Women's suffrage in Florida

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Cast from the play, "Women, Women, Women, Suffragettes, Yes," performed in 1900 by Koreshan Unity Cast from the play, "Women, Women, Women, Suffragettes, Yes," performed in 1900 by Koreshan Unity.jpg
Cast from the play, "Women, Women, Women, Suffragettes, Yes," performed in 1900 by Koreshan Unity

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.

Contents

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.

Early efforts (1890 - 1900)

After attending the Woman's Inter-State Conference held in Fall of 1892 in Des Moines, Ella C. Chamberlain returned to Florida and created a suffrage department at the Weekly Tribune in Tampa. [1] [2] Her suffrage column would run until 1897. [3] Chamberlain's speech on women's suffrage in January 1893 led to the creation of a mixed-gender women's suffrage group. [1] She became president of the group, called the Florida Woman Suffrage Association (FWSA) and which affiliated with the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). [3]

She went to the national suffrage convention as a delegate of FWSA in 1893, becoming the first person to represent Florida at one of these conventions. [4] Chamberlain promoted women's suffrage at the Carpenter's Union in 1894. [1] FWSA distributed literature and raised money. [1] In 1895, a state suffrage convention was held in Tampa. [1] Chamberlain also attended the women's suffrage convention held in Atlanta, Georgia in 1895. [4] Despite the efforts of FWSA, they were unable to create any new chapters around the state. [5] Suffrage work seems to have continued until 1897 when Chamberlain left Florida and no one stepped up to take her place. [1] [6]

Resurgence (1910s - 1920)

Women's suffrage car in a parade in Orlando, Florida in 1913 Women's suffrage car in a parade in Orlando, Florida in 1913.jpg
Women's suffrage car in a parade in Orlando, Florida in 1913

After Chamberlain left, women's suffrage mainly remained dormant in Florida until around 1912. [5] One exception was a petition to the United States Congress for a federal women's suffrage amendment that was circulated by John Schnarr of Orlando in 1907. [6]

The next women's suffrage group was founded on June 15, 1912 in Jacksonville. [6] Katherine Livingstone Eagan, Roselle Cooley, and thirty other women met at the home of Frances Anderson on that day to create the Equal Franchise League of Florida. [6] [7] The group had trouble renting space for lectures, but it did secure headquarters in the offices of the Heard National Bank. [8] [6] The Woman's Club would not rent out space for a suffrage meeting and the Board of Trade also rejected them so the women packed suffragists into their headquarters for lectures. [6] There was a large amount of disapproval for women's suffrage in Florida, so the Jacksonville group used the term "equal franchise" over "women's suffrage." [9]

In February 1913 another women's suffrage group, called the Political Equality Club was formed in Lake Helen. [10] Soon after, an Orlando Equal Franchise League was created with Mary A. Safford as president. [11] Safford, a Unitarian minister, came to Florida in 1911 to retire. [12] Safford and the others started to look into forming a state-wide suffrage organization. [8] Edith Owen Stoner of Jacksonville organized the Florida delegates in the Woman Suffrage Procession. [13]

After April 1913, Safford and Helen Starbuck went to Tallahassee to help with suffrage work in the state legislature. [8] The Equal Suffrage League of Jacksonville had approached the Florida Legislature on passing a women's suffrage amendment to the Florida Constitution. [14] Lawmakers wanted to know who was in favor of women's suffrage in their districts and making a statewide group would help suffragists canvass potential supporters. [8] While in Tallahassee, Safford spoke publicly on her support for the proposed amendment to the state constitution. [12] Jeannette Rankin was sent by the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to help campaign. [14] The president of the Jacksonville Equal Suffrage League, Roselle C. Cooley, reported that the Florida House had decided to hear the suffragists' arguments. [14] The speech given to the entire Legislature Committee of the Whole on April 25 was packed with spectators. [14] [15] All the seats were taken and people stood to listen to the four women and three men who testified. [14] Rankin was one of the speakers. [15] Weeks later, the legislature voted on the proposed amendment which did not pass. [14]

