| Elections in Missouri |
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The St. Louis Equal Suffrage League was formed in 1910 in St. Louis, Missouri with the aim of "bring[ing] together men and women who are willing to consider the question of Equal Suffrage and by earnest co-operation to secure its establishment." [1]
In May 1879, the St. Louis Branch of the National Woman Suffrage Association was formed. The organization served as a counterpart to the Women's Suffrage Association of Missouri (founded in 1867 as the first organization in history dedicated specifically to women's suffrage) which had affiliated with the more conservative American Women's Suffrage Association in 1871. [2] Partially due to the loss of local St. Louisan and noted suffragette Virginia Minor, who had petitioned all the way to the United States Supreme Court in 1874 in the case of Minor vs. Happersett to guarantee women's right to vote through the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution, no petitions to the Missouri legislature were made between 1901 and 1911 and there were no woman suffrage conventions in the state. [1]
A few women kept a State suffrage organization going, but there was a general sense of apathy among women about the cause. In 1901, Mrs. Addie Johnson led the State organization, who was followed by Mrs. Louis Werth in 1902, and Mrs. Alice Mulkley in 1903. In St. Louis, which was home to one-fourth of Missourians, there was no visible presence for the suffrage movement. The largest and most influential woman's club would not allow suffrage to be discussed during its meetings. During the first decade of the 1900s, only one nationally known speaker on suffrage came to Missouri, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. [3]
The movement gained momentum when Ethel Arnold, a well known suffragette leader in England, made her first tour of America in 1910. A few women in St. Louis (among whom there was Amabel Anderson Arnold, director of the Woman's Department at the University of Chicago Law School, the first woman holding such office in the United States) organized a visit for Edith Arnold to the city and raised funds to cover her charge and the rent of a hall. Her lecture took place on April 11 of that year. [3] It was from this visit that the St. Louis Equal Suffrage League was formed. Conservative society did not talk of suffrage and even when the Equal Suffrage League was established, it was with a cautious tone, emphasizing education rather than action. Members preferred to be called suffragists instead of suffragettes to downplay any militant activity. [1] Ten women dared to take a stance on the suffrage movement and establish the Equal Suffrage League. The founding members were Mrs. Robert Atkinson, Miss Marie Garesche, Mrs. E.M. Grossman, Miss Lillian Hetzell, Miss Jennie A.M. Jones, Mrs. D.W. Knefler, Miss Bertha Rombauer, Mrs. Russell, Mrs. Florence Wyman Richardson and her daughter, Mrs. Roland Usher. [4]
The ten original members sent out a call for those interested in equal suffrage to help in organizing a society. Fifty women responded and the group first met on April 10, 1910, establishing the St. Louis Equal Suffrage League. Mrs. Florence Wyman Richardson was elected president. The group immediately began trying to increase their membership. Some of the first members were men, prominent ministers from various denominations, leading lawyers, physicians, and businessmen. Branch organizations were started in public libraries around the city. At the end of the year, the League claimed a membership of 250 men and women. [4]
In the spring of 1911, the Missouri Equal Suffrage Association was formed, after a meeting of three suffrage clubs from Kansas City, Warrensburg, and Webster Groves. The new association adopted a constitution and officers were elected. Mrs. Robert Atkinson, who had served as president of the St. Louis League was elected president. Mrs. Florence Richardson took over the St. Louis chapter. She served as president for a year and was succeeded by Mrs. David O'Neil. [4]
The Equal Suffrage League brought many speakers to St. Louis to speak on suffrage, issued press reports, organized street meetings, and established branch organizations in the St. Louis area. [1] Some of the speakers that the group brought to the city were Ethel Arnold, the Honorable and Mrs. Philip Snowden of England, Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead of Boston, Professor Schmidt of Cornell, Professor Frances Squire Potter of Chicago, and Professor Earl Barnes of Philadelphia. [4] On November 3, 1911, the league invited Emmeline Pankhurst to lecture at the Odeon, the largest hall in the city. The theatre nearly reached capacity. Her lecture helped to assuage fears of the ill effects of suffrage regarding feminine grace and refinement. [3]
After a few years, the League has exhausted its means of attracting attention to their cause. A new organization, a Business Woman's League was formed in 1912 that was called to action immediately to demonstrate at a Milliner's Convention in St. Louis. The members supplied delegates with suffrage ideas and hats to distribute throughout Missouri. St. Louis women held street meetings and demonstrated at the County Fair, giving speeches from decorated automobiles. [4] The Business Woman's Suffrage League was led by Mary McGuire, a graduate of St. Louis University Law School, and Miss Jessie Lansing Moller. The group started with 50 members and later grew to 250. [3]
