Women's suffrage in Alabama

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Four presidents of the Birmingham Equal Suffrage Association Four presidents of the Birmingham Equal Suffrage Association.jpg
Four presidents of the Birmingham Equal Suffrage Association

Early women's suffrage work in Alabama started in the 1860s. Priscilla Holmes Drake was the driving force behind suffrage work until the 1890s. Several suffrage groups were formed, including a state suffrage group, the Alabama Woman Suffrage Organization (AWSO). The Alabama Constitution had a convention in 1901 and suffragists spoke and lobbied for women's rights provisions. However, the final constitution continued to exclude women. Women's suffrage efforts were mainly dormant until the 1910s when new suffrage groups were formed. Suffragists in Alabama worked to get a state amendment ratified and when this failed, got behind the push for a federal amendment. Alabama did not ratify the Nineteenth Amendment until 1953. For many years, both white women and African American women were disenfranchised by poll taxes. Black women had other barriers to voting including literacy tests and intimidation. Black women would not be able to fully access their right to vote until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Contents

Early efforts

Huntsville League for Women's Suffrage, circa 1895 Huntsville league for women s suffrage-circa-1895.jpg
Huntsville League for Women's Suffrage, circa 1895

For many years, the women's suffrage movement in Alabama was represented only by Priscilla Holmes Drake and her husband, James Drake, who moved to Huntsville, Alabama in 1861. [1] Priscilla Drake was the only Alabama representative to the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) in the 1860s. [1] Many women in Alabama during the late nineteenth century were involved in the temperance movement. [1] Further early women's suffrage efforts in Alabama came out of women realizing they needed the vote to tackle social issues, like alcoholism, in the state. [2] [1]

Women's suffrage emerged again as an issue in the New Decatur Advertiser, where C. J. Hildreth began publishing women's suffrage articles in 1890. [1] The first women's suffrage group in Alabama was created in New Decatur in 1892 and led by Ellen Stephens Hildreth. [3] [1] Also in 1892, another suffrage organization was formed in Verbena, Alabama. [3] Emera Frances Griffin led the Verbena Suffrage Group. [1] The next year, a statewide group, the Alabama Woman Suffrage Organization (AWSO) was founded by Hildreth and Griffin. [3] [1]

Frances John Hobbs and her sister, Mary Amelia John Watson, in Selma began to work on women's suffrage issues early in Alabama's suffrage movement. [4] The sisters formed the Selma Suffragette Association. [5] Hobbs' and Watson's work influenced other suffragists in Selma, including Carrie McCord Parke. [6] The Huntsville League for Woman Suffrage was formed in 1894. [7] Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt spoke to various Alabama women's suffrage groups in 1895. [8] Anthony and Catt's presence in Huntsville helped increase the size of the new group. [7] However, the next year, there was a financial depression in the state that slowed down suffrage work. [8] Despite the depression, by 1897, the cities of Calera, Gadsden, and Jasper all had women's suffrage groups. [9]

Griffin spoke at the Alabama state constitutional convention in 1901. [6] Griffin spent a good deal of time in Montgomery, Alabama attempting to sway constitutional delegates on women's rights issues. [10] She was considered an excellent speaker and had a "trademark wit". [11] The convention considered several women's suffrage ordinances. [12] Proponents of women's suffrage at the convention felt that giving women the vote would act as a "check on black suffrage". [12] Despite Griffin's work, the Alabama Constitution was adopted without any concessions to women. [10] After 1901, women's suffrage in Alabama went on hiatus for several years. [11]

Renewed efforts

Suffragists in the Birmingham, Alabama suffrage headquarters Suffragists in the Birmingham, Alabama suffrage headquarters.png
Suffragists in the Birmingham, Alabama suffrage headquarters

