Kate M. Gordon (14 July 1861– 24 August 1932) was an American

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

, civic leader, and one of the leading advocates of women's voting rights in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. Gordon was the organizer of the

Southern States Woman Suffrage Conference The Southern States Woman Suffrage Conference (also known as the Southern States Woman Suffrage Association) was a group dedicated to winning voting rights for white women. The group consisted mainly of highly educated, middle and upper class whit ...

and directed the 1918 campaign for

woman suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, 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 gran ...

in the state of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, the first such statewide effort in the American South.

Early years

Kate M. Gordon was born July 14, 1861, in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, the daughter of George Hume Gordon, a Scottish-born schoolmaster, and Margaret (Galiece) Gordon. She had two sisters,

Jean Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

and Fanny, as well as two brothers, George M. and W. A. Gordon. Kate's mother was herself an early advocate of women's right to vote, having attended a women's rights meeting in New York as early as 1853.B.H. Gilley, "Kate Gordon and Louisiana Woman Suffrage," ''Louisiana History,'' vol. 24, no. 3 (Summer 1983), pg. 290. Her father was similarly committed to the principle of equal rights between women and men.

Career

Gordon initially became involved in the women's rights movement in 1896 when she heard a lecture by

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

suffragist Mary C. C. Bradford at a local Unitarian meeting. Soon after Gordon joined the pioneer New Orleans women's rights organization, the Portia Club, organized in 1892, and joined with her sister Jean and other local women in establishing the Era (Equal Rights Association) Club that same year. The two New Orleans-based organizations would subsequently merge to form the Louisiana State Suffrage Association. The first president of the Association was Evelyn W. Ordway, with whom Gordon had worked in the Era Club. Gordon would succeed Ordway, headed the Association from 1904 until 1913.Gilley, "Kate Gordon and Louisiana Woman Suffrage," pg. 291. Gordon's first public organizing effort came in 1899, when she turned out women entitled vote by virtue of being property taxpayers in a special bond election to finance improvements in New Orleans' sewage and drainage system — a particularly critical concern in the city, much of which lay below sea level. Through the Era Club, a Women's Sewerage and Drainage League was established, with Gordon taking her place at the head of this electoral association. In large measure through Gordon's efforts, the bond measure was passed over conservative opposition. In 1900, she addressed the annual convention of the

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), where she met new president of the organization

Carrie Chapman Catt Carrie Chapman Catt (; January 9, 1859 Fowler, p. 3 – March 9, 1947) was an American women's suffrage leader who campaigned for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave U.S. women the right to vote in 1920. Catt ...

. Catt was impressed with Gordon and when a vacancy occurred as the organization's national corresponding secretary in 1901, Gordon was tapped to fill the position. She would continue to serve in that role until 1909.A. Elizabeth Taylor, "Kate M. Gordon," in John D. Buenker and Edward R. Kantowicz (eds.), ''Historical Dictionary of the Progressive Era, 1890–1920.'' Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988; pg. 181. After leaving NAWSA in 1909, Gordon returned to her native New Orleans, where she became engaged in establishing the first hospital in the state of Louisiana for the treatment of victims of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

."Kate Gordon Dead: Pioneer Suffragist,"
''New York Times,'' August 25, 1932, pg. 19. Gordon worked tirelessly raising funds for Camp Hygiea, located near

Covington, Louisiana Covington is a city in, and the parish seat of, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 11,564 at the 2020 United States census. It is located at a fork of the Bogue Falaya and the Tchefuncte River. Covington is part of ...

, and for the Louisiana Anti-Tuberculosis Hospital in New Orleans. She also served as Secretary of the Louisiana Anti-Tuberculosis Society and as Vice President of the New Orleans Anti-Tuberculosis League. She attended and made a presentation at the Kentucky Equal Rights Association's annual meeting in Louisville in 1911. In 1913, Gordon had returned full-time to activity on the issue of women's suffrage. By this time Gordon had shifted her thinking from top-down national voting rights change — proposed constitutional amendments having been introduced unsuccessfully in every Congressional session since that of 1868 — to a state and regional perspective. In November 1913 she was a key organizer of the

, of which she would serve as president until its termination in 1917. She was also editor of the group's official organ, the ''New Southern Citizen.'' Although an outspoken advocate of women's right to vote, Gordon did not believe that this right should be created by constitutional amendment, instead favoring the establishment of voting rights on a state by state basis. When the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was submitted in June 1919, Gordon — somewhat astonishingly — stood in opposition to ratification of the proposal. Such a dissonant

states' rights In American political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, reflecting especially the enumerated powers of Congress and the ...

perspective generated controversy. During her life Gordon also drew criticism from many of her peers for expressing barely concealed

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

views.Marjorie Spruill Wheeler (ed.), ''Votes for Women!: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation.'' Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1995; pg. 51, fn. 56. Gordon assisted in establishing the New Orleans Anti-Tuberculosis Hospital in 1926, serving as the latter's vice president. She also was superintendent of the Milen Home for Feeble-minded Girls from February 1931 until the time of her death.

Death and legacy

Gordon died August 24, 1932, in New Orleans from a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

and was buried in the

Metairie Cemetery Metairie Cemetery is a cemetery in southeastern Louisiana. The name has caused some people to mistakenly presume that the cemetery is located in Metairie, Louisiana, but it is located within the New Orleans city limits, on Metairie Road (and f ...

in New Orleans. She was 71 years old at the time of her death.

Early years

Career

Death and legacy

References

Further reading