By 1913, the attitude towards woman suffrage seemed to be shifting, with support from the Farmer's Alliance, the State Teacher's Association, Prohibitionists, Single Taxers, and leading papers. Despite this support, Missouri failed to pass a suffrage amendment in November 1914. [1]
In June 1916, the National Democratic Convention was held in St. Louis. Seven thousand suffragists dressed in white with yellow sashes and yellow parasols lining the delegates' route to the opening morning of the convention. Although the demonstration was silent, the women's voices were heard for their display of what one poem called "the Golden Lane." [1] The "walkless, talkless parade" was made up of about 7,000 women who lined both sides of Locust Street for about ten blocks. [3] Another demonstration was staged on the steps of the St. Louis Art Museum, with women representing states of the union arranged by their levels of support for woman suffrage. [1] The women stood under a canopy of gold cloth, with thirteen women dressed in white to represent the twelve equal suffrage states and Alaska. Women dressed in gray stood further down the steps, representing states with partial suffrage. At the bottom of the steps stood women dressed in black, representing states where women were not allowed to vote. [3] These actions converted some Missourians to the suffrage movement, but had little effect on the convention delegates. [1]
During World War I, the Equal Suffrage League combined their efforts towards suffrage with war efforts. They protested the repeal of the Federal Child Labor Law and investigated the high cost of milk, among other actions. [1] President Woodrow Wilson supported suffrage more after their display of patriotism during the war. [5]
By 1919, the St. Louis League was successful enough to invite the National Suffrage Association to hold the Golden Jubilee in the city. The convention was held March 23–29 at the Statler Hotel, with evening meetings at the Odeon. During the convention, Miss Marie B. Ames, who had been in Jefferson City, Missouri for ninety-six days advocating for suffrage, returned to St. Louis with the news that the suffrage bill had passed both Houses. [3]
In the spring of 1919, the 50th Missouri General Assembly passed the Presidential Suffrage bill, which gave women the right to vote in presidential elections. [1] St. Louis League President Christine Fordyce appealed to the legislature in a speech saying, "fifty years ago my grandmother came before the Missouri legislature and asked for the enfranchisement of women; twenty-five years ago, my mother came to make the same request; tonight I am asking for the ballot for women. Are you going to make it necessary for my daughter to appear in her turn?" Ms. Fordyce's daughter would not have to make the same appeal, as soon suffrage was supported at the federal level. [5] The Missouri legislature ratified the Susan B. Anthony Amendment to the U.S. Constitution during a special session in July of that year. [1] Governor Gardner called a special session and then amendment passed by a vote of 125 to 4 in the House and 29 to 3 in the Senate. [6] Missouri became the eleventh state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. [1] The first eleven states ratified the amendment within a month. It would take another year for the thirty-sixth state ratified the amendment and made it a binding part of the United States constitution. [5]
The people of St. Louis wanted to celebrate the historical occasion, and a picnic supper was held in Forest Park, with a reception following at the Municipal Theatre. Suffragists in St. Louis requested time during the program to express their gratitude for Missouri's ratification of the amendment. The ladies assembled on stage under the direction of Alice Martin. Ten women grouped in the center of the stage to represent the ten states that had ratified the nineteenth amendment. As the lights went up in the theatre, the audience applauded. Mrs. Walter McNab Miller, honorary president of the Missouri Woman Suffrage Association, gave a speech and gave Mrs. Fred L. English, president of the Equal Suffrage League of St. Louis, the banner of Missouri. [4]
The State suffrage organization held a convention in October 16–18 at the Hotel Statler in St. Louis. After the passage of the suffrage bill, the organization changed its name to the Missouri League of Women Voters. [3]
