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1916-1917 headquarters for Broome County Women's Suffrage Party. 1st Assembly District Director: Margaret C. Topliff, 2nd Assembly District Director: Catherine R. Bartoo. (Original building demolished.)

This parking ramp is site of the Broome County Women's Suffrage Party headquarters, 1916-1917. Formerly Jos. Feinbloom Milinery, building later demolished.

Joseph Feinbloom Milinery, home of Broome County Women's Suffrage Party, 112-114 Court Street, Binghamton

Margaret C. Topliff, Broome County 2nd Assembly District Director, Women's Suffrage Party

Catherine R. Bartoo, Broome County 1st Assembly District Director, Women's Suffrage Party

Women's Suffrage in Broome County - Persistence Overcomes Resistance

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Women's Suffrage Party, Broome County District Headquarters

Prominent locations and people in the Women's Suffrage movement in Broome County, starting with the State Convention in 1913. Visit these 4 sites in Binghamton, then be sure to visit the Lisle Village Hall on this CLIO site, where the "Ladies of Lisle" were the first women to vote in New York State, January 1918.

Women's Suffrage in Broome County Walking Tour

This trail is a work in progress- more entries will be added soon along with a nationwide route divided into regional sections.

Women's Suffrage History Trail

The Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument has been the home to the National Women’s Party for more than 200 years. The original house at this location was built by Robert Sewall, one of Maryland's most influential residents, in 1800.&nbsp;Sewall rented that house to Jefferson and Madison's Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin from 1801 to 1813. The house was destroyed by the British during their invasion and occupation of Washington in the War of 1812. Sewall rebuilt the house and construction was done before his death in 1820. The house was purchased by Senator and Mrs. Porter Dale of Vermont.&nbsp;This property has had several name changes. Known as the&nbsp;Sewall House at the time the NWP acquired the property, it was later known as&nbsp;the Alva Belmont House. Belmont was a wealthy socialite and a key figure in the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Belmont donated money to suffrage organizations&nbsp;in the United Kingdom and the United States. She also&nbsp;founded the Political Equality League in 1909. this organization&nbsp;merged with the Congressional Union in 1913. With Alva Belmont’s financial support, the National Women’s Party bought the home from the Senator. They renamed the home the “Alva Belmont House.” The National Woman’s Party was founded in 1917, during the Women’s Suffrage Movement, largely due to the work of Alice Paul.Alice Paul was a leading suffragist and worked with the National Women’s Party to push for both state and national legislation that would recognize the political rights of women as citizens. Alice Paul was a key figure in the revival of the movement after the deaths of two of its best-known figures, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Paul created the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (CU), which was part of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). However, the NAWSA leadership viewed Paul’s political methods as too extreme. So, the CU split from the NAWSA in 1914.&nbsp;Alice Paul, along with many other suffragists, spent time in prison due to her political actions. As a manner of protesting the harsh conditions in prison, where the women received no special treatment as political prisoners, she famously began a hunger strike. Because of this, she was moved to the prison’s psychiatric ward and force-fed through a tube. In 1916, the Congressional Union created the National Woman’s Party.&nbsp;The Congressional Union formed the Woman’s Party in 1916, and a year later they merged to form the National Women’s Party. The National Women’s Party advocated for women’s right to vote even when some men reacted violently to their non-violent protests. For example, men tore&nbsp;banners from the hands of suffragists and many women were physically attacked. Suffragists such as Paul were also arrested but found ways to continue to publicize their issue by launching&nbsp;hunger strikes while in prison. After decades of organized protest against their exclusion from the ballot box beginning with the Seneca Falls convention in 1848, Congress recognized women’s right to vote through the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1919. Paul and others worked to secure ratification of the Amendment the following year. In 1923, Paul wrote the Equal Rights Amendment which was passed by Congress in 1972 but never ratified.<div>After it ceased being a lobbying organization in 1997, the NWP became a 501c3 organization whose main focus is now education. The museum’s permanent exhibit tells the story of the National Woman’s Party. The museum is also home to one of the first feminist libraries. Among the materials archived in the library are the complete collection of NWP publications (The Suffragist, 1913-1921 and Equal Rights, 1923-1954), over 2,000 pieces written by and about women archived from 1880 to the present day, and scrapbooks made by NWP members chronicling the Woman’s Suffrage and Equal Rights Movements (1909-1960). The house was renamed from the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum to the&nbsp;Belmont- Paul Women's Equality National Monument on April 12, 2016 when&nbsp;President Barack Obama designated it as a national monument. </div>

This building has been the home of the National Women's Party since 1929. This historic structure is also the home of the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument which preserves and shared the histories of women who dedicated their lives to the promotion and advancement of equal rights for women. Permanent exhibit galleries, the first feminist library, and hundreds of artifacts are on display in addition to special programs and events throughout the year. The monument is named after women's suffrage leaders Alva Belmont and Alice Paul, and visitors can explore the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument free of charge thanks to the National Park Service and others who helped to make this building a national monument in 2016.

The Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument 

Between June 4, 1919, when Congress approved the Amendment, and August 18th, 1920, it was unclear whether enough states in certain parts of the country would ratify the Amendment for it to meet the Constitutionally-mandated requirement of being ratified by three-fourths of the states. While many of the states in the West already recognized women's right to vote and ratified the measure shortly after Congress approved the measure, legislators in the Deep South expressed strong opposition. The movement for ratification also stalled in a handful of eastern states, meaning that the fate of ratification would come down to a handful of battleground states. Eight months after Congress approved the amendment, the momentum for ratification stalled. Advocates knew that their best chance for success was to carry states in the east and the Border South states. While Virginia rejected the measure, West Virginia turned in favor of women's suffrage in dramatic fashion in February of 1920. Still, with few other states considering the measure, the fate of women's suffrage came down to whether advocates could carry Tennessee. Thanks to the persuasive arguments of women's suffrage advocates, including the mother of one reluctant lawmaker, the 19th Amendment became part of the Constitution when Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment by a one-vote majority on August 18, 1920.&nbsp; The land that constitutes Centennial Park was dedicated for use as a&nbsp;public park in 1903. Few who attended that dedication could predict that the park would hold a dedication ceremony to commemorate women's suffrage over a century later.&nbsp;The park was also the location of another civil rights milestone, as African Americans protested their exclusion from the park in the mid 20th century. The park includes a variety of&nbsp;monuments and markers related to this and other events related to civil rights, urban history, and military history.&nbsp;

Nashville sculptor Alan LeQuire designed this sculpture and had previously created the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial in Knoxville. Visitors can view other sculptures by LeQuires throughout the region, including the Tennessee’s Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, several&nbsp;bronze sculptures at Vanderbilt University, and last a life-size statue of Jack Daniel which stands at the Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg.

Leaders of the movement to create this monument have plans to erect similar memorials in&nbsp;Memphis, Clarksville, and Chattanooga.&nbsp;

This monument honors the leading advocates of women's suffrage in Tennessee. The 19th Amendment, which guarantees the right to vote to all Americans, became law when the Tennessee legislature became the 36th state to ratify the amendment on August 18, 1920. On August 26th, 2016, the Women’s Suffrage Monument was unveiled to pay tribute to all of the women who advocated on behalf of ratification. The statue will later be moved to the grounds of the state capitol and features four leaders of the movement: Anne Dallas Dudley of Nashville, J. Frankie Pierce of Nashville, Sue Shelton White of Jackson, and Abby Crawford Milton of Chattanooga. The monument also features national suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt. 

Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument, Nashville 

The beginning of the Woman Suffrage movement is commonly dated from 1848 when Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and others met for tea and planned the first Woman's Rights Convention.&nbsp;At the Seneca Falls Convention the Declaration of Sentiments, a protest modeled on the Declaration of Independence, was drafted and was the first public protest against women's political, social and economic inferiority. Included in the list of reforms was a demand for the ballot.Seventy-two years later, the Susan B. Anthony Amendment was finally ratified with Tennessee's crucial and dramatic vote in August of 1920.&nbsp;Ratification would not have been possible without the dedication and personal sacrifice of thousands of women across the state who worked continually to build a strong suffrage organization in Tennessee.Between June 4, 1919, when Congress approved the Amendment, and August 18th, 1920, it was unclear whether enough states in certain parts of the country would ratify the Amendment for it to meet the Constitutionally-mandated requirement of being ratified by three-fourths of the states. While many of the states in the West already recognized women's right to vote and ratified the measure shortly after Congress approved the measure, legislators in the Deep South expressed strong opposition. The movement for ratification also stalled in a handful of eastern states, meaning that the fate of ratification would come down to a handful of battleground states.&nbsp;Eight months after Congress approved the amendment, the momentum for ratification stalled. Advocates knew that their best chance for success was to carry states in the east and the Border South states. While Virginia rejected the measure, West Virginia turned in favor of women's suffrage in dramatic fashion in February of 1920. Still, with few other states considering the measure, the fate of women's suffrage came down to whether advocates could carry Tennessee.&nbsp;Thanks to the persuasive arguments of women's suffrage advocates, including the mother of one reluctant lawmaker, the 19th Amendment became part of the Constitution when Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment by a one-vote majority on August 18, 1920. The links below include more details about the dramatic vote in Tennessee, including the story of 24-year-old lawmaker Harry T. Burn who claimed inspiration for his decision from a letter written by his mother. When defending himself from charges of changing his vote owing to a bribe, Burns told of the letter from his mother asking him to "be a good boy" and vote in favor of ratification.&nbsp;"I know that a mother's advice is always safest for a boy to follow," Burns responded, "and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification"

Dedicated in 2006, this monument honors leading advocates of women's suffrage in Tennessee. The 19th Amendment, which guarantees the right to vote to all Americans, became law when the Tennessee legislature became the 36th state to ratify the amendment on August 18, 1920. Between 1995 and 2006, Tennessee's Suffrage Coalition worked to raise awareness of this history, as well as secure funds to create this lasting memorial to the suffragists from Tennessee. On August 26, 2006, the Suffrage Coalition celebrated their success and dedicated this life-size, bronze statue featuring three of the most influential Tennessee suffragists. 

