AP Photo)
(1/20)
A line of women rally for women's suffrage and advertise a free rally discussing women's right to vote in Washington D.C. on Oct. 3, 1915.  (AP Photo)
To call attention to the struggle for votes for women, these suffragettes are taking off from Midland Beach, in Staten Island, New York, on December 2, 1916, to distribute literature to the people of the island.  The women in the plane are identified as Mrs. John Blair, chairman of the publicity committee of Woman's Suffrage in New York, and Mrs. Richberg Hornsby of Chicago.  (AP Photo)
Celebrating ratification of the women's suffrage amendment, Alice Paul, seated second from left, sews the 36th star on a banner, in August of 1920.  The banner flew in front of headquarters of the Women's Party in Washington of which Miss Paul was national chairperson.  The 36th star represented Tennessee, whose ratification completed the number of states needed to put the amendment in the Constitution.  (AP Photo)
"Three Women in a Bathtub", statue for women's suffrage in capitol crypt below the rotunda. This September 15, 1964 photo shows bust of Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony rising from a block of white marble. (AP/Photo)
Betty Friedan, co-founder of National Organization for Women (NOW), speaks during the Women's Stirke for Eqality event in New York's Central Park on Aug. 26, 1970, the 50th anniversary of woman suffrage.  Some 5,000 marchers paraded up Fifth Avenue in the women's march for equality.  Friedan, whose manifesto "The Feminine Mystique" became a best seller in the 1960s and laid the groundwork for the modern feminist movement, died Saturday, Feb. 4, 2006 her birthday. She was 85.  (AP Photo)
Women, who attended the 54th anniversary rally of women’s suffrage in the United States, throw long-stemmed red roses on a statue of 19th century suffragettes inside the Capitol in Washington on August 27, 1973. About 200 persons attended the rally held on the steps of the Capitol. (AP Photo/Charles Gorry)
Dr. Anna Shaw and Carrie Chapman Catt, founder of the League of Women Voters, lead an estimated 20,000 supporters in a women's suffrage march on New York's Fifth Ave. in 1915 . (AP Photo)

Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up