Women's suffrage efforts picked up in Alabama in the 1910s. [13] Mary Partridge wrote to Anna Howard Shaw for advice and received encouragement to start a suffrage group in Selma. [14] [15] On March 29, 1910, Partridge and others created the Selma Suffrage League. [13] [14] [16] In 1911, several women were inspired by the speeches given by Jane Addams and Louisiana suffragist, Jean Gordon, at the National Child Labor conference in Birmingham. [13] [15] Following the conference, Pattie Ruffner Jacobs and other women created the Birmingham Equal Suffrage League on October 22, 1911. [13] [14] These two groups had the strongest voices in the suffrage movement at the time. [17] In 1912, Alabama suffragists decided to form a statewide group. [18] On October 9, the Alabama Equal Suffrage Association (AESA) was created. [19] AESA affiliated with the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). [20] Jacobs served as the first president and Partridge was elected vice-president. [19] Headquarters were secured in Birmingham and the group began to advocate for women's suffrage and create resources. [21] AESA had a traveling library of suffrage materials and the headquarters served as a place in the city for women to meet. [21] [22] The Huntsville Equal Suffrage Association was created in 1912 after Jacobs put out the call for more local organizing. [7]

AESA held their first convention in Selma at the Hotel Albert in January 1913. [19] AESA knew that Joseph Green, state representative of Dallas County, wanted to introduce a women's suffrage bill for the next legislative session in 1915. [19] Women in Alabama hoped they could be the first Southern state to grant women's suffrage. [19] The year 1914 saw an increase in the number of women's suffrage groups in Alabama with representatives from around the state attending the second state suffrage convention in Huntsville on February 5. [23] [24] In 1914 Bossie O'Brien Hundley began work as the AESA legislative committee chair to lobby the state legislature for women's suffrage. [21]

During the 1915 legislative session in January, a bill for a women's suffrage amendment was introduced and sent into Committee where it sat until July. [25] Suffragists lobbied committee members to vote the bill out of committee and hold a hearing. [23] Green and Senator Sam Will John had the bill brought to the floor for a vote on August 25. [26] Two days before the vote, "Alabama Democrats on Behalf and in Defense of the Large Unorganized Majority of the Women in Alabama" published an anti-suffrage pamphlet that was distributed to all of the legislators. [27] Green went back on his own support of the bill he introduced. [27] The suffrage bill eventually did not receive the necessary three-fifths vote to pass. [27]

The 1917 state suffrage convention was held from February 12 to 13. [28] Around 81 women's suffrage clubs were reported at the conference. [29] After the convention, a suffrage school was conducted by members of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) with 200 Alabama women attending. [30] In 1917, when the United States entered World War I, AESA, like many suffrage groups, began to aid the war effort. [21]

Ratification efforts

"Votes for Women" from the Alabama Equal Suffrage Association, 1919 "Votes for Women" from the Alabama Equal Suffrage Assocation, 1919.jpg
"Votes for Women" from the Alabama Equal Suffrage Association, 1919

Suffragists in Alabama began to feel that their best chance of getting the vote was to support a federal suffrage amendment. In 1917, Pattie Ruffner Jacobs publicly supported a federal amendment for women's suffrage. [31] At the 1918 state convention in Selma, AESA formally endorsed the federal amendment route to women's suffrage. [29] Suffragists in the AESA started on a campaign to support the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in June 1919. [31] AESA set up a Ratification Committee and secured volunteers to organize, campaign and lobby. [32] AESA also had help from NAWSA in the form of suffrage literature and organizers sent to the state. [32]

The state legislature considered the Nineteenth Amendment in July 1919. [33] Suffragists from around Alabama traveled to Montgomery to lobby for women's suffrage. [33] The Women's Anti-Ratification League, with Marie Bankhead Owen as a leader, led a strong opposition to ratifying the amendment. [21] Senators Oscar W. Underwood and John H. Bankhead were also opposed to the amendment and added their voices to the anti-suffragists. [33] On July 17, the state senate rejected the amendment and in August, the state house also voted no. [33]

