Two of my favorite subjects are woman’s suffrage and dolls, so it is fitting today on the centennial celebration of Wisconsin’s ratification of the 19th Amendment to the federal Constitution, American Girl Doll‘s has created a doll just to commemorate the celebration. It can be seen this afternoon at the State capital and then will move onto the Wisconsin Historical Society until later this fall. She is wearing the parade tunic worn by Wisconsin suffrage supporters during the Republican National convention in Chicago, Illinois in 1916.
The work to grant all women full voting rights was carried out by many dedicated and passionate women of Wisconsin starting in the 1840s and culminating on June 10, 1919 when Wisconsin was the first state to ratify the woman’s suffrage amendment. Following Tennessee’s ratification in 1920, as the 36th state to ratify, the 19th Amendment was finally validated on August 18, 1920 by federal legislators and became a permanent amendment to the Constitution.
Although the Amendment gave us the right to vote in federal elections, it didn’t grant us the right to be equal. Unfortunately, we’re still working on that…
American Girl Doll
Although I was unsuccessful in finding a photo of the American Girl Doll, I did find a photo of the tunic she wears. It is fashioned after the same tunic worn by the Wisconsin women supporting woman’s suffrage.
She can be seen this afternoon at the State capital and then will move on to the Wisconsin Historical Museum for display until fall.
See Wisconsin journalists played key roles in suffrage movement.
Also, see Nancy Unger‘s discussion on women’s rights activist Belle La Follette, the first woman to earn a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School.
