Unlearning and relearning the 19th Amendment

In high school, I had reading phases spanning myriad genres, ranging from an intense interest in wild fantasy sagas to a soft spot for memoirs and especially a strange fixation for historical fiction novels. Page by page, I slowly expanded my worldly knowledge and cultural awareness, even if the characters, worlds and events I read about sometimes weren’t real. While my high school curriculum focused on statistics, facts and victories, the stories I read allowed me to explore people’s lived experiences.

There was one book in particular that was especially impactful. The story was about a family of Chinese immigrants traversing the Wild West in the late 1800s or early 1900s, but that’s the most I can remember about the plot. I can’t even recall the title, author or cover of that book now (trust me, I’ve Googled as much as I could, and can’t find anything close to what I read). But there was something that I learned from that book that has stuck with me until today: the realities of the women’s suffrage movement, which I was never taught in the classroom or in any of my 800-page textbooks.  

In history class, the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, was framed as a major turning point for the United States, and female activists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were highlighted as trailblazers for the women’s suffrage movement. While I can acknowledge that this was a great achievement and milestone for our country, I didn’t realize how narrow the scope of this newfound freedom was. White women may have been extended the right to vote with the 19th Amendment, but Black women were still barred from participating in the polls. Who else was left out of these conversations, and why did I have to learn the disheartening truth from a book targeted toward young teens of all things? 

The reality is that we often ignored the contributions of nonwhite suffragists in many of our lessons and in-class discussions. We even brush away the challenges they faced because of the negative stereotypes and biases we hold about race. Even in our current political climate speaking about major women’s issues like Roe v. Wade, it’s usually white women spotlighted at the center of the fight while women of Color take on the brunt of the consequences. For instance, overturning the constitutional right to abortion disproportionately affects Black women and other women of Color — the very women left out of protests and conversations. 

When I was taught the U.S. Constitution in elementary school, the Bill of Rights and the 19th Amendment were always highlighted and printed on the neat little test booklet I took my exams on. The others seemed more or less irrelevant in the eyes of the American education system. While this cut-and-dry way of teaching made learning easier, it oversimplified and erased the subject’s nuance. 

The passage of the 19th Amendment didn’t exactly follow a linear, standardized timeline. The broad assumption made with the ratification of the 19th Amendment was that the right to contribute to the democratic government was extended to all citizens of the U.S., regardless of sex or race. Following the ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870, which gave Black men the right to vote, the 19th Amendment should have protected the rights of all women to vote, right?

No. Despite voting discrimination being legally banned in the country, loopholes like literacy exams, property restrictions, taxes, intimidation tactics and more prevented Black women, and other women of Color, from voting. In fact, it wasn’t until the 24th Amendment was passed 40 years later that these barriers were abolished. By addressing the financial and educational hurdles associated with voting, the 24th Amendment finally allowed people of Color to exercise their constitutional right to vote fully. The emphasis on the 19th Amendment becomes oversimplified praise when further context surrounding the amendment is left out. 

Events of the past are often taught to elementary-aged students with an air of certainty and lack of complexity, which made the lessons I gleaned from my independent reading even more jarring. The once fast and easy answers to my exams eventually became contorted truths I had to detangle and investigate. I wrote about how Eurocentricity pervades as a bias in learning about the Asian American Pacific Islander community in a previous article, but this distortion has wider ramifications than just one group of people. The way I relearned our country’s history from a contemporary young adult novel instead of a history book is just one example of how our educational system amplifies certain voices at the expense of others. 

Sure, Susan B. Anthony was politically active in several causes like women’s suffrage and temperance, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the first women’s rights convention — but what about activists of Color like Ida B. Wells and Mabel Ping-Hua Lee? Is there a reason why their stories were “inadvertently” omitted from our history pages? Mabel Ping-Hua Lee may not have been able to vote due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred her from gaining citizenship, but her ability to rally the Chinese community to protest for its right to vote and advocate for educational opportunities for Chinese boys and girls are significant accomplishments. Similarly, Ida B. Wells’ work in leading antilynching campaigns and establishing the first Black women’s suffrage organization are still relevant today. Both women worked to create significant, lasting change to the American establishment and their efforts are worthy of inclusion in every comprehensive American history class. 

With the proliferation of online learning resources and the widespread nature of media in general, it’s easier than ever to bolster one’s curiosity about the world and doubt what one has been taught. While I do understand how this environment could be a breeding ground for misinformation, it also provides the opportunity to demystify half-truths taught in the classroom. 

Funnily enough, that YA novel I read so many years ago is the very reason I’m writing this article and delving into deeper research on the realities of the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. Without my interest in historical fiction at the time, I never would’ve learned about how women of Color were kept from the polls even after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, or how they were overlooked in the women’s suffrage movement. 

Growing up, voting wasn’t seen as a significant matter in my household. I grew up in a home and in a wider culture that believed in meritocracy and grit. We lived by the notion that hard work trumped any outside forces, including major policy changes. As a result, I wasn’t an avid reader of the news and thought I was immune to politics if my academic performance was stellar. Everything would be in my locus of control. As long as I had what I needed — a bed, food on my table and great grades — what was the point in becoming more aware of my surroundings if it didn’t concern me? 

Selfish thinking, I know. 

I realize now that I have a privilege that Asian American women who came before me did not. People of Color have been systematically denied the right to vote, and I have been taking my ability to voice my opinion for granted. Especially for many members of the AAPI community for whom English was not their first language, their ability to vote was pushed back to 1975 after the passing of the minority languages provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. 

My ability to vote as a Chinese American with immigrant parents impacts the community I belong to. After reading about anti-Asian sentiments like The Page Act of 1875 and the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, my voting rights seem all the more hard-earned and necessary. I don’t exist in a vacuum, and I should use the resources given to me to further educate myself on how certain policies and proposals could affect me and anyone I care about. 

Some may say that ignorance is bliss. In this case, however, I’d beg to differ. Despite the fact that I have been disheartened by the way history has been taught to me, through my curiosity and love for reading, I’m glad these dispositions have helped me become not only more culturally aware but empathetic, too. Whether it be a book or a news article, I know that learning outside the classroom is a must if I want to be a fully informed citizen.

Statement Columnist Michelle Wu can be reached at michewu@umich.edu.

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