At the last state suffrage convention in April 1920, the AESA was dissolved and the League of Women Voters (LWV) of Alabama was formed. [34] After the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, Suffragists in Alabama held a victory parade in Birmingham. [34] Women from around Jefferson County, no matter how they had felt about women's suffrage were invited to march on September 4. [35] Around 1,500 suffragists participated, marching with 36 cars and a band. [34] Alabama would not ratify the Nineteenth Amendment until September 8, 1953. [36]

Suffrage efforts continued

Even after women in Alabama won the right to vote following the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, many white women were prevented from voting because of Alabama's poll tax. [37] The poll tax was already difficult for some women to pay, but many voters also owed "back taxes". [38] Low voter turnout among white women voters in Alabama was blamed by political researchers on a general "disinterest" in politics among that demographic. [39] However Minnie Steckel discovered in her 1937 study of Alabama women voters that white women were disproportionately affected by the poll tax. [40] Black women were also affected by the poll tax. [41]

This came to the attention of the Democratic National Committee's Women's Division which was led by Mary Dewson and Eleanor Roosevelt. [40] The Women's Division started to recruit local women to fight the poll tax. [42] On October 26, 1938, May Thompson Evans, assistant director of the Women's Division, spoke to Alabama women Democrats and urged them to fight the poll tax. [43] Evans argued that women were being disenfranchised, but also implied that white supremacy in Alabama was threatened if white women could not vote. [44] Women involved in professional organizations in Alabama worked to change local laws regarding the poll tax during the 1930s. [45]

Virginia Durr and the Women's Division collected more information on the poll tax. [46] Durr also helped start the National Committee to Abolish the Poll Tax (NCAPT). [47] Another study, published in 1942 by Eleanor Bontecou, showed that white women faced "disproportionate disenfranchisement" because of the poll tax. [48] Attempts to pass federal legislation banning poll taxes failed between 1942 and 1949. [48] On a local level, white Alabama women continued to fight the poll tax and lobby legislators. [49] A bill passed in 1944 exempting service-members and Veterans from the poll tax helped show that the tax affected women more than men. [50] By the late 1940s, white women in Alabama realized they had to face the issue of racial discrimination and the poll tax. [51]

In 1953, a bill to reduce the back tax accumulation period was passed in the state legislature and approved by the voters. [52] This allowed a huge increase in the number of white women who were able to register to vote. [53] The fight over the poll tax continued into the 1960s. [54] Finally, the ratification of the Twenty-Fourth Amendment in 1964 ended the poll tax in Alabama. [55]

African-American women and suffrage

Margaret Murray Washington Mrs. Booker T. Washington, head-and-shoulders portrait facing right LCCN99401074.jpg
Margaret Murray Washington

White suffragists in Alabama argued that enfranchising women wouldn't extend to African-American women. [56] Instead, they argued that white women's votes would "cancel out" the votes of Black men. [21] White women in Alabama used the idea of their votes cancelling out the influence of Black voters as a way to try to convince politicians that women's suffrage was a public good. [57]

Much of the African-American suffrage work was done through Black women's clubs. [58] In 1910, the Alabama Federation of Colored Women's Clubs (AFCWC) endorsed women's suffrage. [59] In Tuskegee, Alabama, Black suffragists worked on a variety of issues to improve the lives of people in their community. [60] Margaret Murray Washington led the Tuskegee Women's Club which was affiliated with the Tuskegee Institute. [60] The club was able to provide educational opportunities that were otherwise out of reach to many African-Americans. [60] Adella Hunt Logan, who was able to pass for white, was able to attend suffrage conventions throughout Alabama. [60] Logan also worked as the head of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs' (NACWC) suffrage department. [61] Logan was also the only life member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) from Alabama. [61] Logan was a prolific writer on the topic of women's suffrage and owned a huge library of suffrage materials. [61]