In October 1913, the mayor of Orlando announced that "all freeholders" should register to vote in a bond election for the city. [9] [8] Because the mayor did not specify that the freeholders be male, several women, organized by Starbuck and Emma Hainer, attempted to register to vote for the bond election. [9] [8] The city clerk, Cassius Boone, refused to allow them to register. [12] They were then referred to the mayor and the city attorney who decided that Florida law would not allow them to vote. [9] The women had not actually expected to vote, but were using the action to draw attention to the fact that women were not allowed to vote for the government that enforced the taxes they paid. [9] Overall, the discussion about taxation without representation for women in Orlando generated more favor for women's suffrage in the city. [16]

In November 1913, the suffragists held their suffrage convention in Orlando at the same time as the Florida Federation of Women's Clubs held their meeting. [8] Suffragists felt that they could use the support from the women's club. [17] By the end of the suffrage meeting, they decided to form the Florida Equal Suffrage Association (FESA). [8] Safford was voted the first president. [8]

Safford was also involved in forming the Men's Equal Suffrage League of Florida in 1914. [18] Mayor E. F. Sperry, who was also a Unitarian, served as president. [18] Early in 1914, a well-attended women's suffrage speech given by Stoner led to interest in forming a women's suffrage group in Pensacola. [19] [20] Stoner's speech may have been the first women's suffrage speech made in the city, according to the Pensacola News Journal . [21] Women in the city wrote to the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to help them organize a group. [19] Lavinia Engle came to the city in March 1914. [19] Engle was from the South, which meant that she could better connect with people in Florida. [22] Engle went on to help organize the Milton Equal Suffrage League and then moved on to Tallahassee. [23] Also in 1914, two special suffrage editions of local newspapers were produced in Jacksonville and Pensacola. [24] Newspaper columnist Lillian C. West also wrote about women's suffrage in several local papers. [25]

The Florida Legislature again considered women's suffrage in 1915. [26] The Pensacola Equal Suffrage League worked to get 1,500 signatures in favor of the women's suffrage amendment in the state legislature. [27] Other suffrage groups campaigned, raised money and participated in parades throughout the state in 1915. [28] The bill did not pass. [26] However, the legislature created the municipality of Fellsmere and did not specify that only males could vote in the city. [29] On June 19, 1915, Zena Dreier legally voted and became the first woman to vote in the South. [30]

Most Florida suffrage groups also had classes where they studied history and citizenship. [28] The Florida Federation of Women's Clubs (FFWC) formally endorsed women's suffrage that year. [31] Several more chapters of the Men's Leagues were organized in 1915. [32] Suffragists reported in 1916 at the state convention that they had distributed thousands of pieces of literature and written around fifteen hundred letters to advocate for women's suffrage. [33]

In April 1917, the suffrage groups worked to get another women's suffrage amendment passed in the state legislature. [26] Mary Baird Bryan testified in favor of the bill in front of the Legislature. [26] The bill passed the Florida Senate by 23 to 7 on April 23. [26] Several members of the Florida House spoke in favor of women's suffrage. [34] The bill did not receive the necessary three-fifth majority to pass. [34]

Alice Paul visited Florida in May 1917 to recruit members for the National Woman's Party (NWP) and form a chapter. [35] Florida NWP member, Mary A. Nolan, was arrested in November 1917 for picketing outside the White House. [35] She was sentenced to six days in jail and went to the Occoquan Workhouse. [36] Nolan was one of the oldest suffragists picketing with the NWP. [36] She was later arrested several times in 1919 while involved with Watchfire demonstrations. [36] Nolan later traveled with the Prison Special which stopped in Jacksonville in February 1919. [37] [36]

In 1918, during a special legislative session, several local bills passed providing municipal suffrage for women in Aurantia, Daytona, Daytona Beach, DeLand, and Orange City. [38] Other cities that received charters for municipal women's suffrage in Florida were Clearwater, Cocoa, Delray, Dunedin, Florence Villa, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Moore Haven, Orlando, St. Petersburg, and Tarpon Springs. [39]

