By Day: Historical Events on August 18th

The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote is ratified as Tennessee, by a vote of 50 to 49, becomes the 36th State to do so. The deciding vote came from Harry T. Burn, a 24 year old, who supported suffrage but but was under political pressure to vote no. In his pocket was a letter from his mother, Febb Burn, urging him to vote for the amendment. On August 26, the amendment was formally adopted into the Constitution by proclamation of Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. More

The Woodstock three day outdoor music festival celebrates its final night. The audience was estimated at more than 450,000 and it was the largest and most memorable of dozens of outdoor music festivals that took place between 1967 and 1969, an era that began with the Monterey Pops Concert, Monterey, California, on June 16-18, 1967, and ended tragically, with the Altamont Racetrack Concert, at Altamont, California, which was marked by violence.