Women's Suffrage Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Mapping Women’s Suffrage:  Maps from Ball State University Libraries Show History of Voting Rights

On August 18, 1920, the 19^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing women the right to vote.  Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted and introduced the amendment in 1878.  Congress finally proposed the amendment in June 1919 and submitted it to the states for ratification, finally passing with the vote of Tennessee.

Maps from the GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) show some of the history related to women’s suffrage.  The top map (click to enlarge) shows where women were allowed to vote before the 19^th Amendment.  As territories in the West were included in the nation, many allowed women the right to vote.  Women were allowed to vote in primaries in Texas and Arkansas.  Women were allowed to vote in presidential elections in many of the Midwestern states and Tennessee and Maine.

The second map shows exactly how Congressmen in the House of Representatives voted either for or against the amendment.  Large areas of the South (along with New York City, Philadelphia, and Detroit) voted against the 19^th Amendment.  The map is from the atlas Mapping America’s Past by Henry Holt available from the GRMC.  The atlas was published in 1996 and includes maps about major historical events.

For more information about these maps and atlases, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097 from 8:00 to 5:00 Monday through Friday.