Women's suffrage in Alaska

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Alaska suffragists c. 1916 Alaska suffragists c. 1916.jpg
Alaska suffragists c.1916

Women's suffrage was won fairly easily for non-native women in Alaska in 1913. Prior to becoming a territory, non-native women were able to vote in school board elections. Women's suffrage work took place in the Alaska chapters of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). After Alaska was admitted as a territory, the first Territorial Legislature passed a women's suffrage bill in 1913 and was signed into law on March 21. This law only applied to non-native women since Alaska Natives were not considered citizens of the United States. Alaska Natives continued to fight for the right to vote, along with other civil rights throughout the twentieth and twenty-first century.

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Women's suffrage

Harriet Pullen and her wagon also known as the "Pullen House Bus" in 1914 Harriet Pullen and her wagon also known as the "Pullen House Bus" in 1914.png
Harriet Pullen and her wagon also known as the "Pullen House Bus" in 1914

The United States Congress passed a law in 1904, giving all adult citizens in Alaska the right to vote and women the right to vote in school board elections. [1] [2] Early white women's rights activists were active in the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in Territorial Alaska. [3] The Skagway, Alaska WCTU was very active in their own community. [4] Members of the Alaska WCTU eventually felt that to pass successful temperance efforts meant they would need the right to vote. [5] Liquor licenses were voted on and issued on an annual basis in Territorial Alaska since 1908. [6]

One member of the Alaskan chapters of WCTU, Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher, was also a suffragist who advocated for women's right to vote in the territory. [3] In 1912 Hatcher drafted and solicited signatures on a women's suffrage petition to the Territorial Legislature. [3] Lena Morrow Lewis arrived in Alaska in 1912 where she served as an American Socialist Party leader for five years. [7] During this time she advocated for women's suffrage and helped women with voting issues. [7] In Skagway, Alaska, women lobbied congressional delegate, James Wickersham, for women's suffrage. [8] The Western Federation of Miners came out in favor of women's suffrage in Alaska. [9] Overall, the press was also supportive of women's suffrage in the state. [10] The Daily Alaska Dispatch, a Republican newspaper, "actively supported" women's suffrage. [10]

In the United States Congress, Representative Frank W. Mondell included language in an amendment to the Alaskan Territory bill that would allow the territorial legislature to approve women's suffrage without the need for a referendum. [11] One of the territorial senators, Arthur G. Stroup was in contact with the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) about introducing a women's suffrage bill for Alaska. [11] [10] Other members of NAWSA lobbied Alaska legislators as soon as they had been elected. [9]

When the Territorial Legislature opened in Juneau in 1913, Representative Milo Kelly of Knik, Alaska presented Hatcher's petition. [9] Stroup's bill was also introduced at the first Territorial Legislature. [11] One member of the House, Charles E. Ingersoll, attempted to stall the bill, but the rest of the House stopped the delay and continued deliberations. [9] While the House was voting, another petition for women's suffrage was on its way to Juneau by steamship. [9] The petition came from three women from Seward, Ada Brownell, Ida E. Green and Francis Turner Pedersen, and had 143 signatures. [9] Both of the petitions and the bill passed by the House were presented to the Senate where it also passed. [9] It was the first bill to pass through both House and Senate in the Alaskan Territory. [11] The women's suffrage bill was signed into law on March 21, 1913. [11] This law did not include Alaskan Natives except under certain circumstances. [12]

After the bill passed, Harriet Pullen used a wagon, called the Pullen House Bus, to help women reach polling locations in Alaska. [13] Pullen supported temperance and her wagon had a sign that read, "Vote Dry and Protect Your Home." [14]

Alaska Native women and voting

Alaska Natives in Wrangell, Alaska, between 1915 and 1925 Natives in the streets of Wrangell, Alaska, between 1915 and 1925 (AL+CA 6679).jpg
Alaska Natives in Wrangell, Alaska, between 1915 and 1925

While non-native women had largely gained voting rights, Alaskan Natives still had an uncertain path to be able to vote. [9] Some indigenous women were considered citizens through their marriage to white men, but most Alaska Natives were not considered citizens of the United States. [15] The Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) was formed in 1912 to support the civil rights of Natives. [16] The Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS) was formed three years later in 1915. [17] A law passed by the Territorial Legislature allowed Alaskan Natives to vote if they gave up their "tribal customs and traditions." [18] Native women largely were not able to vote after the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment because of questions about their citizenship. [19]

William Paul (Tlingit) fought for indigenous people's right to vote during the 1920s. [16] He organized both literate and illiterate voters in the state. [20] Paul gave illiterate voters a template individuals could place over the ballot and be able to vote in a manner Paul approved of. [20] Tillie Paul (Tlingit) was arrested for helping Charlie Jones (Tlingit) vote since Alaska did not consider them citizens. [21] After winning in court, the case helped set a precedent that Alaska Natives could legally vote. [21] [22] In 1924, the United States Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act. [23] The next year, however, Alaska passed a literacy test that was meant to suppress the votes of Natives. [24]

