Skip to main content

BKLYN BookMatch: Reading About the 19th Amendment and Voting Rights in the US

This booklist features books about the 19th Amendment which granted some women in the US the right to vote. This list also includes books on the role of African Americans and Women of Color in the suffrage movement and the later fight for the Voting Rights Act. This list was created by a librarian with the Brooklyn Public Library. Would you like your own personalized list of reading suggestions? Visit Bklyn BookMatch here: bklynlibrary.org/bookmatch

Scan on mobile.
Download PDF

14 items

Roses and radicals : the epic story of how American women won the right to vote
Zimet, Susan, author.
Format: eBook

The United States of America is almost 250 years old, but American women won the right to vote less than a hundred years ago. And when the controversial nineteenth ammendment to the U.S. Constituion-the one granting suffrage to women-was finally ratified in 1920, it passed by a mere one-vote margin.

Women win the vote! : 19 for the 19th amendment
Kennedy, Nancy B., author.
Format: eBook

A bold new collection showcasing the trailblazing individuals who fought for women's suffrage, honoring the Nineteenth Amendment's centennial anniversary.

Thank you for voting [electronic resource] : the maddening, enlightening, inspiring truth about voting in America
Smith, Erin Geiger.
Format: eBook

hank You for Voting, debut author and journalist Erin Geiger Smith presents a fascinating look into America's voting history and inspires young people to get involved! Voting is a privilege and a right, but it hasn't always been for many people.

Votes for women! : American suffragists and the battle for the ballot
Conkling, Winifred, author.
Format: EBOOKS

The story of the American women who demanded, fought for, and finally won the right to vote

Stolen justice : the struggle for African-American voting rights
Goldstone, Lawrence, 1947- author.
Format: eBook

Following the Civil War, the Reconstruction era raised a new question to those in power in the US: Should African Americans, so many of them former slaves, be granted the right to vote? In a bitter partisan fight over the legislature and Constitution, the answer eventually became yes, though only after two constitutional amendments, two Reconstruction Acts, two Civil Rights Acts, three Enforcement Acts, the impeachment of a president, and an army of occupation. Yet, even that was not enough to ensure that African American voices would be heard, or their lives protected.

Suffrage [electronic resource] : Women's long battle for the vote.
DuBois, Ellen Carol.
Format: eBook

Honoring the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment to the Constitution, this exciting history explores the full scope of the movement to win the vote for women through portraits of its bold leaders and devoted activists.

The woman's hour [electronic resource] : The great fight to win the vote.
Weiss, Elaine.
Format: eBook

The nail-biting climax of one of the greatest political battles in American history: the ratification of the constitutional amendment that granted women the right to vote.

Uncounted : the crisis of voter suppression in the United States
Daniels, Gilda R., author.
Format: eBook

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is considered one of the most effective pieces of legislation the United States has ever passed. It enfranchised hundreds of thousands of voters, particularly in the American South, and drew attention to the problem of voter suppression. Yet in recent years there has been a continuous assault on access to the ballot box in the form of stricter voter ID requirements, meritless claims of rigged elections, and baseless accusations of voter fraud. In the past these efforts were aimed at eliminating African American voters from the rolls, and today, new laws seek to eliminate voters of color, the poor, and the elderly, groups that historically vote for the Democratic Party. Uncounted examines the phenomenon of disenfranchisement through the lens of history, race, law, and the democratic process.

Lifting as we climb : black women's battle for the ballot box
Dionne, Evette, author.
Format: eBook

For African American women, the fight for the right to vote was only one battle. An eye-opening book that tells the important, overlooked story of black women as a force in the suffrage movement--when fellow suffragists did not accept them as equal partners in the struggle.

Jailed for freedom : a first-person account of the militant fight for women's rights
Stevens, Doris, 1888-1963, author.
Format: eBook

A first-hand account of how suffragists in the National Woman's Party organized and fought a fierce battle for the passage for the 19th Amendment.