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the United States and its states from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex, in effect recognising the right of women to a vote. The amendment was the culmination of a decades-long movement for women's suffrage in the United States, at both the state and national levels, and was part of the worldwide movement towards women's suffrage and part of the wider women's rights movement. The first women's suffrage amendment was introduced in Congress in 1878. However, a suffrage amendment did not pass the House of Representatives until May 21, 1919, which was quickly followed by the Senate, on June 4, 1919. It was then submitted to the states for ratification, achieving the requisite 36 ratifications to secure adoption, and thereby go into effect, on August 18, 1920. The Nineteenth Amendment's adoption was certified on August 26, 1920.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an organization formed on February 18, 1890, to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States. It was created by the merger of two existing organizations, the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). Its membership, which was about seven thousand at the time it was formed, eventually increased to two million, making it the largest voluntary organization in the nation. It played a pivotal role in the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which in 1920 guaranteed women's right to vote.
Virginia Louisa Minor was an American women's suffrage activist. She is best remembered as the plaintiff in Minor v. Happersett, an 1875 United States Supreme Court case in which Minor unsuccessfully argued that the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote.
Anne Dallas Dudley was an American activist in the women's suffrage movement. She was a national and state leader in the fight for women's suffrage who worked to secure the ratification of the 19th Amendment in Tennessee. After founding the Nashville Equal Suffrage League and serving as its president, she moved up through the ranks of the movement, serving as President of the Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association and then as Third Vice President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, where she helped lead efforts to get the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution ratified, giving women the right to vote nationwide. She is especially noted for her successful efforts to get the Nineteenth Amendment ratified in her home state of Tennessee, the final state necessary to bring the amendment into force.
Emma Smith DeVoe was an American women suffragist in the early twentieth century, changing the face of politics for both women and men alike. She was known as "the Mother of Women's Suffrage".
Edna Fischel Gellhorn was an American suffragist and reformer who played a prominent role in founding the National League of Women Voters.
This timeline highlights milestones in women's suffrage in the United States, particularly the right of women to vote in elections at federal and state levels.
Elsie Hill was an American suffragist, as were her sisters Clara and Helena Hill.
Women's suffrage in states of the United States refers to women's right to vote in individual states of that country. Suffrage was established on a full or partial basis by various towns, counties, states and territories during the latter decades of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century. As women received the right to vote in some places, they began running for public office and gaining positions as school board members, county clerks, state legislators, judges, and, in the case of Jeannette Rankin, as a Member of Congress.
Barbara Blackman O'Neil was an American suffrage leader in St. Louis, Missouri. She was born in 1880. Her father was George Blackman. She attended Washington University, where she studied art. O'Neil was elected the second president of the Equal Suffrage League. She later became president again following the resignation of Mrs. John L. Lowes.
This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Texas. Women's suffrage was brought up in Texas at the first state constitutional convention, which began in 1868. However, there was a lack of support for the proposal at the time to enfranchise women. Women continued to fight for the right to vote in the state. In 1918, women gained the right to vote in Texas primary elections. The Texas legislature ratified the 19th amendment on June 28, 1919, becoming the ninth state and the first Southern state to ratify the amendment. While white women had secured the vote, Black women still struggled to vote in Texas. In 1944, white primaries were declared unconstitutional. Poll taxes were outlawed in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965, fully enfranchising Black women voters.
This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Missouri. Women's suffrage in Missouri started in earnest after the Civil War. In 1867, one of the first women's suffrage groups in the U.S. was formed, called the Woman Suffrage Association of Missouri. Suffragists in Missouri held conventions, lobbied the Missouri General Assembly and challenged the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). The case that went to SCOTUS in 1874, Minor v. Happersett was not ruled in the suffragists' favor. Instead of challenging the courts for suffrage, Missouri suffragists continued to lobby for changes in legislation. In April 1919, they gained the right to vote in presidential elections. On July 3, 1919, Missouri becomes the eleventh state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment.