Alaska became a segregated state with different areas and rules for non-native and indigenous people. [25] ANB protested the segregation with boycotts. [26] Governor Ernest Gruening felt that an anti-discrimination law was needed. [27] A bill was sent to the territorial legislature in 1943, but was narrowly defeated. [28] Gruening actively recruited Alaska Natives through the ANB and by 1944, Frank Peratrovich (Tlingit) and Andrew Hope (Tlingit) were elected into office. [29] Also that year, Alberta Schenck (Inupiaq) was arrested for resisting segregation in a theater in Nome, Alaska. [30] The publicity surrounding her arrest led to Schenck being elected the Queen of Nome in 1944. [31] Another young activist who also staged a sit in at a theater in Nome was Holger Jorgensen (Inupiaq). [19]

When the Alaska Territorial Legislation opened in 1945, one of the top issues was dealing with civil rights for Native Alaskans. [31] Alaska Natives "turned out in full force" to the hearings. [19] During the proceedings Elizabeth Peratrovich (Tlingit), a president of the ANS testified about how it felt to be subject to segregation. [32] [33] [19] Peratrovich's speech helped turn sentiment towards the bill. [34] After hours of debate, the bill was passed and signed into law on February 16, 1945. [35] The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945 ended segregation of Native Alaskans. [35] However, there was still discrimination against Native Alaskans accessing their right to vote. [36]

When Alaska became a state, the new constitution specified a more lenient literacy test. [37] In 1970, the Alaska state legislature adopted women's suffrage and a referendum ratified a constitutional amendment against literacy tests in the state. [37] The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), modified in 1975, provided additional help for individuals who do not speak English. [38] [39] This affects around 14 census areas in Alaska where individuals must have help in Native Alaskan languages. [40] Into the twenty-first century, many villages in Alaska that have large Alaska Native populations continue to face barriers to voting. [41]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornelia Templeton Hatcher</span>

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

The women's suffrage movement in Montana started while it was still a territory. The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was an early organizer that supported suffrage in the state, arriving in 1883. Women were given the right to vote in school board elections and on tax issues in 1887. When the state constitutional convention was held in 1889, Clara McAdow and Perry McAdow invited suffragist Henry Blackwell to speak to the delegates about equal women's suffrage. While that proposition did not pass, women retained their right to vote in school and tax elections as Montana became a state. In 1895, National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) came to Montana to organize local groups. Montana suffragists held a convention and created the Montana Woman's Suffrage Association (MWSA). Suffragists continued to organize, hold conventions and lobby the Montana Legislature for women's suffrage through the end of the nineteenth century. In the early twentieth century, Jeannette Rankin became a driving force around the women's suffrage movement in Montana. By January 1913, a women's suffrage bill had passed the Montana Legislature and went out as a referendum. Suffragists launched an all-out campaign leading up to the vote. They traveled throughout Montana giving speeches and holding rallies. They sent out thousands of letters and printed thousands of pamphlets and journals to hand out. Suffragists set up booths at the Montana State Fair and they held parades. Finally, after a somewhat contested election on November 3, 1914, the suffragists won the vote. Montana became one of eleven states with equal suffrage for most women. When the Nineteenth Amendment was passed, Montana ratified it on August 2, 1919. It wasn't until 1924 with the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act that Native American women gained the right to vote.

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

This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Alaska. White women in Alaska had the right to vote in school board elections starting in 1904. In 1913, the first Territorial Legislature passed the Shoup Suffrage Bill which gave white women the right to vote in all elections. Alaska Native women had a longer road fighting for their right to vote. First, they had to be declared citizens of the United States, but even after that happened in 1924, additional barriers were put in place. These included literacy tests and segregation. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped remove many barriers that Alaska Natives faced in exercising their right to vote.

In the history of discrimination in the United States, the Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945 was the first state or territorial anti-discrimination law enacted in the United States in the 20th century. The law, signed on February 16, 1945, prevents and criminalizes discrimination against individuals in public areas based on race. The law came about after Alaska Natives fought against segregation and other forms of discrimination in Alaska.

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

This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Hawaii. Hawaii went through a transition where it was first the Kingdom of Hawaii, then a political coup overthrew Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893. Women were not allowed to vote and lost political power in the provisional government. In the same year as the coup, Wilhelmina Kekelaokalaninui Widemann Dowsett and Emma Kaili Metcalf Beckley Nakuina began to make plans to support women's suffrage efforts. When Hawaii was annexed, members of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) advocated for women's suffrage for the territory. In 1912, Dowsett and a diverse group of women created the National Women's Equal Suffrage Association of Hawai'i (WESAH). In 1915 and 1916 Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole brought women's suffrage petitions to the United States Congress, but no action was taken. In 1919, suffragists from WESAH fought for women's suffrage in the territorial legislature, but were also unsuccessful. Women in Hawaii gained the right to vote when the Nineteenth Amendment became part of the United States Constitution on August 26, 1920.