The statue depicts Lizzie Crozier French of Knoxville and Anne Dallas Dudley of Nashville, two leading advocates of women's rights who both served as Presidents of the Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association. Also depicted is  Elizabeth Avery Meriwether of Memphis. In 1876, Meriwether followed Susan B. Anthony and other women who attempted to register and vote. She also called the first public meeting on the subject of women's rights in Tennessee in that same year. 

Tennessee Woman's Suffrage Memorial

American suffragists Alice Paul and Lucy Burns spearheaded a drive to adopt a national strategy for women's suffrage in the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Both women recognized that the women from the six states that had full suffrage at the time comprised a powerful voting bloc. They submitted a proposal to Anna Howard Shaw and the NAWSA leadership at their annual convention in 1912. The leadership of NAWA believed it best to devote their full attention to their grassroots&nbsp;community-by-community and&nbsp;state-by-state strategy. As a result, they&nbsp;rejected the idea of holding a campaign that&nbsp;might alienate male allies, especially those within Congress and the&nbsp;President's administration. Alice Paul and Burns appealed to prominent reformer Jane Addams, who interceded on their behalf.The women eventually persuaded leaders within the NAWSA to endorse&nbsp;their plan for an&nbsp;immense pro-suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. to coincide with newly elected President Woodrow Wilson's inauguration. Paul and Burns were appointed chair and vice-chair of NAWSA's Congressional Committee ant&nbsp;they recruited Crystal Eastman, Mary Ritter Beard, and Dora Kelley Lewis to the Committee and were forced to organize volunteers, plan, and raise funds for the parade with little help from the organization.Affiliates of NAWSA from various states organized contingents to march and activities leading up to the march, such as suffrage hikes.African-American women were asked to march separately at the end of the march, because white suffragists were concerned about losing the support of southern voters. However, Ida B. Wells, founder of the Alpha Suffrage Club of Chicago, joined the Illinois delegation in the middle of the march, an action that was controversial not only because she placed herself among white marchers, but because she marched separately from other Black women.

The Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913 was a march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. on March 3, 1913, organized by the suffragist Alice Paul for the National American Woman Suffrage Association. The march was scheduled on the day before President Woodrow Wilson's inauguration to "march in a spirit of protest against the present political organization of society, from which women are excluded", as the official program stated. 

The parade included ten bands, five mounted brigades, 26 floats, and around 8000 marchers, including many notables such as Helen Keller, who was scheduled to speak at Constitution Hall after the march. After a non-eventful beginning to the march, the marchers encountered crowds, mostly male, who jeered and harassed the women. Over 200 women were treated for injuries at local hospitals. The violent actions of the mob discredited the arguments of anti-suffragists who in the past had claimed that they were concerned about the physical welfare of women who might be injured when they tried to cast votes. 


1913 Women's Suffrage Parade

"Are you a supporter of the red rose faction or the yellow rose faction?" While one might assume such a&nbsp;question referred to a political dispute in England, it was the leading question of lawmakers in Tennessee leading up to the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Harkening back to Tennessee's "War of the Roses"-a 19th-century political contest between rival sides who wore different colored roses- legislators once again indicated their position by the color of the rose on their suit jacket. While some men and women supported the constitutional amendment to grant women the legal right to vote, half of the state legislature opposed the ratification of the 19th Amendment. The 19th Amendment, which prohibits anyone from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex, was approved by Congress on June 4, 1919, and thus went to the states for ratification. By March 1920, 35 states had ratified the amendment, meaning that it was&nbsp;only one state short of the 36 needed to add the amendment to the US Constitution. Among the states that had not yet voted, Tennessee was considered by the “Pros" (those in favor of&nbsp;suffrage), to be the most likely remaining state to ratify the&nbsp;amendment. This argument was strengthened by the fact that in 1919,&nbsp;Tennessee had approved a law that allowed women to vote in Presidential elections. The "Pros"&nbsp;symbolized their support of women's suffrage by wearing a&nbsp;yellow&nbsp;rose. Meanwhile, the&nbsp;“Antis” showed their opposition to enfranchisement by&nbsp;wearing&nbsp;a&nbsp;red rose. The Antis included men and a significant but&nbsp;shrinking&nbsp;number of female supporters as state after state enacted pro-suffrage legislation. Feeling besieged by societal change, the Antis were&nbsp;determined to retain the vote for men only, believing that this might help them arrest other societal changes while preserving the traditional patriarchal nature of American politics and society. The situation led to a perfect war of politics. Because both sides used the Hermitage Hotel as their headquarters, this hotel became the front line of the conflict. The motion to approve the 19th amendment eventually passed the Tennessee Senate and then went to the state House of Representatives in August. After an attempt to table the motion resulted in a tie, the motion was put forward for a vote. Two votes were taken, both resulting in ties, and a third vote began. What happened next is the stuff of legend--and myth. Reportedly, the&nbsp;youngest member of the House, Harry Burn from Niota, wore the&nbsp;red rose and intended to vote against the amendment. But that morning, he had received a telegram which troubled him. Burn’s mother, Phoebe Ensminger Burn, known to her friends as “Miss Febb,” had written to her son, “Hurrah, and vote for suffrage! Don’t keep them in doubt... I have been watching to see how you stood, but have not noticed anything yet.” When his turn came, Burn unexpectedly cried out “Aye” – so quickly, in fact, that his colleagues did not immediately notice his defection. With that one vote, the amendment passed the House, and thus became part of the Constitutional. It is said that, following his vote, Burn was forced to flee to the attic of the state capitol to escape the wrath of the “red rose” colleagues who believed that he had betrayed them.&nbsp;&nbsp; Many of the&nbsp;“Antis” refused to&nbsp;accept suffrage. They accused Burn of bribery and other nefarious crimes. These forces called for a rally at the Ryman Auditorium the following day, August 19th, to gain support for an attempt to legally reverse the result. The city’s conservative newspaper, The Banner, posted the headline “Go to Mass-Meeting, Ryman Auditorium, Tonight. Will Make Protest Against Ratification.” The paper also printed affidavits alleging that Burn had been promised $10,000 by suffrage supporters. On the other hand, the more progressive newspaper, The Tennessean, published a long article defending Burn and stressing the influence Miss Febb had wielded on her son’s decision. “I knew that a mother’s advice is always safest for her boy to follow,” said Burn. The publisher of The Banner, Edward Bushrod Stahlman, a conservative German immigrant and businessman, was a speaker at the rally. A major theme of the meeting, reflected in the language of the poster, was the “Anti” movement’s attempt to “save the south,” rather than America or Tennessee specifically. House Speaker Seth Walker reportedly remarked, “Forty seven names [among the House legislators] have been signed in the blood of the South to keep this a white man’s country and a white man’s government.” It was widely feared by many of the people gathered there that women’s suffrage would lead inevitably to the full enfranchisement of African-Americans. The following day, The Banner reported that no less than 5,000 people had attended the “monster outpouring” at the Ryman. But neither the newspaper nor the movement it supported could reverse history. On August 23, Gov. A.H. Roberts certified the legislature’s vote, and a few days later the women of America were at last enfranchised – thanks to the outspoken mother of a single Tennessee legislator.

On August 18, 1920, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed – by one vote – a motion to ratify the 19th Amendment, a federal measure that extended suffrage to all American citizens regardless of gender. With that vote and the support of the governor, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment. With support for the Amendment being fairly limited in other Southern states, Tennessee's action was both symbolic and historically significant--it meant that the 19th Amendment had been ratified by three-fourths of the states--the requirement set forth in Article V of the Constitution prior to the adoption of any Constitutional Amendment. 

In response, some of the opponents of women’s suffrage, known then as “Antis,” held a protest meeting that saw the extension of suffrage by federal action through the lens of state's rights. On the day following the vote, August 19th, the “Antis” held an historic mass rally at the Ryman Auditorium – later famous as the home of the Grand Ole Opry – to protest the result and try somehow to overturn it. Speakers appealed to notions of patriarchy and "traditional" gender roles, as well as playing to anger against the perception that women's suffrage would erode the power of Southern whites. One pro-suffrage newspaper gleefully reported that the meeting failed to attract an audience, while the leading paper of the Antis reported a "monster" crowd in attendance. Well-attended or not, this rear-guard action failed, as Governor A.H. Roberts supported the decision of a majority of state legislators and added his signature to the bill. 

"Mass Meeting" Against Women's Suffrage at Ryman Auditorium, August 19, 1920

<blockquote>"Mr.
President, how long must women wait for liberty?"</blockquote>

On
January 10, 1917, women of the National Woman’s party began a protest in front
of the White House that would last for more than two years. They stated their message
through their silence and the declarative phrases on the large banners they
carried. Called the “Silent Sentinels,” the picketers advocated for women’s
suffrage, facing harassment, arrest, and imprisonment until the Nineteenth
Amendment was passed on June 4, 1919.&nbsp;The activism of the Silent Sentinels is&nbsp;part of a longer history of organized
women’s rights advocacy, beginning with the first women’s rights convention
held at Seneca Falls in 1848 and continuing to this day.

