It took over seventy years for women to gain the right to vote in the United States. This right was not
given, but earned over decades of organizing efforts, lobbying, and protesting by suffragists.

Women across the United States and around the world participated in the women's suffrage
movement and women in Indiana and at Purdue were no exception. Hoosier women were active in
the movement from its start and some even went on to lead national and international women’s
rights organizations. Purdue students, staff, and faculty organized on campus, in their local
communities, and at the national level.

However, when the 19th Amendment passed, it only guaranteed white women the right to vote
and left many African Americans, Indigenous peoples, and People of Color, who had fought alongside
white suffragists, disenfranchised for years to come.