What the World Was Like When Your Grandparents Were Born

1920

The 1920 census was the first in history to require nine digits to record—America was now more than 100 million people strong. About half of those people were women, and now, thanks to the 19th Amendment, they were finally granted the right to participate in American democracy. Women’s suffrage succeeded a full half century after black men were afforded the right to vote—in policy if not in practice—when the 13th Amendment was ratified during Reconstruction.