August 26, 1920: The 19th Amendment is quietly signed into law by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby, granting women the right to vote. Suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt summarized the effort involved in securing passage of the 19th Amendment:
"To get the word 'male' in effect out of the Constitution cost the women of the country fifty-two years of pauseless campaign... During that time they were forced to conduct fifty-six campaigns of referenda to male voters; 480 campaigns to get Legislatures to submit suffrage amendments to voters; 47 campaigns to get State constitutional conventions to write woman suffrage into state constitutions; 277 campaigns to get State party conventions to include woman suffrage planks in party platforms, and 19 campaigns with 19 successive Congresses."
1921: American Birth Control League is founded by Margaret Sanger
Change takes a long time - I've often wondered if part of the reason it takes so long is all the waiting for old stodgy people who are set in their ways to die off so new ways can finally be embraced without shame over "what would Father say?!" as a part of the equation.