Before the Nineteenth Amendment, states decided who had the right to vote. When the United States was formed, all states prohibited women from voting. Through the women's&nbsp;suffrage movement beginning in the nineteenth century, women gained the right to vote in some states, but the United States&nbsp;Constitution remained unchanged. Groups such as the
National Woman’s Party advocated for such a change to allow universal suffrage for women.&nbsp;The National Woman's Party&nbsp;(NWP) was founded in 1913 by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns
after the Woman Suffrage Procession, a march down Pennsylvania Avenue in
Washington, D.C. that Paul successfully organized. Women’s rights groups used a
variety of tactics to advocate for their cause. The women of the NWP preferred nonviolent
yet dramatic tactics such as petitions, parades, speeches, and pickets along
with lobbying to Congress and the President. On January 9, 1917, group of NWP
members met with President Woodrow Wilson, who suggested the women “concert
public opinion.”1 The NWP knew it was time to make a bolder statement to both
the President and the public. The following day, January 10, a group of twelve
women led by Alice Paul stationed themselves at the east and west entrances of
the White House. There, they stood silently and held banners with clear and
direct statements, often cleverly using Wilson’s own words. Their location,
their silence, and their banners were carefully planned rhetorical strategies
of the NWP to demonstrate their commitment to the cause.

The picket
continued six days a week, usually with no more than twelve women at a time. As
intended, their methods caught the attention of national press, which
stimulated a variety of responses. Some praised the women’s dedication, as one
woman wrote, “I believe that each day those
banners are unfolded visualizing woman's demand for ‘liberty’ there is being
released through that simple act great spiritual forces which are sweeping our
country from coast to coast.”2 Some fellow suffragists agreed with the cause
but disagreed with the methods, arguing the NWP, though nonviolent, was still
too militant and unladylike or should focus on state advocacy. Some people opposed
the cause all together. On a day
to day basis, the picketers faced harassment and violence from men on the
street and received no police protection. 


















<blockquote>"We
shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts—for
democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in
their own governments." – banner quote&nbsp;taken from Wilson’s address to Congress on April
2, 1917.</blockquote>

The
NWP picketers were highly aware of current events, which they rhetorically
incorporated into their messages. The largest demonstration of the Silent
Sentinels took place on March 4, 1917, Wilson’s second inauguration, when 1,000
women marched around the White House. The picketers created banners referencing
current events such as Independence Day, Bastille Day, the 1917 Immigration
Act, and World War I. Unlike during the Civil War, when most women’s rights
activists suspended their work in favor of the war effort, the NWP continued their
protest. Banners used patriotic terms and phrases to link the suffrage movement
to the national fight for democracy. One banner claimed that the United States
was not a democracy due to female disenfranchisement, which caused a flurry of
negative press along with the first arrests of picketers in June. President
Wilson at first ignored the picketers, though as arrests and violence against
them intensified, he would soon have to intervene.

When
arrested and jailed, the picketers sustained their Silent Sentinel identities. At
Occoquan Workhouse (now Lorton Correctional Complex) and the District Jail, they
staged hunger strikes and refused President Wilson’s pardon, arguing that
accepting pardon would be an admission of guilt. The women were subjected to
unsanitary conditions, force-feedings, harassment, and occasionally solitary
confinement, as in the case of Alice Paul, who was arrested in October 1917 and
placed in jail by her own request. Violence against the women mounted on November
14, 1917, at Occoquan Workhouse, where the superintendent and forty of his
guards violently beat the picketers. Called the Night of Terror, the event was
heavily publicized by NWP members outside of jail while protest among inmates
continued.

With
increased press coverage, President Wilson released the picketers from jail on
November 27. On January 9, 1918, President Wilson made his first public
declaration in support of a women’s suffrage amendment. The picketers’ arrests
were declared unconstitutional in March. Throughout the next year and a half, the
suffragists continued their fight for the amendment, with support of the
President, while Congress struggled to pass legislation. The House and Senate
introduced amendment legislation, but it was defeated in the Senate in October
1918 and February 1919. The NWP responded with watch fire demonstrations and burning
Wilson’s speeches and effigy. The House passed the amendment on May 21, 1919, followed
by the Senate on June 4, 1919. With this victory, the NWP led a sweeping
ratification campaign across the nation. They needed at least 36 state
legislatures to ratify the amendment before it became law. On August 26, 1920,
the Nineteenth Amendment became law. Women voted for the first time on November
2 of that year.

The
Silent Sentinels’ public activism compelled President Wilson and Congress to support
women’s suffrage. By the end of the picket on June 4, 1919, around 2,000
individual women participated. They demonstrated commitment to their cause by
standing outside the White House in silence, enduring public harassment and
violence, continuing other campaigns in the NWP offices, and continuing their
protest in jail. Women continued the fight for equality long after the Nineteenth
Amendment. &nbsp;Black women, restricted from
voting in Southern states, fought for suffrage into the 1960s. Alice Paul proposed
the Equal Rights Amendment in 1923 and continued to fight for it until it
passed in 1972. The Silent Sentinels remain a powerful image for the women’s
rights movement.

The Silent Sentinels were members of the National Woman's Party advocating for women's suffrage. They picketed outside the White House for six days a week from January 10, 1917 to June 4, 1919, the day the Nineteenth Amendment was passed in Congress. They received the nickname "Silent Sentinels" for choosing to remain silent while picketing, the words on their banners and their stoic nature making the most powerful statements. They were subjected to harassment and violence while picketing and were later arrested and jailed. President Woodrow Wilson released them from jail and publicly supported women's suffrage for the first time in 1918. Their work help lead to the passing and ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment and contributes to a larger history of women's rights in the United States.

Silent Sentinels Picket for Women's Suffrage (1917-1919)

Rosalie Jones was a suffragist from Long Island who was famous for doing the unusual and unexpected. Rosalie used marches, parades, and wagons to lure crowds and draw attention to the suffrage movement. She also led a march to Albany to deliver a petition to the governor and then led supporters to Washington, DC to participate in a protest parade before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration.&nbsp;As part of that&nbsp;march from Washington to New&nbsp;York, suffragists had a rally at this location in Overlea, Maryland. The meeting outside the town hall attracted few supporters, but recent commemorations of the event have drawn much larger crowds including the 2014 dedication of this historical marker outside of the Maryland Natural History Society.&nbsp;While victory required many more marches and events to convince state and national lawmakers that it was in their political self-interest to support equal voting rights. The suffragists won their campaign on August 26, 1920, when the U.S. Secretary of State proclaimed the ratification in the 19th Amendment.&nbsp;The suffragist movement had many beginnings, including the work of Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, who attended the Continental Congress in Philadephia and challenged the exclusion of women. She asked her husband to "consider the ladies" while working on the Declaration of Independence, a sentiment shared by many other women who used their influence is both direct and indirect ways. The start of the women's suffrage movement is often credited with the work of Lucrecia Mott and Elizabeth Stanton in organizing the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. The convention's purpose was to call attention to the unfair treatment of women. During the convention, Elizabeth Stanton drafted and wrote the&nbsp;Declaration of Sentiments on the Declaration of Independence. The document would later be seen as a sort of "founding document" of the push for political equality.&nbsp;&nbsp;At the convention, Stanton met Susan B. Anthony and the two later formed the&nbsp;Woman’s National Loyal League in 1863. The women worked in support of the Thirteenth Amendment and also campaigned for full citizenship for Black Americans and all women. They also created the National Woman Suffrage Association and campaigned for an amendment for universal suffrage in America. They later worked for changes in divorce laws and an end to employment and pay discrimination.

This historical marker was dedicated in 2014 and commemorates the February 23, 1913 meeting that occurred here as leaders and supporters of the National American Woman Suffrage Association during the march between New York City and Washington, DC. On February 12, a group of women called "The Army of the Hudson" began marching from New York City to the Capital. They were met by supporters at Overlea Town Hall on February 23, after a journey of 230 miles. While only sixteen women completed the entire march, thousands of women participated in a segment of the 17 day, 230-mile trek. In addition, a total of 8,000 women travelled to Washington for the March 3, 1913 Women's Suffrage Parade. Between the seventeen day march that included numerous participants and observers and the parade in Washington DC, the march and parade brought national attention to voting rights for women.

Overlea Women's Suffrage Historical Marker 

Alice Paul's parents, William and Tacie Paul, moved to Paulsdale in 1883, two years before Paul was born on January 11, 1885. William Paul earned a comfortable salary as the president of the Burlington County Trust Company, so the farm hired hands to perform farm labor and Alice Paul and her family did not perform the full extent of traditional farm labor. The farm did, however, reflect the ideals of Hicksite Quaker religion that Paul was raised to follow. Hicksite Quakers believed in general equality and working for a better society. In addition, the Quakers wanted to be separated from a materialistic society, which meant Paulsdale was a perfect homestead. The farm was isolated from the town, but not completely closed off either. At Paulsdale, the Pauls lived simply, but the family home was still spacious and had indoor plumbing, electricity, and a telephone. Paulsdale might have also been the location for National American Woman Suffrage Association meetings, as Alice's mother, Tacie, was a member of the organization. Paul continued her education at a Hicksite school in Moorestown, New Jersey, and attended Swarthmore College in 1901. Paul continued her education in 1907 by going to Birmingham, England, to study social work at the Woodbrooke Settlement. In Birmingham, Paul met Christabel Pankhurst, daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, a radical suffragette in England. Paul joined the Pankhursts' movement, which believed that physical measures were needed beyond prayer and religion if women wanted suffrage. Paul was arrested on numerous occasions but protested with hunger strikes. Paul was radicalized when she returned to the United States in 1910. She joined the National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and was quickly put in charge of working for a federal amendment for women's suffrage. Paul organized a march up Pennsylvania Avenue during Woodrow Wilson's inauguration, but male waters attacked the suffragists verbally and then physically. In 1916, Paul formed the National Woman's Party (NWP). Again, Paul took to the White House, but this time, female protesters held banners outside the White House. At first, Wilson ignored the women, but after the United States entered World War I, the stakes rose. The picketing did not stop during the war, but the suffragists were eventually arrested and sent to a prison in Viriginia called Occoquan Workhouse. Much like in England, Paul and the other suffragists went on a hunger strike. When word of the treatment of the women got out to the general public, the public became sympathetic, and the women were released from prison. The public outrage also led to Woodrow Wilson supporting the suffrage movement. By 1919, the House and Senate passed the 19th Amendment. Tennessee was the state needed for a three-fourths majority for ratification, and in August 1920, Tennessee voted yes to the amendment. On August 26, 1920, women gained the right to vote. August 26th is celebrated as Women's Equality Day for this reason. Alice Paul faced many challenges both before and after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, and the exhibits at this house museum demonstrate how her family and upbringing at the Paulsdale House influenced her life.

