The College Equal Suffrage League (CESL) was an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
woman suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
organization founded in 1900 by
Maud Wood Park
Maud Wood Park (January 25, 1871 – May 8, 1955) was an American suffragist and women's rights activist.
Career overview
She was born in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1887 she graduated from St. Agnes School in Albany, New York, after which she ta ...
and
Inez Haynes Irwin
Inez Haynes Irwin (March 2, 1873 – September 25, 1970) was an American feminist author, journalist, member of the National Women's Party, and president of the Authors Guild. Many of her works were published under her former name Inez Haynes ...
(''nee'' Gillmore), as a way to attract younger Americans to the women's rights movement. The League spurred the creation of college branches around the country and influenced the actions of other prominent groups such as
National American Woman Suffrage Association
The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an organization formed on February 18, 1890, to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States. It was created by the merger of two existing organizations, the National ...
(NAWSA).
History
The beginning of the CESL dates to the 1900 NAWSA convention in
Washington, D.C.
)
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Maud Wood Park, a 29-year-old attendee and recent
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...
alum, realized that she was the youngest delegate. Concerned by the absence of younger members in NAWSA and the general lack of interest in suffrage among college women, Park decided to work toward recruiting a new generation to the campaign.
She later commented in regard to this decision:
After hearing Miss Anthony speak I came to realize what her life had been, the heroism of her service not for herself but for the sex, and so for the whole human race. When I felt that, clearly I felt the obligation of service for the cause for which Miss Anthony and her noble associates had sacrificed so much and I promised myself then that I would try to make more women see these things as I have seen them. College women should realize their debt to the pioneers who have made our education and competence possible. They should be made to feel the obligation of their opportunities and to understand that one of the ways to pay that debt is to fight the battle for suffrage now in the quarter of the field in which it is still unwon.
Together with Inez Haynes Irwin, another Radcliffe graduate and suffrage supporter, Park formed the Massachusetts CESL in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. Park toured colleges around the United States, talking to recent alumnae in hopes that they would then encourage younger university and high school students to join the movement. Park's tours eventually sparked the formation of new chapters in 30 states.
In 1906, inspired by the CESL's efforts and as a way to increase their public presence, NAWSA began actively recruiting college students by sponsoring "College Evenings" at their larger suffrage events.
In 1908, the various state chapters of the CESL joined to form the National College Equal Suffrage League and became an official branch of NAWSA.
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...
President
M. Carey Thomas
Martha Carey Thomas (January 2, 1857 – December 2, 1935) was an American educator, suffragist, and linguist. She was the second president of Bryn Mawr College, a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Biography
Early life
...
served as the first president and Maud Wood Park as vice president.
The NCESL continued to recruit people to the suffrage cause until 1917 when the organization disbanded. Many of the League's members continued to play major roles in helping to push the Nineteenth Amendment through Congress, campaigning on the federal level and later serving in organizations like the
League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters (LWV or the League) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization in the United States. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, and advocating for vot ...
, which formed in 1920.
Northern California chapter
The CESL had an active chapter in Northern California which contributed to the state's
passage of women's suffrage in 1911.
Suffragists involved in this chapter included:
*
Kate Brousseau
Kate Brousseau (April 24, 1862 – July 8, 1938) was an American professor and researcher on mental hygiene, chair of the Psychology Department at Mills College.
Early life
Kate Brousseau was born on April 24, 1862, in Ypsilanti, Michigan, daugh ...
* Adelaide Brown
*
Genevieve Cooke, Corresponding Secretary
*
Lilien Jane Martin, Third Vice-President
*
Belle Judith Miller
* Ethel Moore
*
Anna Elizabeth Rude, Treasurer
*
Charlotte Anita Whitney
Charlotte Anita Whitney (July 7, 1867 – February 4, 1955), best known as "Anita Whitney", was an American women's rights activist, political activist, suffragist, and early Communist Labor Party of America and Communist Party USA organizer in ...
, President
Notable people
*
Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony (born Susan Anthony; February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to s ...
*
Caroline Lexow Babcock
Caroline Lexow Babcock (February 5, 1882 – March 8, 1980) was an American pacifist and suffragist, co-founder of the Women's Peace Union, and Executive Secretary of the National Women's Party from 1938 to 1946.