After the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, Black women still faced challenges voting. [62] Voters had to fill out a four-page application form, swear an oath, pass a literacy test and pay a poll tax. [62] [63] In protest of the intelligence tests given to Black people and not white people, Indiana Little led a march of around 1000 Black men and women to Birmingham's voting registrar's office, resulting in her arrest. [64] Some counties in Alabama had a "voucher system" where another registered voter had to support or "vouch for" other voters to register. [63] Black voters also knew that their public registration meant that the KKK also knew they had registered to vote. [63] The process was meant to intimidate Black voters. [63] Black women also faced segregation. The Montgomery League of Women Voters (LWV) refused to integrate in the 1940. [54] In response, Black leaders created the Women's Political Council (WPC). [54]

The Twenty-fourth Amendment abolished poll taxes across the United States. [65] It was fully ratified on January 23, 1964. [65] The passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 provided African-American women increased access to the right to vote. [66] By 1967, the number of registered Black voters increased significantly. [66]

Anti-suffragists

Many Southern men believed it would be degrading for women to vote or become involved in politics [67] Women's suffrage was also seen as a "radical" idea by women in the South. [68]

When the Nineteenth Amendment went out to the states for ratification, Alabama anti-suffragists mobilized. In 1919, the Alabama Woman's Anti-Ratification League (AWARL) was formed. [69] AWARL argued that allowing women to vote would undermine the Alabama Constitution. [69] They were also worried that women's suffrage would undermine white supremacy in Alabama. [70]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution</span> 1920 amendment mandating womens suffrage

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 recognizing the right of women to 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poll taxes in the United States</span> Banned taxes formerly required before voting; used to disenfranchise racial minorities and the poor

A poll tax is a tax of a fixed sum on every liable individual, without reference to income or resources. Although often associated with states of the former Confederate States of America, poll taxes were also in place in some northern and western states, including California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wisconsin. Poll taxes had been a major source of government funding among the colonies which formed the United States. Poll taxes made up from one-third to one-half of the tax revenue of colonial Massachusetts. Various privileges of citizenship, including voter registration or issuance of driving licenses and resident hunting and fishing licenses, were conditioned on payment of poll taxes to encourage the collection of this tax revenue. Property taxes assumed a larger share of tax revenues as land values rose when population increases encouraged settlement of the American West. Some western states found no need for poll tax requirements; but poll taxes and payment incentives remained in eastern states. Poll taxes became a tool of disenfranchisement in the South during Jim Crow, following the end of Reconstruction. This persisted until court action, following the ratification of the 24th Amendment in 1964, ended the practice.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in states of the United States</span> Womens right to vote in individual states of the United States

Women's suffrage was established in the United States 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in Rhode Island</span>

Even before women's suffrage efforts took off in Rhode Island, women were fighting for equal male suffrage during the Dorr Rebellion. Women raised money for the Dorrite cause, took political action and kept members of the rebellion in exile informed. An abolitionist, Paulina Wright Davis, chaired and attended women's rights conferences in New England and later, along with Elizabeth Buffum Chace, founded the Rhode Island Women's Suffrage Association (RIWSA) in 1868. This group petitioned the Rhode Island General Assembly for an amendment to the state constitution to provide women's suffrage. For many years, RIWSA was the major group providing women's suffrage action in Rhode Island. In 1887, a women's suffrage amendment to the state constitution came up for a voter referendum. The vote, on April 6, 1887, was decisively against women's suffrage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of women's suffrage in Virginia</span>

This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Virginia. While there were some very early efforts to support women's suffrage in Virginia, most of the activism for the vote for women occurred early in the 20th century. The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia was formed in 1909 and the Virginia Branch of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage was formed in 1915. Over the next years, women held rallies, conventions and many propositions for women's suffrage were introduced in the Virginia General Assembly. Virginia didn't ratify the Nineteenth Amendment until 1952. Native American women could not have a full vote until 1924 and African American women were effectively disenfranchised until the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in Georgia (U.S. state)</span>