Women's suffragist Alice Paul was introduced to the suffrage movement on a sprawling 265-acre family farm called Paulsdale where she was born in 1885. Paul's spacious family home boasted electricity, indoor plumbing, and a telephone, but the Pauls still lived simply and according to Quaker teaching: isolated from society but not completely closed off. Alice Paul's childhood on the farm shaped her future steadfastness with an adage about farm work: "When you put your hand to the plow, you can’t put it down until you get to the end of the row.” The home is now both a museum with exhibits related to Alice Paul's life and the women's suffrage movement, as well as the Alice Paul Institute which works to promote gender equity. The museum's permanent exhibit, "Alice Paul: In Pursuit of Ordinary Equality" is open for self-guided tours while the organization also offers guided tours with reservations. 

Paulsdale and the Alice Paul Institute 

Francis W. Pickens (1807-1869)Originally called Edgewood by Francis W. Pickens, the home is a good example of an early 1800s plantation house. Pickens trained as a lawyer but followed in his father's footsteps into politics. He served in the state legislature, Congress, as U.S. Minister to Russia, and as governor from 1860 to 1862. His wife, Lucy Holcombe Pickens, was a novelist and staunch supporter of the Confederacy. They lost much of what they owned but retained the plantation. After Pickens died, Lucy ran the plantation and lived there until she died in 1899. Eulalie Chafee Salley (1883-1975)Eulalie Chafee Salley was born on December 11, 1883 in Augusta, Georgia, to a wealthy family. Her father operated a porcelain clay business and her mother was a talented pianist. Salley was often ill during her childhood and spent a lot of time living on her maternal grandparent's plantation in Louisville, Georgia. Her family moved to Aiken when she was nine. She was educated by private tutors and governesses before attending a year at Mary Baldwin College in Virginia and then at Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She married the Aiken major Julian Booth Salley in 1906 and they would go on to have two children.Salley became a suffragist after learning of a situation involving a woman named Lucy Dugas Tillman, whose husband deeded their children to his mother when Lucy was sick. Tillman attempted to regain custody and the case attracted attention from around the country (she lost the case). After joining the South Carolina Equal Suffrage League (SCESL), Salley and five other women founded the Aiken County Equal Suffrage League in 1912. Salley was an enthusiastic campaigner in the county, known for traveling around on unpaved roads to knock on doors and even riding in an airplane to drop suffrage leaflets over Aiken. She became president of the SCESL in 1919 and was a delegate at several women's rights national conventions and the Democratic National Convention in 1924. In 1969, she was invited to attend the ceremony when the governor signed the 19th amendment into state law (even though South Carolina didn't ratify it until then, the amendment became federal law in 1920 after 36 states approved it). Salley supported her women's rights work by working as a real estate developer in 1915. She was the first woman realtor in the state and mainly sold property to wealthy clients. She was a founder of the Aiken Board of Realtors and vice president of the South Carolina Association of Real Estate Boards. Salley was also interested in historic preservation. By the time she bought the Pickens' house, it was in a state of serious disrepair. She hired movers to dismantle it and move it to Aiken. When it was rebuilt, she added modern amenities and made other modifications to it. Salley lived in the house until she died in 1975. The University of South Carolina Aiken acquired it in 1987 and moved to its present location two years later. It has been used for university offices ever since.

The Pickens-Salley House is a historic home thought to built in c.1829 by Governor Andrew Pickens (1779-1838) for his son Francis W. Pickens (1807-1869), who also served as governor. The house, which was originally located in Edgefield County, is also significant for its association with suffragist and real estate developer Eulalie Chafee Salley (1883-1975), who moved it to Aiken in 1929. Salley was one of the first women in the state involved in historic preservation and she led the effort to convince the state to ratify the 19th amendment, which granted women the right to vote. The house was relocated here in 1989 and is now known as the Alumni House for the University of South Carolina Aiken. 

Pickens-Salley House

After the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, the National Woman’s Party commissioned sculptor Adelaide Johnson to complete this statue and presented it to the U.S. Capitol as a gift from the women of the nation. The main monument was accepted by Congress on February 10, 1921 and unveiled in a ceremony on February 15, 1921 (to coincide with the 101st birthday of Susan B. Anthony). Jane Addams presided over the ceremony with representatives of approximately 70 women’s organizations in attendance.Johnson had already carved individual busts of the three women for the World’s Columbian Exhibition in 1893 (they were displayed in the Court of Honor in the Woman’s Building), and she replicated those designed into this block of marble. The rough-hewn marble surrounding the three figures and the unfinished look of the monument caused some controversy and dissatisfaction among members of the suffrage movement. However, Johnson wanted to leave her sculpture with an unfinished appearance to symbolize that even with the passage of the 19th Amendment the work of women’s equality was not done. Johnson’s design included two additional marble slabs to create a base for the sculpture: a Black Belgian marble base and a white Carrara marble base. These slabs were added in 1925 by the artist, although the Black slab arrived broken and had to be replaced in 1929. The main marble sculpture weighs 14,000 pounds and with the original marble slabs the total weight was 26,000 pounds.Between 1921 and 1997, the Portrait Monument was installed in the Crypt, the area below the Capitol Rotunda. In 1997 Congress passed House Concurrent Resolution 216 which allowed the statue to be relocated to the Rotunda. Due to the weight of the entire monument, the two marble slabs at the base were replicated in a lighter material to allow the safe installation of the sculpture in the Rotunda.About Adelaide Johnson:Adelaide Johnson was born on September 26, 1859 in Plymouth, Illinois. When she was 15 years old her parents enrolled her in the St. Louis School of Design, which trained women to work in the commercial art business. Johnson was greatly influenced by the style and progressive ideas of the school’s founder Mary Henderson, who served as the president of the Missouri State Suffrage Association. After graduation, Johnson moved to Chicago and ran an interior design business with Ida Morgan. She also studied sculpture in Italy for a year in 1884. Johnson’s work supporting the women’s suffrage movement began around 1886, after which she created many works of sculpture depicting suffrage leaders. Her work with the National Women’s Party proved to be the height of her success as her career dwindled in the 1930s and 1940s. Johnson passed away in 1955.

The Portrait Monument depicts Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony. It was commissioned by the National Woman’s Party and sculpted by Adelaide Johnson. The sculpture was given to the US Capitol in February 1921 after the passage of the 19th Amendment and was installed in the Rotunda in 1997.

Portrait Monument to Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony

The fight for equal political rights in Wisconsin dates back to the earliest days of statehood. In 1869, the Wisconsin Women’s Suffrage Association was established. Members of the association convinced the state legislature to permit women to run for local school boards in that year. By the mid 1870s, women throughout the state could also vote in school elections. In 1887, suffrage leader&nbsp;Olympia Brown tested the law that allowed women to vote in school elections by also&nbsp;voting for municipal offices. Brown argued that because women were not explicitly forbidden from voting in these elections that her ballot was valid because city officials made many decisions that shaped the local schools.&nbsp;Brown sued the city of Racine in an attempt to compel&nbsp;city officials to accept her ballot. Brown won her case in the&nbsp;Circuit Courts but the&nbsp;state Supreme Court reversed the decision in Brown v. Phillips (1888). In the meantime, many women found that their votes were thrown out because the ballots for some school board elections were the same forms that included other electoral races. The women of Wisconsin faced this&nbsp;obstacle until 1901 when the legislature authorized separate ballots for men and women. By this time, however, the women of Wisconsin were pushing for full suffrage rights. &nbsp;&nbsp; Women pressed for full suffrage rights in other elections in the next three decades and secured a referendum on the measure in 1912. Although &nbsp;two-thirds of the all-male electorate rejected the provision, Wisconsin women escalated their efforts in the next seven years, organizing suffrage schools that taught a curriculum of civics and politics. In the next year, bills providing for equal suffrage were presented to each session of the legislature. Women also lobbied successfully for equal suffrage in presidential elections in 1919. Most famously, Wisconsin women pushed for the ratification of the 19th amendment and Wisconsin became the first state to ratify the amendment. The successful campaign was the culmination of years of efforts, the most recent of which occurred right here at the steps of the state capitol.&nbsp;

In 1919, members of several women's suffrage associations held a series of rallies at this precise location.  For example, several hundred students joined the University of Wisconsin Suffrage Association in 1919 and held a series of protests in front of the state capitol in April. These rallies, along with many previous years of effort, led the state legislature of Wisconsin to become the first state to ratify the 19th Amendment on June 10, 1919.