Women's suffrage in Missouri became more active as a movement after the Civil War. There were significant developments in the St. Louis area, though groups and organized activity took place throughout the state of Missouri. An early suffrage group, the Woman Suffrage Association of Missouri, was formed in 1867, attracting the attention of Susan B. Anthony and leading to news items around the state. This group, the first of its kind, lobbied the Missouri General Assembly for women's suffrage and established conventions. In the early 1870s, many women voted or registered to vote as an act of civil disobedience. The suffragist Virginia Minor was one of these women when she tried to register to vote on October 15, 1872. She and her husband, Francis Minor, sued, leading to a Supreme Court case that asserted the Fourteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote. The case, Minor v. Happersett, was decided against the Minors and led suffragists in the country to pursue legislative means to grant women suffrage.
This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Georgia. Women's suffrage in Georgia started in earnest with the formation of the Georgia Woman Suffrage Association (GWSA) in 1892. GWSA helped bring the first large women's rights convention to the South in 1895 when the National American Woman's Suffrage Association (NAWSA) held their convention in Atlanta. GWSA was the main source of activism behind women's suffrage until 1913. In that year, several other groups formed including the Georgia Young People's Suffrage Association (GYPSA) and the Georgia Men's League for Woman Suffrage. In 1914, the Georgia Association Opposed to Women's Suffrage (GAOWS) was formed by anti-suffragists. Despite the hard work by suffragists in Georgia, the state continued to reject most efforts to pass equal suffrage. In 1917, Waycross, Georgia allowed women to vote in primary elections and in 1919 Atlanta granted the same. Georgia was the first state to reject the Nineteenth Amendment. Women in Georgia still had to wait to vote statewide after the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified on August 26, 1920. Native American and African American women had to wait even longer to vote. Georgia ratified the Nineteenth Amendment in 1970.
Women's suffrage in Nevada began in the late 1860s. Lecturer and suffragist, Laura de Force Gordon, started giving women's suffrage speeches in the state starting in 1867. In 1869, Assemblyman Curtis J. Hillyer introduced a women's suffrage resolution in the Nevada Legislature. He also spoke out on women's rights. Hillyer's resolution passed, but like all proposed amendments to the state constitution, must pass one more time and then go out to a voter referendum. In 1870, Nevada held its first women's suffrage convention in Battle Mountain Station. In the late 1880s, women gained the right to run for school offices and the next year several women are elected to office. A few suffrage associations were formed in the mid 1890s, with a state group operating a few women's suffrage conventions. However, after 1899, most suffrage work slowed down or stopped altogether. In 1911, the Nevada Equal Franchise Society (NEFS) was formed. Attorney Felice Cohn wrote a women's suffrage resolution that was accepted and passed the Nevada Legislature. The resolution passed again in 1913 and will go out to the voters on November 3, 1914. Suffragists in the state organized heavily for the 1914 vote. Anne Henrietta Martin brought in suffragists and trade unionists from other states to help campaign. Martin and Mabel Vernon traveled around the state in a rented Ford Model T, covering thousands of miles. Suffragists in Nevada visited mining towns and even went down into mines to talk to voters. On November 3, the voters of Nevada voted overwhelmingly for women's suffrage. Even though Nevada women won the vote, they did not stop campaigning for women's suffrage. Nevada suffragists aided other states' campaigns and worked towards securing a federal suffrage amendment. On February 7, 1920, Nevada became the 28th state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment.
