The West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association (WVESA) was an organization formed on November 29, 1895, at a conference in
Grafton, West Virginia
Grafton is a city in and the county seat of Taylor County, West Virginia, Taylor County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 4,729 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It originally developed as a junction point for the Bal ...
. This conference and the subsequent annual conventions were an integral part 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 ...
's Southern Committee's work to reach into previously under-represented areas for supporting the women's suffrage movement. The WVESA relied not only on the national association but also worked together with activists from the state's chapter of the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...
, state chapter of the
General Federation of Women's Clubs
The General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), founded in 1890 during the Progressive Movement, is a federation of over 3,000 women's clubs in the United States which promote civic improvements through volunteer service. Many of its activities ...
, and the clubs affiliated with the
National Association of Colored Women's Clubs
The National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) is an American organization that was formed in July 1896 at the First Annual Convention of the National Federation of Afro-American Women in Washington, D.C., United States, by a merger of t ...
to win the right to vote. Though they lost in a landslide the 1916 referendum to amend the state's constitution for women's suffrage, the group provided the strong push for ratifying the federal amendment in spring 1920 that led to West Virginia becoming the thirty-fourth of the thirty-six states needed. That fall, West Virginia women voted for the first time ever, and the WVESA transformed itself into the League of Women Voters of West Virginia.
Background
When
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...
formed as a state in 1863, women's suffrage was not included in the new constitution. In 1867 while the
American Equal Rights Association
The American Equal Rights Association (AERA) was formed in 1866 in the United States. According to its constitution, its purpose was "to secure Equal Rights to all American citizens, especially the right of suffrage, irrespective of race, color o ...
(AERA) was in full force, West Virginia State Senator Samuel Young proposed a bill advocating the enfranchisement of women "who can read the Declaration of Independence intelligently, and write a legible hand, and have actually paid tax the year previous to their proposing to vote."
His bill did not get any supporters. Then in February 1869, Senator Young wrote an open letter to the
National Woman Suffrage Association
The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed on May 15, 1869, to work for women's suffrage in the United States. Its main leaders were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was created after the women's rights movement s ...
's newspaper
''The Revolution'' to report that he had again proposed a bill for women's suffrage and he named the eight out of twenty-two senators who had voted in favor of it. He also reported that the eight senators had voted to invite
Anna E. Dickinson to lecture at the state-house while she was there in the state presenting at
Wheeling, West Virginia
Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...
.
Despite this early attempt in the legislature, woman suffrage did not gain any traction in the following decades.
Founding Convention
![Jessie Grove Manley 1896](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Jessie_Grove_Manley_1896.jpg)
Since the founding of the Southern Committee led by
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 ...
and
Laura Clay, 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) began working on changing the minds of southern legislators at both the state and federal levels. West Virginia was a target state, and by 1895, NAWSA funded a visit by Annie L. Diggs of Kansas in the spring who reported "the question was too new to make any organization possible."
That fall, NAWSA's national organizer
Mary Garrett Hay
Mary "Mollie" Garrett Hay (August 20, 1857 – August 29, 1928) was an American suffragist and community organizer. She served as president of the Women's City Club of New York, the Woman Suffrage Party and the New York Equal Suffrage League. ...
and th
Rev. Henrietta G. Mooreof Ohio spent two weeks in a series of meetings that led to the formation of several clubs in the northern part of the state. They then organized the call by the NAWSA for a statewide convention at the courthouse in
Grafton, West Virginia
Grafton is a city in and the county seat of Taylor County, West Virginia, Taylor County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 4,729 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It originally developed as a junction point for the Bal ...
, on November 25-26, 1895. The suffrage association formed at that meeting then elected the founding board of officers: President, Mrs. Jessie G. Manley; Vice-president, Mr. Harvey W. Harmer; Corresponding secretary, Mrs. Annie Caldwell Boyd; Recording secretary, Mrs. L.M. Fay; Treasurer, Mrs. K.H. De Woody; Auditors, Mrs. M. Caswell and Mrs. Louise Harden.
After that meeting, Rev. Moore came to Fairmont to give a lecture at the Fairmont Normal School hall and the Fairmont suffrage club formed. A total of nine local clubs affiliated with the state organization in that first month, and President Manley reported to the NAWSA convention in 1896 the following clubs with its official number of members: Wheeling, 22; Benwood, 8; Wellsburg, 12; New Cumberland, 2; New Martinsville, 9; Clarksburg, 39; Grafton, 21; Fairmont, 43; and Mannington, 43.
Annual Conventions
After the founding meeting in 1895, the WVESA relied on Fairmont to organize and host the second convention which took place in January 1897.
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 ...
, chair of the NAWSA organizing committee and close friend of
Mary Garrett Hay
Mary "Mollie" Garrett Hay (August 20, 1857 – August 29, 1928) was an American suffragist and community organizer. She served as president of the Women's City Club of New York, the Woman Suffrage Party and the New York Equal Suffrage League. ...