Wisconsin Becomes the First State to Ratify Women's Suffrage Amendment, 1919

Theodora Winton Youmans (1863-1932) was a prominent journalist, suffragist, and community activist in Waukesha and throughout Wisconsin more broadly. She joined the staff of the Waukesha Freeman in 1880 and became associate editor of the paper following her marriage to editor Henry Mott Youmans in 1889. Throughout her career with the paper, she produced regular columns under titles such as “Woman’s World,” “Votes for Women,” and “Good Citizenship for Women.” She served as the paper’s publisher following her husband’s death in 1913 and continued until her own death the next year.  While Theodora is frequently remembered as the last president of the Wisconsin Women Suffrage Association (WWSA), a post to which she was elected in 1913, she was also active in local Waukesha suffrage efforts. She was elected to the executive board of the Waukesha County Equal Suffrage Association in February 1913. She makes frequent appearances in the association’s meeting minutes between 1913 and 1914, often proposing motions or giving presentations on behalf of the WWSA. After securing state legislators’ votes for the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919, Theodora reorganized the WWSA to form to Wisconsin League of Women Voters. In 1920, a group of women from Carroll College likewise formed the Carroll College League of Women Voters to educate women regarding their new right to vote. Approximately ten years later, the group would reorganize as the Waukesha League of Women Voters. Theodora was among the 27 charter members. The Waukesha League of Women Voters, now operating under the name of the Waukesha Area League of Women Voters, remains active in its outreach efforts to promote voter education and participation throughout Waukesha County.

Theodora Winton Youmans was a prominent journalist and suffragist in both Waukesha and the state of Wisconsin. She served as a writer, editor, and publisher for the city's newspaper, "The Waukesha Freeman" for approximately fifty years, using her platform to advocate for women's suffrage and promote active citizenship among the city's women. In 1913, she was elected as president of the Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association and as a member of the executive board for the Waukesha County Equal Suffrage Association. Part of her legacy lives on today through the Waukesha Area League of Women Voters.

Theodora Winton Youmans and Women's Suffrage in Waukesha

Wesleyan Methodist ChurchAs stated above, the first women's rights convention was held in the Wesleyan Methodist Church in July 1848. About 300 men and women attended the two-day event. Although the first day was intended for women only, about 40 men were allowed inside but were asked not to speak. Men were invited and allowed to participate on the second day. The building itself was originally built in 1843. Only some parts of the original exterior walls remain; the rest was entirely reconstructed.Elizabeth Cady Stanton House   Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her family lived in this house from 1847 to 1862 when they moved to New York City. It is a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Elizabeth was born in Johnstown, New York in 1815 and attended an all-boys school where she excelled, especially in math and languages. She then enrolled at Troy Female Seminary and graduated in 1832. She met her husband, Henry Stanton, in 1840 and they soon got married in May of that year. True to her beliefs, Elizabeth asked the minister who married them to remove the words "to obey" from the wedding vows. Henry began practicing law, first in Albany, New York and then in Boston. They also started a family at this time. In 1847, Elizabeth's father invited them to move to Seneca Falls to live in a house he owned. Henry was also ill and thought that moving away from Boston would enable him to recover. Elizabeth assumed ownership of the house in June of that year. Seneca Falls ConventionThe idea for the women's rights convention originated in 1840. In June of that year, right after they got married, Elizabeth and Henry traveled to London to attend the World Anti-Slavery Convention. A journalist and lawyer by trade, Henry was also a staunch abolitionist (as was Elizabeth) and was a delegate representing the American Anti-Slavery Society at the convention. Elizabeth and other women were initially not allowed to attend. However, after some debate, they were given permission to sit at the back of the hall but were barred from participating. It was here that Elizabeth met and befriended activist Lucretia Mott. Both were, understandably, very angry at the treatment they and the other women experienced. As a result, they agreed that someday a women's rights convention would be held in America.After returning to America, Elizabeth settled into her domestic life. However, her experience in raising children and maintaining the household strengthened her women's rights convictions even further. She deplored the fact that women were expected to be housewives and longed for intellectual stimulation. On July 9, 1848, she vented her frustrations to a group of women friends (Lucretia Mott, Mary Ann M’Clintock, Martha Wright, and Jane Hunt) at the Richard Hunt House. They all agreed that it was finally time to call for the convention. They placed ads in newspapers, including in the North Star, which was published by former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who attended the convention. As a result, news of the gathering spread quickly. On July 16, Mary Ann M’Clintock invited Elizabeth and other organizers to her house to draft a document called the Declaration of Sentiments, which outlined the resolutions of the convention. The convention consisted of several sessions that touched on a different topics including women's role in society, law, and, importantly, the right to vote. There was disagreement whether to keep the right to vote in the Declaration of Sentiments but in the end it was not removed. Frederick Douglass, who was the only African American to attend, argued forcefully for its inclusion. This decision would prove to be critical because the right to vote quickly became a core principle of the women's rights movement nationally.

The Women's National Historic Park commemorates the first Women’s Rights Convention, which was held here in Seneca Falls on July 19-20, 1848. The convention was organized by a group of women's rights activists led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) and Lucretia Mott (1793-1880), who was a Quaker and known for her excellent oratorical skills. The convention marked the beginning of the women's rights and suffrage movements in the country. Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought for these issues for the majority of her adult life and was one of the foremost political figures of the 19th century. Just over six acres in size, the park consists of two properties associated with the convention and the women's suffrage movement—Wesleyan Methodist Church and the Elizabeth Cady Stanton House—and a Visitor Center, which is located next to the church. Other landmarks related to the convention are on the Votes for Women History Trail, including the M'Clintock House and the Richard Hunt House, both of which are located just to the west in the town of Waterloo. The park was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Women's Rights National Historical Park 

Since 2020, the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York, has been located in the former Seneca Knitting Mill. The mill building was constructed in 1844, just four years before the Seneca Falls Convention was held nearby. The building is a fitting choice for the Hall of Fame, as many of the people employed at the mill were women, a common practice in the textile industry.Multiple generations of Seneca Falls residents made their living at the mill, which primarily made high-quality socks. Former employees of the mill recall a family-like environment and the mill’s owner for much of the twentieth century, George Souhan, is remembered with genuine fondness. In the mid-1990s, however, the mill was purchased by North Carolina-based Ridgeview, Inc., and the new owners made a series of misguided business decisions that ultimately led to the mill’s closure in 1999. Seneca was the last of New York’s hosiery mills to shut down.But the closure of Seneca Knitting Mill was not just another sad denouement for a once-thriving American factory. The mill had long roots in Seneca Falls, but it also had deep connections to the 1848 gathering of feminists in the city. A number of the young women who were employed there in 1848 attended the Seneca Falls Convention and two of the mill’s trustees were among the 32 men who signed the convention’s Declaration of Sentiments. Additionally, because many of the town’s residents were also abolitionists, they refused to process Southern cotton and only milled wool. The building’s floors still shine from having absorbed decades’ worth of lanolin from the wool that was milled there.The National Women’s Hall of Fame was originally located in the Helen Mosher Barben Building, but it moved to the renovated Seneca Knitting Mill building in 2020. The building is a part of the Seneca Falls Historic District and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Located in a community that is widely regarded as the birthplace of the women's rights movement, the National Women's Hall of Fame offers exhibits that share the stories of women who have made significant contributions in a wide range of areas including science, sports, education, arts, business, government, and philanthropy. The organization was established in 1969 and is currently housed in the Helen Mosher Barben Building in downtown Seneca Falls. The Hall is the oldest membership organization in the country devoted to showcasing the achievements of women. In 2020, the Hall relocated to the newly renovated Seneca Knitting Mill. It is contributing property of the Seneca Falls Village Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

National Women's Hall of Fame (Seneca Knitting Mill)

Susan B. Anthony was born into a Quaker household in 1820. Like many other Quakers, Anthony's parents&nbsp;advocated&nbsp;liberal reforms such as the end of slavery and greater freedoms for women. After graduation, Anthony taught for fifteen years before she became active in the&nbsp;burgeoning women's&nbsp;movement. From there, she dedicated her life to greater rights for women, something she believed could be best advanced by securing equal&nbsp;suffrage.&nbsp;In 1849,&nbsp;Anthony&nbsp;moved to Rochester and became involved in several reform movements related to greater rights for women and the end of slavery. Like a number of other women in this part of the country, Anthony traveled throughout New York attending and organizing abolitionist meetings.When the 14th and 15th Amendments&nbsp;extended&nbsp;suffrage to&nbsp;African American males but&nbsp;explicitly limited suffrage to men, Anthony and other feminists formed the Equal Rights Association. Anthony teamed up with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and together they formed a powerful partnership. During these years, this house served as&nbsp;the movement's&nbsp;organizational headquarters, with many meetings occurring at the home. Along with her dedication to women's suffrage, she also campaigned for the abolition of slavery. Anthony also supported&nbsp;equal educational opportunities for all regardless of race and gender. In an era when there were few&nbsp;college programs that were open to women, Anthony and others called for the creation and improvement of women's colleges as well as&nbsp;an end to exclusionary policies. In 1859, for example, Anthony spoke before the state teachers' convention at Troy and at the Massachusetts teachers' convention. At both of these meetings,&nbsp;she&nbsp;denied any&nbsp;differences between the intellectual capacities of&nbsp;men and women.Anthony's family was also active in the anti-slavery movement and her church would occasionally meet at her family's Quaker farm with Frederick Douglass.

Located in the former home of the famous women's right's activist the museum is named after, the National Susan B. Anthony Museum offers exhibits that interpret the history of women's suffrage and the life and influence of Susan B. Anthony. One of the most influential Americans of the late 19th century, Anthony challenged the assumption that men and women should occupy different classes of citizenship. She was arrested for voting in 1872 and used the event to publicize the lack of political rights for women. Anthony worked with other suffragists such as close friend Elizabeth Cady Stanton and created the National Woman Suffrage Association. The museum has a variety of artifacts related to this organization, as well as a collection of documents for researchers. 