The first women's suffrage group in Georgia, the Georgia Woman Suffrage Association (GWSA), was formed in 1892 by Helen Augusta Howard. Over time, the group, which focused on "taxation without representation" grew and earned the support of both men and women. Howard convinced the National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to hold their first convention outside of Washington, D.C., in 1895. The convention, held in Atlanta, was the first large women's rights gathering in the Southern United States. GWSA continued to hold conventions and raise awareness over the next years. Suffragists in Georgia agitated for suffrage amendments, for political parties to support white women's suffrage and for municipal suffrage. In the 1910s, more organizations were formed in Georgia and the number of suffragists grew. In addition, the Georgia Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage also formed an organized anti-suffrage campaign. Suffragists participated in parades, supported bills in the legislature and helped in the war effort during World War I. In 1917 and 1919, women earned the right to vote in primary elections in Waycross, Georgia and in Atlanta respectively. In 1919, after the Nineteenth Amendment went out to the states for ratification, Georgia became the first state to reject the amendment. When the Nineteenth Amendment became the law of the land, women still had to wait to vote because of rules regarding voter registration. White Georgia women would vote statewide in 1922. Native American women and African-American women had to wait longer to vote. Black women were actively excluded from the women's suffrage movement in the state and had their own organizations. Despite their work to vote, Black women faced discrimination at the polls in many different forms. Georgia finally ratified the Nineteenth Amendment on February 20, 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of women's suffrage in Georgia (U.S. state)</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in Illinois</span> History of womens right to vote in the state

Women's suffrage began in Illinois began in the mid-1850s. The first women's suffrage group was formed in Earlville, Illinois, by the cousin of Susan B. Anthony, Susan Hoxie Richardson. After the Civil War, former abolitionist Mary Livermore organized the Illinois Woman Suffrage Association (IWSA), which would later be renamed the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association (IESA). Frances Willard and other suffragists in the IESA worked to lobby various government entities for women's suffrage. In the 1870s, women were allowed to serve on school boards and were elected to that office. The first women to vote in Illinois were 15 women in Lombard, Illinois, led by Ellen A. Martin, who found a loophole in the law in 1891. Women were eventually allowed to vote for school offices in the 1890s. Women in Chicago and throughout Illinois fought for the right to vote based on the idea of no taxation without representation. They also continued to expand their efforts throughout the state. In 1913, women in Illinois were successful in gaining partial suffrage. They became the first women east of the Mississippi River to have the right to vote in presidential elections. Suffragists then worked to register women to vote. Both African-American and white suffragists registered women in huge numbers. In Chicago alone 200,000 women were registered to vote. After gaining partial suffrage, women in Illinois kept working towards full suffrage. The state became the first to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment, passing the ratification on June 10, 1919. The League of Women Voters (LWV) was announced in Chicago on February 14, 1920.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's poll tax repeal movement</span> Movement to abolish US poll taxes

The women's poll tax repeal movement was a movement in the United States, predominantly led by women, that attempted to secure the abolition of poll taxes as a prerequisite for voting in the Southern states. The movement began shortly after the ratification in 1920 of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which granted suffrage to women. Before obtaining the right to vote, women were not obliged to pay the tax, but shortly after the Nineteenth Amendment became law, Southern states began examining how poll tax statutes could be applied to women. For example, North and South Carolina exempted women from payment of the tax, while Georgia did not require women to pay it unless they registered to vote. In other Southern states, the tax was due cumulatively for each year someone had been eligible to vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of women's suffrage in Alabama</span>

This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Alabama. Women's suffrage in Alabama starts in the late 1860s and grows over time in the 1890s. Much of the women's suffrage work stopped after 1901, only to pick up again in 1910. Alabama did not ratify the Nineteenth Amendment until 1953 and African-Americans and women were affected by poll taxes and other issues until the mid 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in Delaware</span>