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

Women's suffrage began in Hawaii in the 1890s. However, when the Hawaiian Kingdom ruled, women had roles in the government and could vote in the House of Nobles. After the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893, women's roles were more restricted. Suffragists, Wilhelmine Kekelaokalaninui Widemann Dowsett and Emma Kaili Metcalf Beckley Nakuina, immediately began working towards women's suffrage. The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) of Hawaii also advocated for women's suffrage in 1894. As Hawaii was being annexed as a US territory in 1899, racist ideas about the ability of Native Hawaiians to rule themselves caused problems with allowing women to vote. Members of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) petitioned the United States Congress to allow women's suffrage in Hawaii with no effect. Women's suffrage work picked up in 1912 when Carrie Chapman Catt visited Hawaii. Dowsett created the National Women's Equal Suffrage Association of Hawai'i that year and Catt promised to act as the delegate for NAWSA. In 1915 and 1916, Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole brought resolutions to the U.S. Congress requesting women's suffrage for Hawaii. While there were high hopes for the effort, it was not successful. In 1919, suffragists around Hawaii met for mass demonstrations to lobby the territorial legislature to pass women's suffrage bills. These were some of the largest women's suffrage demonstrations in Hawaii, but the bills did not pass both houses. Women in Hawaii were eventually franchised through the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.

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

The movement for women's suffrage in Arizona began in the late 1800s. After women's suffrage was narrowly voted down at the 1891 Arizona Constitutional Convention, prominent suffragettes such as Josephine Brawley Hughes and Laura M. Johns formed the Arizona Suffrage Association and began touring the state campaigning for women's right to vote. Momentum built throughout the decade, and after a strenuous campaign in 1903, a woman's suffrage bill passed both houses of the legislature but was ultimately vetoed by Governor Alexander Oswald Brodie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of women's suffrage in Arizona</span> Review of the topic

This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Arizona. The first women's suffrage bill was brought forward in the Arizona Territorial legislature in 1883, but it did not pass. Suffragists work to influence the Territorial Constitutional Convention in 1891 and lose the women's suffrage battle by only three votes. That year, the Arizona Suffrage Association is formed. In 1897, taxpaying women gain the right to vote in school board elections. Suffragists both from Arizona and around the country continue to lobby the territorial legislature and organize women's suffrage groups. In 1903, a women's suffrage bill passes, but is vetoed by the governor. In 1910, suffragists work to influence the Arizona State Constitutional Convention, but are also unsuccessful. When Arizona becomes a state on February 14, 1912, an attempt to legislate a women's suffrage amendment to the Arizona Constitution fails. Frances Munds mounts a successful ballot initiative campaign. On November 5, 1912, women's suffrage passes in Arizona. In 1913, the voter registration books are opened to women. In 1914, women participate in their first primary elections. Arizona ratified the Nineteenth Amendment on February 12, 1920. However, Native American women and Latinas would wait longer for full voting rights.

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

While women's suffrage had an early start in Maine, 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.

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

Women's suffrage began in North Dakota when it was still part of the Dakota Territory. During this time activists worked for women's suffrage, and in 1879, women gained the right to vote at school meetings. This was formalized in 1883 when the legislature passed a law where women would use separate ballots for their votes on school-related issues. When North Dakota was writing its state constitution, efforts were made to include equal suffrage for women, but women were only able to retain their right to vote for school issues. An abortive effort to provide equal suffrage happened in 1893, when the state legislature passed equal suffrage for women. However, the bill was "lost," never signed and eventually expunged from the record. Suffragists continued to hold conventions, raise awareness, and form organizations. The arrival of Sylvia Pankhurst in February 1912 stimulated the creation of more groups, including the statewide Votes for Women League. In 1914, there was a voter referendum on women's suffrage, but it did not pass. In 1917, limited suffrage bills for municipal and presidential suffrage were signed into law. On December 1, 1919, North Dakota became the twentieth state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment.

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

Women's suffrage started in South Dakota when it was part of Dakota Territory. Prior to 1889, it had a shared history of women's suffrage with North Dakota. While South Dakota was part of the territory, women earned the right to vote on school related issues. They retained this right after it became a separate state. The state constitution specified that there would be a women's suffrage amendment referendum in 1890. Despite a large campaign that included Susan B. Anthony and a state suffrage group, the South Dakota Equal Suffrage Association (SDESA), the referendum failed. The state legislature passed additional suffrage referendums over the years, but each was voted down until 1918. South Dakota was an early ratifier of the Nineteenth Amendment, which was approved during a special midnight legislative session on December 4, 1919.

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

This is a timeline of women's suffrage in South Dakota. The early history of women's suffrage in the state is shared with North Dakota. When South Dakota became a state, it held a voter referendum in 1890 on an equal suffrage amendment. This effort failed, but suffragists continued to organize and lobby the legislature to pass voter referendums. None passed until 1918. South Dakota ratified the Nineteenth Amendment on December 4, 1919.

<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.

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