101 Years Ago: Michigan Approves Women’s Right To Vote
On June 10, 1919, Michigan became on of the first states to ratify the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote.
Women in Michigan began seeking suffrage, or the right to vote, as early as 1855, but were squelched in their efforts until 1919, when they ratified the 19th Amendment, shortly after it passed approval by the US Senate on June 4, 1919.
It didn't take long for women to use their power at the polls to make some changes. Eva McCall Hamilton became the first woman elected to the State Senate in the fall of 1920, and Cora Reynolds Anderson became the state's first female in the state's House of Representatives five years later.
Anderson was also the first Native American woman to serve in the Michigan legislature.