Texas Ratifies the 19th Amendment, June 28, 1919

Texas considered constitutional amendments to allow women to vote in both 1868-69 and 1875, neither successful. Despite the early activism, support for the movement slowed down in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Women were active in other reform movements (like temperance), but suffrage organizations saw low membership. The movement saw another rise in interest in the 1890s when the Texas Equal Rights Association was founded in 1893, but it was not until the 1910s that the movement really gained traction in the state. In 1913 reformers reenergized the defunct Texas Woman Suffrage Association and in 1915 opponents organized the Texas Association Opposed to Women Suffrage. Suffragists worked to pass a suffrage resolution in 1915 but it failed to get the necessary number of votes. After some political dealings and a new governor, Governor William Hobby called a special session of the state legislature to introduce a bill for women’s suffrage in state primaries. The bill passed the legislature once a literacy test was added, and the governor signed it into law on March 26, 1918. Governor Hobby also supported a full amendment to the state constitution allowing for women’s suffrage in the beginning of 1919, but it was defeated in a referendum vote in May. The very next month, however, the 19^th Amendment went to the states for ratification and Texas voted to ratify on June 28, 1919.

Taylor, A. Elizabeth. "Woman Suffrage." Texas State Historical Association: Handbook of Texas. Accessed June 28, 2021. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/woman-suffrage.

"Texas and the 19th Amendment." National Park Service. August 9, 2019. Accessed June 28, 2021. https://www.nps.gov/articles/texas-women-s-history.htm.

"The Woman Suffrage Movement in Texas." Texas Woman's University. August 25, 2020. Accessed June 28, 2021. https://twu.edu/institute-womens-leadership/the-woman-suffrage-movement/the-woman-suffrage-movement-in-texas/.