Early life and education
Caroli ...
*
Mary Livermore Barrows
*
Louise Bryant
Louise Bryant (December 5, 1885 – January 6, 1936) was an American feminist, political activist, and journalist best known for her sympathetic coverage of Russia and the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution, Russian Revolution of Novembe ...
*
Elinor Byrns
*
Marion Cothren
Marion Benedict Cothren (1880–1949) was an American suffrage and peace activist, lawyer, and children's author.
Early life and education
Marion Benedict was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York by her parents William Marsh Benedict (a lawyer) ...
*
Maria de Lopez
*
Rebecca Lane Hooper Eastman
*
Sara Bard Field
Sara Bard Field (September 1, 1882 – June 15, 1974) was an American poet, suffragist, free love advocate, Georgist, and Christian socialist. She worked on successful campaigns for women's suffrage in Oregon and Nevada. Working with Alice Paul ...
*
Edith Jordan Gardner
*
Elsie Hill
Elsie Hill (September 23, 1883 – August 6, 1970) was an American suffragist, as were her sisters Clara and Helena Hill.
Biography
She was the daughter of Congressman Ebenezer J. Hill and Mary Eileen Mossman. Hill graduated from Vassar College ...
*
Inez Haynes Irwin
Inez Haynes Irwin (March 2, 1873 – September 25, 1970) was an American feminist author, journalist, member of the National Women's Party, and president of the Authors Guild. Many of her works were published under her former name Inez Haynes ...
*
Harriet Burton Laidlaw
Harriet Wright Laidlaw ( Burton; December 16, 1873 – January 25, 1949) was an American social reformer and suffragist. She campaigned in support of the Nineteenth Amendment and the United Nations, and was the first female corporate director of ...
*
Margaret Shove Morriss
*
Maud Wood Park
Maud Wood Park (January 25, 1871 – May 8, 1955) was an American suffragist and women's rights activist.
Career overview
She was born in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1887 she graduated from St. Agnes School in Albany, New York, after which she ta ...
*
Mary Gray Peck
Mary Gray Peck (October 21, 1867January 11, 1957) was an American journalist, educator, suffragist, and clubwoman. She was interested in economic and industrial problems of women, and investigated labor conditions in Europe and the United States. ...
*
M. Carey Thomas
Martha Carey Thomas (January 2, 1857 – December 2, 1935) was an American educator, suffragist, and linguist. She was the second president of Bryn Mawr College, a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Biography
Early life
...
See also
*
Women's suffrages organizations
*
List of California suffragists
This is a list of notable Women's suffrage in California, California suffragists who were politically active before and during the successful 1911 California Proposition 4, Proposition 4 in 1911 which gave women won the right to vote.
Groups
...
*
List of suffragists and suffragettes
This list of suffragists and suffragettes includes noted individuals active in the worldwide women's suffrage movement who have campaigned or strongly advocated for women's suffrage, the organisations which they formed or joined, and the public ...
*
Timeline of women's suffrage in California
This timeline provides an overview of the political movement for women's suffrage in California. Women's suffrage became legal with the passage of 1911 California Proposition 4, Proposition 4 in 1911 yet not all women were enfranchised as a result ...
*
Timeline of women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant ...
*
Women's suffrage in California
Women's suffrage in California refers to the political struggle for voting rights for women in the state of California. The movement began in the 19th century and was successful with the passage of 1911 California Proposition 4, Proposition 4 on O ...
References
Further reading
*Graham, Sara Hunter (1996). ''Woman Suffrage and the New Democracy''. New Haven: Yale University Press.
*Knupfer, Anne Meis and Christine Wovshner, eds. (2008) ''The educational work of women's organizations, 1890-1960''. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
*Mead, Rebecca J. (2004) ''How the Vote was Won: Woman Suffrage in the Western United States, 1868-1914''. New York: New York University Press.
External links
College Equal Suffrage League Records in the Woman's Rights Collection, 1904-1920.Schlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
Maud Wood Park Papers in the Woman's Rights Collection, 1870-1960.Schlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
* ttp://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/234collegesuffrage.html News about the College Equal Suffrage League in Portland, Oregon 1912br>Papers of Maud Wood Park in the Woman’s Rights Collection
{{Suffrage
Women's suffrage advocacy groups in the United States