, took a personal interest in supporting the process and presented at the convention as well. Mrs. Manley stepped down as president and a new executive board was elected: President, Mrs. Fannie J. Wheat, Vice-president, Mrs. Mackie M. Holbert; Recording secretary, Mrs.
Beulah Boyd Ritchie
Anna Beulah Boyd Ritchie (March 24, 1864 – October 4, 1939) was a founding member of the Fairmont Woman Suffrage Club (later the Fairmont Political Equality Club), third president of the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association, and officer in th ...
; Auditors, Mrs. Mary Long Parson and Mrs. Mary Butcher; member to the National Executive Committee, Mrs. Mary H. Grove; and, the corresponding secretary (Annie Caldwell Boyd) and treasurer (Mrs. K.H. De Woody) retained their posts.
Annual conventions thereafter followed:
* April 1898 in Wheeling
* Fall 1899 in Fairmont (
Beulah Boyd Ritchie
Anna Beulah Boyd Ritchie (March 24, 1864 – October 4, 1939) was a founding member of the Fairmont Woman Suffrage Club (later the Fairmont Political Equality Club), third president of the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association, and officer in th ...
elected president)
* December 1900 in Fairmont
* August 1904 in Moundsville (M. Anna Hall elected president)
* October 1905 in Fairmont (Mrs. Anne M. Southern elected president)
* October 1906 in Wheeling (Dr.
Harriet B. Jones elected president)
* November 1907 in Wheeling (Mrs. May Hornbrook elected president)
* October 1908 in Fairmont
* October 1909 in Wheeling
* October 1911 in Fairmont (Mrs. Allie Haymond elected president)
* October 1913 in Wheeling (Miss Margaret McKinney elected president)
* November 1915 in Huntington (Mrs. J. Gale Ebert then Mrs.
Lenna Lowe Yost
Lenna Lowe Yost (January 25, 1878 – May 6, 1972), president of the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association (WVESA) during the state woman suffrage referendum campaign of 1916 and chairman of the WVESA Ratification Committee during the national ...
in 1916 elected president)
* November 1917 in Fairmont (Mrs. John L. Ruhl elected president)
* April 1919 in Charleston
Ratification Committee
In the fall of 1919, WVESA president Ruhl appointed
Lenna Lowe Yost
Lenna Lowe Yost (January 25, 1878 – May 6, 1972), president of the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association (WVESA) during the state woman suffrage referendum campaign of 1916 and chairman of the WVESA Ratification Committee during the national ...
to chair a Ratification Committee that organized a statewide petition drive and gathered together an Advisory Board of 150 men and women from various parts of the state to support their lobbying efforts. Yost led the strategy that positioned individual activists with each legislator as they came to the special session called by Governor
John J. Cornwell
John Jacob Cornwell (July 11, 1867 – September 8, 1953) was a Democratic politician from Romney in Hampshire County, West Virginia. Cornwell served as the 15th Governor of the US state of West Virginia. Cornwell also served in the West Vir ...
in February 1920. This personal attention and insistence to bolster one-on-one interactions overcame the stiff opposition and the legislature sent its ratification of the federal amendment to the Governor for signature on March 10, 1920.
Transition into the League of Women Voters
On September 30, 1920, the WVESA officially transformed into th
League of Women Voters of West Virginia Mrs. Ruhl, president of the WVESA, was elected the founding chairman.
See also
*
History of West Virginia
The history of West Virginia stems from the 1861 Wheeling Convention, which was an assembly of northwestern Virginian Southern Unionists, who aimed to repeal the Ordinance of Secession that Virginia made during the American Civil War (1861–1 ...
*
Lenna Lowe Yost
Lenna Lowe Yost (January 25, 1878 – May 6, 1972), president of the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association (WVESA) during the state woman suffrage referendum campaign of 1916 and chairman of the WVESA Ratification Committee during the national ...
*
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 ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*{{cite book , last1=Jones , first1=Dr. Harriet B. , last2=Yost , first2=Lenna Lowe , editor1-last=Harper , editor1-first=Ida Husted , title=The History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. VI, 1900-1920 , date=1922 , publisher=National American Woman Suffrage Association , location=New York , pages=687–698 , url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.31210013897713?urlappend=%3Bseq=705 , accessdate=26 April 2020 , chapter=XLVII. West Virginia, hdl=2027/uc1.31210013897713?urlappend=%3Bseq=705
*Effland, Anne Wallace.
The Woman Suffrage Movement in West Virginia, 1867-1920, M.A. thesis, West Virginia University, 1983". The Research Repository@WVU.
*Thurston, Karina G.
Lenna Lowe Yost, temperance, and the ratification of the woman suffrage amendment by West Virginia (2009). M.A. Thesis, West Virginia University. The Research Repository@WVU.
Organizations established in 1895
Women's suffrage advocacy groups in the United States
Civil rights organizations in the United States
History of women's rights in the United States
First-wave feminism
Progressive Era in the United States
League of Women Voters
History of women in West Virginia
West Virginia suffrage