Susan B. Anthony House

Born enslaved as Isabella Baumfree in Ulster County, New York in 1797, Sojourner Truth escaped from her owner in 1827 and fled to a nearby abolitionist family, which bought her freedom. The following year, she moved to New York City, where she worked for a minister, converted to Christianity, and participated in the religious revivals of the Second Great Awakening. In 1843, believing that God had called her to travel and preach the truth to the people, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth and became an itinerant preacher. During her travels, Truth met prominent abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass. The former’s organization encouraged her to begin delivering anti-slavery speeches across the country. Truth also met Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, which inspired her to fight for women’s rights, including the right to vote. In 1851, at a women’s rights convention in Akron, Ohio, she delivered her famous “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech, in which she spoke out against gender and racial inequality. During the Civil War, Truth encouraged enlistments in the Union Army and gathered supplies to send to Black troops. During Reconstruction, she received an invitation to the White House, worked with the Freedmen’s Bureau, and spoke out against racial segregation in the South. Truth died in Michigan in 1883.  Born into a family of privilege in Johnstown, New York in 1815, Elizabeth Cady Stanton received a top-notch formal education during her early years. In 1840, she married abolitionist lecturer, Henry Stanton. Like her husband, she became active in the antislavery movement and, in the process, met many prominent abolitionists, such as William Lloyd Garrison and the Grimke sisters. Infuriated by the exclusion of women at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840, Stanton along with fellow abolitionist Lucretia Mott decided to organize a women’s rights convention in the United States, which later became the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. At the meeting, some of those in attendance signed the “Declaration of Sentiments,” of which Stanton was the principal author. Taking inspiration from the Declaration of Independence, the document asserted that all men and women are created equal and ought to have equal rights, including the right to vote. In 1851, Stanton met Susan B. Anthony and the two commenced a friendship and professional partnership that would span decades. During the Civil War, Stanton supported the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery. Along with Anthony, she founded the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869, which advocated for a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote. She also wrote for the organization’s newspaper, The Revolution. In October 1902, Stanton died in New York City.  Born into a Quaker family in Adams, Massachusetts in 1820, Susan B. Anthony learned at a young age the values of her faith. Among those was equality, an idea which would inform her later activism. While living with her family in upstate New York, Anthony met prominent abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass. Both men, in fact, were friends of her father and were often guests in the family’s home. Inspired by their work, Anthony became an abolitionist and began traveling the country delivering antislavery speeches. In 1851, she met Elizabeth Cady Stanton and began a friendship and professional partnership that would influence the women’s rights movement in the United States for the remainder of the nineteenth century. With Stanton, she founded the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869. Three years later, in 1872, Anthony was arrested for voting, an incident which brought the women’s suffrage movement national attention. Throughout the remainder of her life, she tirelessly advocated for women’s suffrage, traveling the country giving speeches, collecting signatures for petitions, and lobbying Congress for a women’s suffrage amendment to the Constitution. Anthony died in New York in 1906.  In 2014, the all-volunteer non-profit group Monumental Women was founded with the goal of creating the first monument in Central Park to honor actual women, as opposed to fictional female characters. Over the course of several years, the organization raised over $1.5 million in private donations. It commissioned renowned sculptor Meredith Bergmann to create the monument. Unveiled in August 2020, the centennial of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the monument consists of three over-life-sized bronze likenesses of Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony on an elongated oval granite pedestal. The Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument was the first to be added to the park since 1965.

Located at the southern end of the Mall in New York City’s Central Park, the Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument honors the lives and work of Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony. Sponsored by the all-volunteer non-profit group Monumental Women and designed by renowned sculptor Meredith Bergmann, the monument consists of three over-life-sized bronze likenesses of the early women’s rights advocates on an elongated oval granite pedestal. Unveiled in August 2020, it commemorates the centennial of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees women the right to vote. The first to be added to Central Park since 1965, the Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument is also the first in the park’s history to depict actual women, as opposed to fictional female characters. 

Women's Rights Pioneers Monument

Harriet Taylor Upton, daughter of Ohio judge Ezra B. Taylor, was born December 17, 1853 in Ravenna, OH. The Taylors moved to Warren, OH in 1861, and purchased the house from the Perkins family in 1873. Upton's father was appointed to Congress in 1880, and she accompanied him to Washington, D.C. while Congress was in session. She became known in society for her literary ability and amiable character. She married Attorney George Upton in 1884.  Upton emerged as one of the leading voices of the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the early 1890s, and spent thirty years dedicating herself to the passage of the 19th Amendment. In 1891, she hosted a gathering of women seeking equal rights, known as the Ohio Women in Convention, within her home. Upton served as a key organizer and the first president of the Suffrage Association of Warren, as well as the president of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association (OWSA) from 1899-1908 and again from 1911-1920. Upton was also a member and later Treasurer (1890; 1894-1909) of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), the product of the merger between the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) and National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) in 1890. The NAWSA headquarters temporarily relocated from Washington, D.C. to Warren, OH from 1903-1909, first to Upton's home (1903-1905) and then to the Trumbull County Courthouse (1905-1909). Upton served as the chairman of NAWSA’s Congressional Committee with colleagues Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt, and was instrumental in opening the diplomatic corps to women. The primary objective of the Congressional Committee was to initiate the amendment to the U.S. Constitution to provide equal suffrage to all. Several months prior to the ratification of the 19th Amendment, NAWSA transitioned into the League of Women Voters, of which Upton was a charter member. The Harriet Taylor Upton House is the third oldest surviving home on Mahoning Avenue in Warren, OH, which is known as “Millionaires’ Row.” The Greek Revival home was built by General Simon Perkins in 1840 for his son, Henry B. Perkins, who sold the home to Ezra Taylor in 1873. The house was originally designed in Egyptian motif, but was modified to a vernacular Greek Revival style sometime prior to the Taylor occupancy. The original center portion of the house was added to on three different occasions, one occurring after Upton moved out in 1931 due to losing the house to a sheriff’s sale. In 1945 the house served as a community center, and in 1952 was converted into five apartments, which involved dividing the dining room in half to serve as a bedroom and kitchen.  In 1989, the Upton Association purchased the house and worked with preservation architects to restore the house to its appearance during Upton’s occupancy. The house achieved National Historic Landmark status in 1992 for its prominence in the Women’s Suffrage Movement, and an Ohio Historical Marker was dedicated to Harriet Taylor Upton on the property for Ohio’s bicentennial in 2003. The restoration of the house and gardens continues today through the efforts of the Upton Association, along with educational programming for all ages and house tours.

Originally constructed in 1840 for the family of General Simon Perkins, this house in Warren, OH is better known for its most famous owner, women's suffrage leader Harriet Taylor Upton. Upton occupied the house from 1887-1931, and from 1903-1905 the home served as the headquarters of the National American Woman's Suffrage Association (NAWSA). The house deteriorated in the second half of the 20th century and would have been demolished, had it not been for the efforts of local preservationists who refurbished the home. The Upton House was listed to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 for its significance to the Women's Suffrage Movement. 

Harriet Taylor Upton House

East Cleveland was one of the earliest cities to grant women suffrage rights on June 6, 1916. On June 7, 1916, the Plain Dealer stated, "Women gain vote in East Cleveland," and "East Cleveland yesterday became the first city east of the Mississippi River to grant by home rule suffrage to women in municipal elections. The proposal carried in every one of four wards of the city, the total vote being 936 to 508." Cleveland was a hub of suffrage activity through the late 19th and 20th centuries. The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) was organized in Cleveland on November 24, 1869 and held their first national convention at Case Hall on Superior Avenue in 1869. The AWSA was led by Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe, and would merge with the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in 1890. The Cuyahoga County Woman's Suffrage Association was founded in 1910 by its director, Elizabeth Hauser. Hauser was one of the leading suffragists in Ohio, working alongside other lobbyists to gather 15,000 signatures on suffrage petitions for the 1912 Constitutional Convention in Columbus. On February 15, the Convention voted 76 to 34 in favor of submitting Amendment 23 for women's suffrage to vote at a special election on September 3. Though Amendment 23 was not passed, it added further momentum in the suffrage movement, as Ohio became the first state east of the Mississippi to vote on the question of universal suffrage. Following the convention, the Cuyahoga County Woman's Suffrage Association changed its name to the Cuyahoga County Woman's Suffrage Party, more often referred to as the Cleveland Woman's Suffrage Party. The Woman's Suffrage Party headquarters was located at 13435 Euclid Avenue, and acted as the social and political center for the suffrage movement in Cleveland. Hauser recruited local society women to attend suffrage lectures and luncheons, including Lucia McCurdy McBride (Mrs. Malcolm L. McBride). McBride became the director of the Cleveland Woman's Suffrage Party, and the founder, financial secretary, and director of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association (1911-1920). She was also a charter member and president (1920; 1933; 1943) of the Cleveland League of Women Voters. Harriet Keeler (1846-1921) acted as President of the Cleveland Woman's Suffrage Party in 1913, but stepped down due to health troubles. Keeler was a teacher, botanist, and author, and spent more than four decades in the Cleveland Public School system, serving a brief term as the city's first female superintendent. Minerva Brooks presided over the Woman's Suffrage Party in 1914, and played an integral role in securing women's suffrage in the city. 1915-16 were busy years for Cleveland suffragists, as they allocated their efforts to furthering the national and state campaigns, but also the local campaign: They held a membership drive to sign up all women not opposed to suffrage and advocated to secure municipal suffrage for East Cleveland. In 1914, East Cleveland passed the State Suffrage Amendment with a large majority, with Mayor Minshall in favor of women's suffrage. However, many did not believe the Amendment would be held as constitutional in the new Charter. The members of the Woman's Suffrage Party were optimistic that they could convince members of the Charter Commission to include women's suffrage on the upcoming ballot. Lawyer Florence E. Allen gave her arguments on the constitutionality of a suffrage clause, stating "the woman suffrage proposal is perfectly legal, having as a precedent the ruling of the Illinois Supreme Court which granted Chicago women municipal suffrage." A petition containing 1,403 names (about half of the women of East Cleveland eligible to vote) was presented to the Charter Commission, and eventually secured a spot on the ballot. On election day, June 6, 1916, the Municipal Suffrage Amendment won by a 426 vote majority. The victory in East Cleveland encouraged other localities, such as Lakewood in 1917, to pass their own Charter Amendments for women's suffrage on municipal issues. In February 1917, James A. Reynolds, a Democratic Representative of Cuyahoga County, introduced a bill that petitioned for women's suffrage in presidential elections. The bill was passed by the Ohio House and Senate, and was put a vote in the November election as the Reynolds Presidential Suffrage Law, but was repudiated at the polls. Cleveland suffragists still considered the bill a victory, and Judge Florence E. Allen secured a victory in the East Cleveland case, when the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the 1916 Municipal Suffrage Amendment to the Charter. Following the ratification of the 19th Amendment by the state of Ohio and the passing of the Reynolds-Fouts Presidential Suffrage bill on June 16, 1919, members of the Cleveland Woman's Suffrage Party voted to disband and allocate their membership of 80,000 to a new organization. The May 28, 1920 issue of the Plain Dealer states that the Woman's Suffrage Party celebrated their history at their Fifth Annual Convention with a pageant at the Duchess Theater. The convention resumed at the Hollenden Hotel on May 29, 1920, when the Suffrage Party officially disbanded, and president Mrs. Harris R. Cooley and members of the Executive Board resigned. Members reorganized as the Cleveland League of Women Voters, modernly known as the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland. The League is a nonpartisan group formed with the purposes of educating the woman voter, working for necessary legislation, and encouraging women to become involved in political affairs.

