The moment: June 28, 1919
The place: The Texas Legislature
Agenda for The Second Annual Convention of the Texas Equal Rights Association. Image from the Austin History Center.
On June 28, 1919, the Texas Legislature ratified the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which made it illegal for federal or state governments to deny the right to vote to women (or any citizen) on the basis of gender.
The history-changing amendment had been passed by federal lawmakers earlier that year and submitted to the states for approval. Texas was the ninth state in the union but the first state in the South to say “yes” to ratification, a noteworthy distinction given the fierce opposition that the suffrage movement had long faced in the southern states.