Women's suffrage in Florida had two distinct phases. The first women's suffrage effort in Florida was led by Ella C. Chamberlain in the early 1890s. Chamberlain began writing a women's suffrage news column, started a mixed-gender women's suffrage group and organized conventions in Florida. After Chamberlain left Florida in 1897, most women's suffrage activities ceased until around 1912. That year, the Equal Franchise League of Florida was organized in Jacksonville, Florida. Other groups soon followed, forming around the state. Whenever the Florida Legislature was in session, suffragists advocated for equal franchise amendments to the Florida Constitution. In October 1913, property-owning women in Orlando, Florida attempted unsuccessfully to vote. However, their actions raised awareness about women's suffrage in the state. In 1915, the city of Fellsmere allowed municipal women's suffrage and Zena Dreier became the first legal women voter in the South on June 19. By 1919, several cities in Florida allowed women to vote in municipal elections. Florida did not take action on the Nineteenth Amendment, and only ratified it years later on May 13, 1969.
This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Maine. Suffragists began campaigning in Maine in the mid 1850s. A lecture series was started by Ann F. Jarvis Greely and other women in Ellsworth, Maine in 1857. The first women's suffrage petition to the Maine Legislature was sent that same year. Women continue to fight for equal suffrage throughout the 1860s and 1870s. The Maine Woman Suffrage Association (MWSA) is established in 1873 and the next year, the first Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) chapter was started. In 1887, the Maine Legislature votes on a women's suffrage amendment to the state constitution, but it does not receive the necessary two-thirds vote. Additional attempts to pass women's suffrage legislation receives similar treatment throughout the rest of the century. In the twentieth century, suffragists continue to organize and meet. Several suffrage groups form, including the Maine chapter of the College Equal Suffrage League in 1914 and the Men's Equal Suffrage League of Maine in 1914. In 1917, a voter referendum on women's suffrage is scheduled for September 10, but fails at the polls. On November 5, 1919 Maine ratifies the Nineteenth Amendment. On September 13, 1920, most women in Maine are able to vote. Native Americans in Maine are barred from voting for many years. In 1924, Native Americans became American citizens. In 1954, a voter referendum for Native American voting rights passes. The next year, Lucy Nicolar Poolaw (Penobscot), is the Native American living on an Indian reservation to cast a vote.
While women's suffrage in Maine had an early start, dating back to the 1850s, it was a long, slow road to equal suffrage. Early suffragists brought speakers Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone to the state in the mid-1850s. Ann F. Jarvis Greely and other women in Ellsworth, Maine, created a women's rights lecture series in 1857. The first women's suffrage petition to the Maine Legislature was also sent that year. Working-class women began marching for women's suffrage in the 1860s. The Snow sisters created the first Maine women's suffrage organization, the Equal Rights Association of Rockland, in 1868. In the 1870s, a state suffrage organization, the Maine Women's Suffrage Association (MWSA), was formed. Many petitions for women's suffrage were sent to the state legislature. MWSA and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) of Maine worked closely together on suffrage issues. By the late 1880s the state legislature was considering several women's suffrage bills. While women's suffrage did not pass, during the 1890s many women's rights laws were secured. During the 1900s, suffragists in Maine continued to campaign and lecture on women's suffrage. Several suffrage organizations including a Maine chapter of the College Equal Suffrage League and the Men's Equal Rights League were formed in the 1910s. Florence Brooks Whitehouse started the Maine chapter of the National Woman's Party (NWP) in 1915. Suffragists and other clubwomen worked together on a large campaign for a 1917 voter referendum on women's suffrage. Despite the efforts of women around the state, women's suffrage failed. Going into the next few years, a women's suffrage referendum on voting in presidential elections was placed on the September 13, 1920 ballot. But before that vote, Maine ratified the Nineteenth Amendment on November 5, 1920. It was the nineteenth state to ratify. A few weeks after ratification, MWSA dissolved and formed the League of Women Voters (LWV) of Maine. White women first voted in Maine on September 13, 1920. Native Americans in Maine had to wait longer to vote. In 1924, they became citizens of the United States. However, Maine would not allow individuals living on Indian reservations to vote. It was not until the passage of a 1954 equal rights referendum that Native Americans gained the right to vote in Maine. In 1955 Lucy Nicolar Poolaw (Penobscot) was the first Native American living on a reservation in Maine to cast a vote.