Women's suffrage began in Delaware the late 1860s, with efforts from suffragist, Mary Ann Sorden Stuart, and an 1869 women's rights convention held in Wilmington, Delaware. Stuart, along with prominent national suffragists lobbied the Delaware General Assembly to amend the state constitution in favor of women's suffrage. Several suffrage groups were formed early on, but the Delaware Equal Suffrage Association (DESA) formed in 1896, would become one of the major state suffrage clubs. Suffragists held conventions, continued to lobby the government and grow their movement. In 1913, a chapter of the Congressional Union (CU), which would later be known at the National Woman's Party (NWP), was set up by Mabel Vernon in Delaware. NWP advocated more militant tactics to agitate for women's suffrage. These included picketing and setting watchfires. The Silent Sentinels protested in Washington, D.C., and were arrested for "blocking traffic." Sixteen women from Delaware, including Annie Arniel and Florence Bayard Hilles, were among those who were arrested. During World War I, both African-American and white suffragists in Delaware aided the war effort. During the ratification process for the Nineteenth Amendment, Delaware was in the position to become the final state needed to complete ratification. A huge effort went into persuading the General Assembly to support the amendment. Suffragists and anti-suffragists alike campaigned in Dover, Delaware for their cause. However, Delaware did not ratify the Nineteenth Amendment until March 6, 1923, well after it was already part of the United States Constitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of women's suffrage in Delaware</span>

This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Delaware. Suffragists in Delaware began to fight for women's suffrage in the late 1860s. Mary Ann Sorden Stuart and national suffragists lobbied the Delaware General Assembly for women's suffrage. In 1896, the Delaware Equal Suffrage Association (DESA) was formed. Annual state suffrage conventions were held. There were also numerous attempts to pass an equal suffrage amendment to the Delaware State Constitution, but none were successful. In 1913, a state chapter of the Congressional Union (CU) was opened by Mabel Vernon. Delaware suffragists are involved in more militant tactics, including taking part of the Silent Sentinels. On March 22, 1920, Delaware had a special session of the General Assembly to consider ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. It was not ratified by Delaware until 1923.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of women's suffrage in Maine</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of women's suffrage in Arkansas</span>

This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Arkansas. Early suffrage efforts date back to 1868 when Miles Ledford Langley tries to add a women's suffrage law in the state constitutional convention. The first women's suffrage organization in the state was created by Lizzie Dorman Fyler in 1881 and lasts until 1885. Another suffrage group is started in 1888 by Clara McDiarmid. Women's suffrage work continues steadily, though slowed down until the 1910s. New suffrage organizations began to form and campaigned for women's suffrage legislation. In 1917, women earned the right to vote in state primary elections. In May 1918 between 40,000 and 50,000 voted for the first time in Arkansas' primaries. On July 28, 1919 Arkansas ratified the Nineteenth Amendment. On December 3, 1919 the League of Women Voters (LWV) of Arkansas was formed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in Arkansas</span>

Women's suffrage had early champions among men in Arkansas. Miles Ledford Langley of Arkadelphia, Arkansas proposed a women's suffrage clause during the 1868 Arkansas Constitutional Convention. Educator, James Mitchell wanted to see a world where his daughters had equal rights. The first woman's suffrage group in Arkansas was organized by Lizzie Dorman Fyler in 1881. A second women's suffrage organization was formed by Clara McDiarmid in 1888. McDiarmid was very influential on women's suffrage work in the last few decades of the nineteenth century. When she died in 1899, suffrage work slowed down, but did not all-together end. Both Bernie Babcock and Jean Vernor Jennings continued to work behind the scenes. In the 1910s, women's suffrage work began to increase again. socialist women, like Freda Hogan were very involved in women's suffrage causes. Other social activists, like Minnie Rutherford Fuller became involved in the Political Equality League (PEL) founded in 1911 by Jennings. Another statewide suffrage group, also known as the Arkansas Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) was organized in 1914. AWSA decided to work towards helping women vote in the important primary elections in the state. The first woman to address the Arkansas General Assembly was suffragist Florence Brown Cotnam who spoke in favor of a women's suffrage amendment on February 5, 1915. While that amendment was not completely successful, Cotnam was able to persuade the Arkansas governor to hold a special legislative session in 1917. That year Arkansas women won the right to vote in primary elections. In May 1918, between 40,000 and 50,000 white women voted in the primaries. African American voters were restricted from voting in primaries in the state. Further efforts to amend the state constitution took place in 1918, but were also unsuccessful. When the Nineteenth Amendment passed the United States Congress, Arkansas held another special legislative session in July 1919. The amendment was ratified on July 28 and Arkansas became the twelfth state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in Wisconsin</span>