Resolution in Favor of the Nineteenth Amendment from the Men's Equal Suffrage League of Miami, Florida (1916) Resolution in Favor of the Nineteenth Amendment from the Men's Equal Suffrage League of Miami, Florida (1916).jpg
Resolution in Favor of the Nineteenth Amendment from the Men's Equal Suffrage League of Miami, Florida (1916)

During the 1919 legislative session in April, there was action on another women's suffrage amendment to the state constitution. [38] This measure did not pass and was voted against early in the session. [40] [41] When the Nineteenth Amendment was about to go out to the states for ratification, Governor Sidney Johnston Catts urged Florida lawmakers to become the first state to ratify. [42] Later, he did not call the legislature back into session. [40] Catts didn't believe it would pass the Florida Legislature at that time. [40] Suffragists believed that having the first vote on the amendment would have caused problems for ratification efforts in other states. [43]

After the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, women were able to register to vote in state and federal elections. [44] On September 7, 1920, Helen Hunt West of Duval County became the first women in Florida to register under the new rules. [44] [45] Hunt West continued to work to get Florida to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment for the rest of her life. [45] Florida didn't ratify the Nineteenth Amendment until May 13, 1969. [46]

Anti-suffragism in Florida

One Florida state representative, L. C. O'Neal, argued that giving women the right to vote would lower them "from the exalted position which they now held." [47] Other men did not believe that women were equal to men in their ability to vote in the same way that women differed from men physically. [40] Others, like Representative Frank Clark from Gainesville used quotations from the Bible to justify the idea that women should have different gender roles from men. [48] Clark insisted that women should only act as their husbands instructed them. [48]

It was also argued that women's suffrage was a "Northern" idea, and therefore as people living in the South, they should reject the arguments for it. [15] Representatives in the Florida House pointed out that giving women the vote would also mean that African-American women would vote. [15] They believed this would lead to a "train of evils." [15] Representative Clark also conflated socialism in his racist reasoning against allowing women to vote. [49] He believed that allowing women to vote would be a slippery slope that would lead to more Black people voting, women's character becoming degraded, and "destroy the American home." [49]

See also

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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.

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<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 Colorado</span>

In 1893, Colorado became the second state in the United States to grant women's suffrage and the first to do so through a voter referendum. Even while Colorado was a territory, lawmakers and other leaders tried to include women's suffrage in laws and later in the state constitution. The constitution did give women the right to vote in school board elections. The first voter referendum campaign was held in 1877. The Woman Suffrage Association of Colorado worked to encourage people to vote yes. Nationally-known suffragists, such as Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone spoke alongside Colorado's own Alida Avery around the state. Despite the efforts to influence voters, the referendum failed. Suffragists continued to grow support for women's right to vote. They exercised their right to vote in school board elections and ran for office. In 1893, another campaign for women's suffrage took place. Both Black and white suffragists worked to influence voters, gave speeches, and turned out on election day in a last-minute push. The effort was successful and women earned equal suffrage. In 1894, Colorado again made history by electing three women to the Colorado house of representatives. After gaining the right to vote, Colorado women continued to fight for suffrage in other states. Some women became members of the Congressional Union (CU) and pushed for a federal suffrage amendment. Colorado women also used their right to vote to pass reforms in the state and to support women candidates.

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

This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Pennsylvania. Activists in the state began working towards women's rights in the early 1850s, when two women's rights conventions discussed women's suffrage. A statewide group, the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association (PWSA), was formed in 1869. Other regional groups were formed throughout the state over the years. Suffragists in Pittsburgh created the "Pittsburgh Plan" in 1911. In 1915, a campaign to influence voters to support women's suffrage on the November 2 referendum took place. Despite these efforts, the referendum failed. On June 24, 1919, Pennsylvania became the seventh state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. Pennsylvania women voted for the first time on November 2, 1920.

<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.

References

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  25. ↑ Redd, Kenny (19 June 2020). "Suffrage: Long road for Florida women". Panama City News Herald. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
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  44. 1 2 Johnson 1970, p. 307.
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Sources

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