Massachusetts Ratifies the 19th Amendment, June 25, 1919

The state of Massachusetts was both an early site for suffrage advocacy and had one of the strongest anti-suffrage organizations in the nation. The National Woman’s Rights Convention met in Worchester, MA in 1850 and the first meeting of the American Equal Rights Association was held in Boston after the Civil War. While Massachusetts women could not vote under the state constitution, they could be elected to school committees starting in 1868 and about a decade later could vote for school committee members. Referendums on allowing women’s suffrage were voted on and defeated in 1895 and 1915. The Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women (the Women’s Anti-Suffrage Association of Massachusetts) was founded in 1895 and opposed the state’s suffrage movement and referendums. Massachusetts women did not gain the right to vote prior to 1920. The state ratified the 19^th Amendment on June 25, 1919.

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