Missouri Ratifies the 19th Amendment, July 3, 1919

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Missouri women quickly organized to advocate for suffrage, utilizing their networks from previous reform and war aid work. The Woman Suffrage Association of Missouri formed in 1867, one of the earliest such organizations in the United States. Missouri women asked the state legislature for a suffrage amendment eighteen times between 1867 and 1901 with no success. In 1868 the 14^th Amendment was ratified to the Constitution and Missouri suffrage leaders argued that the 14^th Amendment protected a women’s right to the vote. Virginia Minor and her husband Frank advocated for a strategy where women showed up to polling places and asked to register for the vote. After Virginia Minor was turned away from the St. Louis County Courthouse in 1872, the Minors sued the city registrar, Reese Happersett, in a case that advanced to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the case Minor v. Happersett (1874) the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution did not grant suffrage to anyone and reaffirmed that it was the power of the states to decide who could vote. In the 1910s Missouri women continued to push for suffrage and in March 1919 the state passed legislation allowing women to vote only in presidential elections. A few months later Missouri was the 11^th state to ratify the 19^th Amendment on July 3, 1919.

Images

Governor Frederick Gardner signs the resolution ratifying the 19th Amendment (Library of Congress)

Engraving of Virginia Minor (Library of Congress)

One of Missouri's most famous suffrage demonstrations was the "Golden Lane" in 1916 during the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis. Suffragists wearing white and carrying yellow umbrellas lined the road as delegates walked to the convention. The women stood in silence representing that they were silenced by the inability to vote.

June 1916 edition of the Missouri Women featuring the yellow umbrellas of the Golden Lane event

Board meeting of the Equal Suffrage League of St. Louis, 1912 (Missouri History Museum)

Members of the St. Louis Equal Suffrage League, 1916 (Missouri History Museum)

Once the 19th Amendment was in effect the next step was to get women registered and participating in the vote. These paper flyers were given to registered women to hang in their windows. (Missouri History Museum)

Sources

"Missouri and the 19th Amendment." National Park Service. August 9, 2019. Accessed June 29, 2021. https://www.nps.gov/articles/missouri-and-the-19th-amendment.htm.

"Missouri Women: Suffrage to Statecraft (2020)." Missouri Historic Costume and Textile Collection. University of Missouri. Accessed June 29, 2021. https://mhctc.missouri.edu/exhibitions/missouri-women-suffrage-to-statecraft/.

Image Sources(Click to expand)