Introduction
2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment (1920) granting women
the right to vote. Celebrations and commemorations are being held throughout the United
publications. Many of these projects stress the limitations of the Nineteenth Amendment,
to be dominated by the story of important leaders like Alice Paul of Moorestown, or
advocated for the vote throughout the state. While large cities like Newark and Paterson
have dominated the narrative, in Middlesex County women were active in the small
cities of New Brunswick and Perth Amboy, as well as in the growing towns of Metuchen,
to enfranchisement, but was tied to women having control over their lives and giving
increasing women’s wages, improving working conditions, and promoting child welfare.
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