Euclid Avenue in East Cleveland, OH was the site of the Cleveland Woman's Suffrage Party headquarters starting in 1912. On June 7, 1916, the Plain Dealer verified the location of the Woman's Suffrage Party headquarters, and reported a jubilant celebration after East Cleveland voters approved a Charter Amendment extending suffrage rights to women in municipal elections. Ohio became the first state east of the Mississippi to vote on issues of universal suffrage (1912), and East Cleveland became one of the first cities to grant woman suffrage for municipal issues (1916); a decision that was upheld the following year by the Ohio Supreme Court. Following the ratification of the 19th Amendment for women's suffrage, the Cleveland Woman's Suffrage Party disbanded in May 1920 and reorganized as the Cleveland League of Women Voters.

Cleveland Woman's Suffrage Party Headquarters

The Anthony family owned the land since before the Revolutionary War. They and other Quakers made their way to Adams from Rhode Island and southeastern&nbsp;Massachusetts. Her father, David, established a cotton mill and was a strong advocate of education; he also worked as a teacher. The house remained in the family until 1895. It was&nbsp;privately owned until 1926 when it became a museum. It was restored in 2006-2009. Reflecting the way that historical interpretations are often employed to make contemporary&nbsp;and political arguments, Anthony has increasingly been cited as an anti-restillist (opposition to abortion). Documentation for this claim is difficult to support conclusively given the taboo nature of abortion in Anthony's lifetime, the lack of modern medical technology, and the fact that very few women or men openly considered or discussed the topic publicly. In her life, Anthony may have breached the topic in a handful of journal entries, once predicting that a relative would regret "tampering with herself" after reportedly ending her pregnancy. Anthony also refused advertisements for dangerous and illicit drugs that were sometimes used to abort a pregnancy. At the same time, Anthony refused to publish other advertisements&nbsp;for "quack' medicines and she maintained friendships with women who openly discussed abortion despite the taboo nature of the topic at that time. In an interview Slate Magazine, Ann Gordon, editor of the six-volume "Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony" dismissed claims that Anthony's stance on abortion was clearly identified in any way that might be applicable to the modern practice or debate about abortion and reproductive rights. Given Anthony's consistent position in favor of women's rights and the stark differences between the modern practice and debate about abortion and the taboo nature of the topic in Anthony's time, Gordon concluded that those who claim the suffragist as a Pro-life activist are choosing that interpretation rather than exploring the question and adjusting their thesis in the face of evidence and historic context.&nbsp;

Susan B. Anthony, one of the most important figures of the 19th century, was born in this house in 1820. Born into a Quaker family, Anthony was a staunch abolitionist, a supporter of temperance, and an advocate for women's rights. Over time, she became best known as one of the most significant leaders in the movement to pass laws that would recognize and guarantee women's right to vote. 

The house now serves as a small museum and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house was built by Anthony's father in 1817. The museum features period items, literature, and memorabilia related to Susan's early life and legacy as a suffragist. Her Quaker upbringing is central to her life and work and is a central theme in the museum. Perhaps the most striking part of the museum is a visit to the room in which Susan was born. 

Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum 

Margaret Fuller was born on May 23rd, 1810 in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. She was the eldest daughter of a lawyer named Timothy Fuller. Timothy facilitated her high-paced education which would allow her to become a prodigy by her teens but also caused her to experience a "hysteria which plagued her for the rest of her life" by age 10. The Fullers lived at the home at 71 Cherry Street until Margaret was sixteen. Throughout her twenties and thirties, Margaret moved several times making this home her longest held residence. Maraget's education allowed her to meet men as equals throughout her life adn she became familiar with Transcendentalists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Bronson Alcott.In 1817, Timothy was elected as a congressman for Massachusetts and served until 1825. However, by 1833 he felt that his political aspirations had been unfulfilled and his law practice was shrinking so he moved to Groton, Massachusetts and began a family farm. Just two years later Timothy died of cholera without having written up a will. This caused Margaret, her mother, and her siblings to become dependent on the charity of her uncles. Margaret began working as a schoolteacher in order to support her family, and briefly worked at Bronson Alcott's school from 1836 to 1837. Margaret continued to be involved with other intellectuals at the time, including Elizabeth Palmer Peabody. In peabody's house, Margaret began holding what she called "conversations" -- discussion groups for women. She held these conversations for five years.Beginning in 1840, Margaret began writing for and editing the Boston Dial with Emerson and George Ripley. She published an essay entitled The Great Lawsuit in the Dial, which she would later expand into her famous book entitled Woman in the Nineteenth Century. Considered "the first major American exposition of feminism," the book featured a protagonist named Miranda who mirrored many aspects of Fuller's life including her father's commitment to education. Inspired by Transcendentalism, abolitionism, and Fourierism, Margaret argued for equal political and economic rights for women and challenged ideas related to prostitution, sexual customs, and marriage. Margaret eventually quit editing for Boston Dial because she hadn't received the payment she was owed. In 1844, Horace Greeley convinced her to move tot New York and work for the New York Tribune for which she wrote 250 articles. In 1846, Margaret moved to Europe and became Greeley's foreign correspondent. While in Italy, she became involved with revolutionary figures like Guiseppi Mazzini and Giovanni Angelo Ossoli. Margaret married Giovanni and they had a son together. When their son was two years old, the family decided to move to America even though Giovanni didn't speak English. Margaret was hoping to return to New York and write a book about the Roman Revolution. However, their ship's captain died of small pox on the way there and his inexperienced first mate had to take over. During a storm on July 19th, 1850, the ship wrecked on Fire Island. Because they couldn't swim and nobody made an effort to rescue them, Margaret and her family drowned. Her son's body eventually washed ashore, but she and Giovanni were never recovered. Among the items recovered from the wreck was Margaret's manuscript for her book on the Roman Revolution, which Thoreau found.

This historic house was constructed in 1807 by Timothy Fuller. His daughter Margaret Fuller, author of Woman in the Nineteenth Century was born at the house four years later and it became her home until the age of 16. The Fullers owned the house until 1844, but it became a tenement int he last half of the 19th cenutry. In 1902, the Cambridge YWCA turned it into one of the first settlement houses in the United States. At that time, the staff of the Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House organization worked to help women who had recently arrived in the United States with a variety of services. The organization began working to preserve the home in the 1940's. Today, the historic home is still operating programs that fulfill the vision of Progressive reformers with an emphasis on education and social services.

Margaret Fuller House

In 1972, the United Nations declared that 1975 would the International Women's Year and the U.N. conference was held in Mexico City that year. To further the goals of that conference in U.S., in January&nbsp;1975 President Ford issued an executive order that created a National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year, whose goal was to promote gender equality. Congress then authorized tax-payer funds for state conferences, during&nbsp;which delegates were elected to go to the national conference in Houston. Over the course of four-day gathering, participants debated the 26 resolutions. Among the speakers who attended were Betty Ford, Lady Bird Johnson, Maya Angelou, and Coretta Scott King. The conference was chaired by Bella Abzug. There was also a counter-conference&nbsp;of conservative women led by Phyllis Schlafly. It was held at a different location&nbsp;and attracted around 15,000 participants. Its purpose was to promote traditional, pro-family values and as such was anti-feminist. Participants opposed lesbian rights, legal abortion, and the Equal Rights Amendment. As stated above,&nbsp;the conference produced the National Plan of Action which was delivered to Congress&nbsp;in March 1978. President Carter soon&nbsp;established the National Advisory Committee for Women and the Senate passed a three-year extension for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (35 states ratified it up to that point, three short of the required 38). This extension was considered a significant achievement (the amendment ultimately failed in 1982). Thus, despite the counter-conference and the&nbsp;heated debates that ensued, the conference was an important milestone in the women's movement.