Attempts to secure women's suffrage in Wisconsin began before the Civil War. In 1846, the first state constitutional convention delegates for Wisconsin discussed women's suffrage and the final document eventually included a number of progressive measures. This constitution was rejected and a more conservative document was eventually adopted. Wisconsin newspapers supported women's suffrage and Mathilde Franziska Anneke published the German language women's rights newspaper, Die Deutsche Frauen-Zeitung, in Milwaukee in 1852. Before the war, many women's rights petitions were circulated and there was tentative work in forming suffrage organizations. After the Civil War, the first women's suffrage conference held in Wisconsin took place in October 1867 in Janesville. That year, a women's suffrage amendment passed in the state legislature and waited to pass the second year. However, in 1868 the bill did not pass again. The Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association (WWSA) was reformed in 1869 and by the next year, there were several chapters arranged throughout Wisconsin. In 1884, suffragists won a brief victory when the state legislature passed a law to allow women to vote in elections on school-related issues. On the first voting day for women in 1887, the state Attorney General made it more difficult for women to vote and confusion about the law led to court challenges. Eventually, it was decided that without separate ballots, women could not be allowed to vote. Women would not vote again in Wisconsin until 1902 after separate school-related ballots were created. In the 1900s, state suffragists organized and continued to petition the Wisconsin legislature on women's suffrage. By 1911, two women's suffrage groups operated in the state: WWSA and the Political Equality League (PEL). A voter referendum went to the public in 1912. Both WWSA and PEL campaigned hard for women's equal suffrage rights. Despite the work put in by the suffragists, the measure failed to pass. PEL and WWSA merged again in 1913 and women continued their education work and lobbying. By 1915, the National Woman's Party also had chapters in Wisconsin and several prominent suffragists joined their ranks. The National Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was also very present in Wisconsin suffrage efforts. Carrie Chapman Catt worked hard to keep Wisconsin suffragists on the path of supporting a federal woman's suffrage amendment. When the Nineteenth Amendment went out to the states for ratification, Wisconsin an hour behind Illinois on June 10, 1919. However, Wisconsin was the first to turn in the ratification paperwork to the State Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in New Jersey</span> History of suffrage in New Jersey

Suffrage was available to most women and African Americans in New Jersey immediately upon the formation of the state. The first New Jersey state constitution allowed any person who owned a certain value of property to become a voter. In 1790, the state constitution was changed to specify that voters were "he or she". Politicians seeking office deliberately courted women voters who often decided narrow elections. This was so the democratic-republican party had an advantage in the presidential election of 1808.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of women's suffrage in New Jersey</span>

This is a timeline of women's suffrage in New Jersey. Women and African Americans had the right to vote in New Jersey until the state constitution was changed in 1807, disenfranchising all but white men. Any early suffrage protest was taken by Lucy Stone in 1857 who refused to pay her property taxes because she could not vote. Additional attempts to make women more equal under the law took place in the 1880s and 1890s. There were also several court cases that challenged women's right to vote in the state. Eventually, a voter referendum on a state constitutional suffrage amendment took place in 1915, however the measure was voted down. Activists continued to fight both in the state and to protest in Washington, D.C. as Silent Sentinels. By February 10, 1920, New Jersey ratified the Nineteenth Amendment.

References

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Sources

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