Timeline of women's suffrage in Colorado

This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Colorado. Women's suffrage efforts started in the late 1860s. During the state constitutional convention for Colorado, women received a small win when they were granted the right to vote in school board elections. In 1877, the first women's suffrage referendum was defeated. In 1893, another referendum was successful. After winning the right to vote, Colorado women continued to fight for a federal women's suffrage amendment. While most women were able to vote, it wasn't until 1970 that Native Americans living on reservations were enfranchised.

19th century

1860s

1868

John Evans and D. M. Richards worked to include women's suffrage as an issue in the territorial legislature.

1870s

1870

January 3: The territorial governor, Edward M. McCook, addresses the legislature where he supports women's suffrage.

1876

January 10: Women's suffrage convention is held at the Unity Church in Denver.
February 15: The state Constitutional Convention delegates hear arguments on women's suffrage. Women's suffrage is defeated by a vote of 24 to 8, but a provision of the constitution allows later suffrage referendums.

1877

February 15: The Woman Suffrage Association holds their annual convention.
August 15: A mass meeting to organize a women's suffrage campaign took place in Denver.
September 11: Susan B. Anthony arrives in Granada to give a women's suffrage speech.
October 1: Another mass meeting is held in Denver. Speakers include Lucy Stone and Margaret W. Campbell.

1879

Women's rights newspaper, The Colorado Antelope, is founded by Caroline Nichols Churchill.

1800s

1881

The Colorado Equal Association is organized.
A bill to grant municipal suffrage to women fails in the General Assembly.

1890s

1891

The General Assembly receives a women's suffrage petition.

1893

Further information: 1893 Colorado women's suffrage referendum

January 24: Women's suffrage bill comes out of committee and goes to the state House.
March 8: Women's suffrage bill is voted on again in the House and passed 34 to 27.
April 3: The bill passes in the state Senate, 20 to 10.
September 4: Carrie Chapman Catt comes to Colorado for a series of lectures and to help organize suffrage groups.
November 7: The referendum on women's suffrage takes place and suffragists win the right to vote in all elections in Colorado.

20th century

1910s

1914

The Congressional Union opens their headquarters in Denver.

1916

April 15: The Suffrage Special arrives in Denver.
April 17: The Suffrage Special arrives in Colorado Springs.
August: The National Woman's Party holds a convention in Colorado Springs at the Hotel Antlers.

1919

December 8: A special session of the Colorado General Assembly is called.
December 15: Colorado ratifies the Nineteenth Amendment.
The Prison Special visits Denver.

1920s

1920

June 17: The State Equal Suffrage Association dissolves and becomes the League of Women Voters of Colorado.

1924

The Indian Citizenship Act gives Native Americans U.S. citizenship, but Colorado will not allow them to vote.

1970s

1970

Native Americans living on reservations are finally allowed to vote in Colorado.

References

^ Brown 1898, p. 5.
Brown 1898, p. 7.
Brown 1898, p. 9.
^ Brown 1898, p. 10.
Brown 1898, p. 11.
"The Road to the Vote". History Colorado. 7 November 2019. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
^ Brown 1898, p. 12.
Frost, Jennifer; Chomic, Leslie; Goldstein, Marcia; Hunt, Rebecca; Voehringer, Heidi (2002). "Why Did Colorado Suffragists Fail to Win the Right to Vote in 1877, but Succeed in 1893?: Document 9: Caroline Nichols Churchill, 'Women at School Elections,' The Colorado Antelope, 2 (March 1881), p. 28". Women and Social Movements – via Alexander Street.
Frost, Jennifer; Chomic, Leslie; Goldstein, Marcia; Hunt, Rebecca; Voehringer, Heidi (2002). "Why Did Colorado Suffragists Fail to Win the Right to Vote in 1877, but Succeed in 1893?: Timeline". Women and Social Movements – via Alexander Street.
^ Brown 1898, p. 16.
Anthony 1902, p. 512.
Anthony 1902, p. 512-513.
Anthony 1902, p. 513.
Moore 2020, p. 10.
Anthony 1902, p. 518.
"Week's Events in Colorado". Eastern Colorado Times. 1914-10-01. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-02-18 – via Newspapers.com.
"Suffrage Special Has Arrived in Denver". The Santa Fe New Mexican. April 15, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved 15 February 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
"Suffrage Special Has Arrived in Denver". The Santa Fe New Mexican. April 15, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved January 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
Irwin 1921, p. 172.
Harper 1922, p. 65.
"Colorado and the 19th Amendment". U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
"Louise Ewing Burg will give a presentation about her suffragist grandmother, Lucy Ewing, on Sunday". Canon City Daily Record. 2020-09-18. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
Harper 1922, p. 66.
^ "What does Equal Suffrage mean?". History Colorado. 16 August 2020. Retrieved 2021-02-20.

Sources

Anthony, Susan B. (1902). Anthony, Susan B.; Harper, Ida Husted (eds.). The History of Woman Suffrage. Vol. 4. Indianapolis: The Hollenbeck Press.
Brown, Joseph G. (1898). The History of Equal Suffrage in Colorado, 1868-1898. Denver: News Job Printing Co.
Harper, Ida Husted (1922). The History of Woman Suffrage. New York: J.J. Little & Ives Company.
Irwin, Inez Haynes (1921). The Story of the Woman's Party. Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc. – via Internet Archive.
Moore, Leslie (2020). From Parlors to Polling Places: Women's Suffrage in Fort Collins (PDF). Fort Collins: City of Fort Collins Historic Preservation Services.

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