This marker commemorates the National Women's Conference on November 18-21, 1977, which was held here in the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts (then called the Sam Houston Coliseum). The conference was the first large-scale political gathering of women since the Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. Around 2,000 delegates from all fifty states and six territories participated, and between 15,000-20,000 others were present as observers. Generally speaking, the purpose of the conference was to address the discrimination against women. Participants assessed the role of women in American society by examining several issues including reproductive rights, sexual orientation, national healthcare, education reform, and the Equal Rights Amendment—the proposed amendment to the Constitution that would guarantee equal rights for all Americans regardless of gender. The conference produced a pamphlet called the National Plan of Action that listed 26 demands to improve women's lives. The conference contributed significantly to the women's rights movement and also to Houston's social and cultural development. 

Site of the National Women's Conference November 18 - 21, 1977 - Historical Marker

The first attempt at organizing for women’s suffrage in Texas occurred in 1893&nbsp;when the Texas Equal Rights Association (T.E.R.A.) was formed at a convention held in Dallas.&nbsp; The Dallas Equal Suffrage Association (DESA) was formed twenty years later, in October 1913, to support the cause of women’s suffrage in Texas.&nbsp; Many of the women active in the movement were a part of previously formed suffrage organizations. Margaret Bell Houston, daughter of Sam Houston Jr., was the organization’s first president.By 1917, the organization was over 600 members strong, many of whom were helping to support the war effort in Dallas.&nbsp; In March of 1917, DESA conducted a three-day “Suffrage School” that was meant to educate the public on the benefits of women’s suffrage. &nbsp;During the 1918 Texas gubernatorial campaign, members procured the signatures of 10,000 Dallas County women on a petition that backed a primary suffrage bill.&nbsp; It passed and allowed women to vote in primary elections, two years prior to national female suffrage.&nbsp; Over 16,000 women registered to vote in the July 1918 primary elections.&nbsp;DESA eventually merged with the League of Women Voters of Dallas in 1919.&nbsp; On June 28, 1919, Texas became the first southern state to ratify the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution that gave women the right to vote nationwide.&nbsp; A Texas historical marker honoring the women who fought for suffrage was dedicated in 2010 outside the Dallas County Courthouse.

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A Texas Historical Marker honoring the role of Dallas women in achieving full suffrage rights for Texas women was dedicated October 14, 2010, outside the Dallas County Old Red County Courthouse. The marker is located in front of the 1892 Dallas County Courthouse, also known as the Old Red Museum. 

Women's Suffrage in Dallas County Historical Marker. 

Key coordinator of the woman suffrage movement and skillful political strategist, Carrie (Lane) Chapman Catt revitalized the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and played a leading role in its successful campaign to win voting rights for women. In 1920 she founded the League of Women Voters upon ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.<div>Carrie Clinton Lane was born on January 9, 1859, in Ripon, Wisconsin, the second of three children of Lucius and Maria (Clinton) Lane. At the age of seven, her family moved to rural Charles City, Iowa, where she graduated from high school in 1877. In 1880, she graduated from the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm in Ames (now Iowa State University) at the top of her class, having worked her way through school by washing dishes, working in the school library, and teaching. She was also the only woman in her graduating class. After college, she returned to Charles City to work as a law clerk and, in nearby Mason City, as a school teacher and a principal. In 1883, she became one of the first women in the nation appointed superintendent of schools.In February 1885, Lane married Leo Chapman, editor and publisher of the Mason City Republican, in a wedding ceremony at her parents' rural Charles City home. Mr. Chapman died of typhoid fever the following year in San Francisco, California, where he had gone to seek new employment. Arriving a few days after her husband's death, the young widow decided to remain in San Francisco, where she was employed by a newspaper during part of that time. In 1887, she returned to Charles City and joined the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association for whom she worked as a professional writer and lecturer. After a short period of time, she became the group's recording secretary. From 1890 to 1892, she served as the Iowa association's state organizer. At the time of Carrie Chapman's rise to her state organization's highest office, in June 1890, she married George Catt, a fellow Iowa Agricultural College alumnus she had met during her stay in San Francisco who encouraged her suffrage activity. Mrs. Catt also began work nationally for the National American Woman Suffrage Association, speaking in 1890 at its Washington, D.C., convention. In the following months, Catt's work, and her writing and speaking engagements, established her reputation as a leading suffragist. In 1892, she was asked by Susan B. Anthony to address Congress on the proposed suffrage amendment. In 1900, she succeeded Anthony as NAWSA president. From then on, her time was spent primarily in speechmaking, planning campaigns, organizing women, and gaining political experience.In 1902, Catt helped organize the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA), which eventually incorporated sympathetic associations in 32 nations. In 1904, she resigned her NAWSA presidency in order to care for her ailing husband. His death in October 1905, followed by the deaths of Susan B. Anthony (February 1906), Catt's younger brother William (September 1907) and her mother (December 1907) left Catt grief-stricken. Her doctor and friends encouraged her to travel abroad; as a result, she spent much of the following eight years as IWSA president promoting equal-suffrage rights worldwide.Catt returned to the United States in 1915 to resume the leadership of NAWSA, which had become badly divided under the leadership of Anna Howard Shaw. In 1916, at a NAWSA convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Catt unveiled her "Winning Plan" to campaign simultaneously for suffrage on both the state and federal levels, and to compromise for partial suffrage in the states resisting change. Under Catt's dynamic leadership, NAWSA won the backing of the U.S. House and Senate, as well as state support for the amendment's ratification. In 1917, New York passed a state woman suffrage referendum, and by 1918, President Woodrow Wilson was finally converted to the cause. On August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment officially became part of the United States Constitution. One hundred forty-four years after U.S. independence, all women in the United States were at last guaranteed the right to vote.Stepping down from the NAWSA presidency after its victory, Catt continued her work for equal suffrage, promoting education of the newly-enfranchised by founding the new League of Women Voters and serving as its honorary president for the rest of her life. In 1923, with Nettie Rogers Shuler, she published Woman Suffrage and Politics: The Inner Story of the Suffrage Movement. In her later years, Catt's interests broadened to include the causes of world peace and child labor. She founded the National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War in 1925, serving as its chair until 1932 and as honorary chair thereafter. She also supported the League of Nations and, later, the United Nations.Honored and praised by countless institutions for her more than half-century of public service, Carrie Chapman Catt died of heart failure at her New Rochelle, New York, home on March 9, 1947. At Woodlawn Cemetery in the north Bronx, New York, she is buried alongside her longtime companion, Mary Garret Hay, a fellow New York state suffragist, with whom she lived for over 20 years. </div>

The girlhood home of Carrie Lane Chapman Catt; suffragist, founder of the League of Women Voters and activist in the cause for world peace. The site, located on 10 acres, includes a museum and an interpretive/education center.


Carrie Lane Chapman Catt Home and Museum

The process of erecting this monument on the Minnesota State Capitol grounds began in 1994 when the League of Women Voters of Minnesota formed a committee to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the 19th Amendment ratification. In addition to planning commemoration events in 1995 the committee worked with the Capitol Area Architectural Planning Board to create a monument to the Women’s Suffrage Movement on the Capitol grounds.The Nineteenth Amendment Celebration Committee requested designs for a memorial garden that would feature the suffragist colors of yellow, white, and purple. The winning design by Ralph Nelson, Raveevarn Choksombachai, and Martha McQuade of Loom Studio and Roger Grothe of Aloha Landscaping is titled “Garden of Time: Landscape of Change.” The committee raised $500,000 to fund the project from the state legislature and private donations. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on August 26, 1998 and the memorial was dedicated on August 26, 2000 (the 80th anniversary of the 19th Amendment ratification).The design of the garden is meant to mimic the natural landscape of Minnesota and was originally planted with bulbs and wildflowers in the suffragist colors. Along one end of the garden is a 90-foot steel trellis that features the names of 25 leaders of the Minnesota suffrage movement. The trellis symbolizes the timeline of the suffrage movement in the state and nation with each vertical pole representing a year in the movement and the horizontal pieces corresponding with the lifetime of each featured suffragist. As a plaque on the monument states: “The cooperation of women in this movement for significant social change is physically reflected in the construction of the trellis. Each element while being singularly important cannot stand on its own, but when woven together form a strong unique structure.” There is also a series of tablets detailing the fight for the vote in Minnesota. Many of the original plantings did not survive so the landscape architects of Aloha Landscaping returned in 2004 to refurbish the gardens with hardier plants.The 25 Minnesota Suffragists Honored on the Memorial Trellis:Harriet Bishop (1818-1883)Mary Jackman Colburn (1811-1901)Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815-84)Sarah Burger Stearns (1836-1904)Martha Rogers Ripley (1843-1912)Julia Bullard Nelson (1842-1914)Gratia Countryman (1866-1953)Emily Gilman Noyes (1854-1930)Ethel Edgerton Hurd (1845-1929)Maud Conkey Stockwell (1863-1958)Maria Sanford (1836-1920)Nanny Mattson Jaeger (1859-1938)Josephine Sarles Simpson (1862-1948)Fanny Fligelman Brin (1884-1961)Josephine Schain (1886-1972)Sarah Tarleton Colvin (1865-1949)Clara Hampson Ueland (1860-1927)Nellie Griswold Francis (1874-1969)Elizabeth Hunt Harrison (1848-1931)Anna Dickie Olesen (1885-1971)Bertha Berglin Moller (1888-unknown)Marguerite Milton Wells (1872-1959)Alice Ames Winter (1865-1944)Mabeth Hurd Paige (1870-1961)Myrtle Cain (1894-1980)

The Minnesota Woman Suffrage Memorial was erected by the Nineteenth Amendment Celebration Committee of the League of Women Voters of Minnesota. Planning began in 1994 and the memorial was dedication on August 26, 2000. The memorial consists of a garden planted in the suffragist colors and a 90-foot trellis honoring 25 leaders of the suffrage movement in Minnesota.

Women's Suffrage History Trail

Women's Suffrage Party, Broome County District Headquarters

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Additional Information