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Carrie Chapman Catt 1859-1947
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Image above:
Carrie Chapman
Catt, around 1914
Library of
Congress |
Carrie Chapman Catt was born Carrie
Lane on January 9, 1859, in Ripon, Wisconsin.
In 1884, she married
Leo Chapman, who died in 1886.
In 1890, she married
George W. Catt, who died in
1905.
In 1916, Carrie Chapman Catt gave her
famous speech
The Crisis at
the NAWSA Emergency Convention, held from September 4 to 10 at
Atlantic City, New Jersey.
NAWSA stands for National American
Woman Suffrage Association, a group formed in 1890.
Susan B. Anthony was NAWSA's
first president. When Anthony, 80 years old, retired in 1900, Carrie
Chapman Catt became the organization's next president.
At NAWSA's annual convention, held at
Polis Theater in Washington D.C. from December 12 to 15, 1917, Catt
delivered an open speech to Congress, let's call it her
Onward and Upward speech.
Catt's term as NAWSA's president was a crowned success when
the House voted to approve the Susan B. Anthony Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution, giving women the right to vote, on May 21,
1919.
On
August 18, 1920, the suffrage amendment was ratified by the State of
Tennessee. This made Tennessee the 36th state to ratify the
agreement, and it gave the agreement the necessary three-fourth of
the states.
On August 26, 1920, the 43rd Secretary
of State, Bainbridge Colby, certified the ratification and
proclaimed the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,
extending the vote to women.
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