BY LEVI RICKERT 

 

AUGUST 22, 2020

Opinion. Last Tuesday marked the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, when the 19th amendment guaranteed most American women the right to vote. The amendment was ratified on Aug. 18, 1920. Upon ratification, the amendment did not include American Indian women because American Indians were not yet citizens of the United States. It took almost four more years for America’s First Peoples to gain citizenship, on June 2, 1924.

Even after gaining citizenship, American Indians in some states were denied the right to vote because — similar to African Americans — they were subjected to poll taxes, literacy tests and sometimes intimidation. American Indians in New Mexico were denied the right to vote until 1962.

The 100th anniversary of women's suffrage allowed reflection on how far we have come in the United States and a look at the obstacles and challenges that confront us.

In 1968, a commercial promoting slim cigarettes used black and white suffrage photographs with the slogan, “You’ve come a long way, baby” at the cusp of the feminist movement.

In reality, for some Native women the “long way” actually was a move backwards because before European contact, several tribal nations maintained matriarchal governance, which was foreign to white settlers, who came from male-dominated cultures. Even while Native women had a voice within their tribal societies, such as the clan mothers within the Haudenosaunee Nations (Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca and Onondaga) in New York state, their voices were discounted for the most part by non-Natives.

Still, Native women held significant influence in many tribes across Indian Country. Through the years, Native women had led tribes with distinction, such as the late principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, Wilma Mankiller.

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