Timeline of women's suffrage in Virginia

This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Virginia. While there were some very early efforts to support women's suffrage in Virginia, most of the activism for the vote for women occurred early in the 20th century. The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia was formed in 1909 and the Virginia Branch of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (later the National Woman's Party) was formed in 1915. Over the next years, women held rallies, conventions and many propositions for women's suffrage were introduced in the Virginia General Assembly. Virginia didn't ratify the Nineteenth Amendment until 1952. Native American women could not have a full vote until 1924 and African American women were effectively disenfranchised until the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965.

18th century

1770s

1778

Hannah Lee Corbin from Gloucester County protests women's taxation without representation.

19th century

1870s

1870

The Virginia State Woman Suffrage Association (VSWSA) is formed by Anna Whitehead Bodeker.

1871

November: Bodeker attempts to vote in a municipal election in Virginia.

1890s

1893

The Virginia Suffrage Society is formed by Orra Gray Langhorne.

1895

Susan B. Anthony gives a suffrage speech in Culpeper.

20th century

1900s

1900

Carrie Chapman Catt urges Virginia to adopt women's suffrage in the next constitutional convention.

1902

Virginia disenfranchises many voters, including African Americans, poor whites and Republicans, during the state convention. A literacy test and poll tax is required for voters.

1909

November 27: The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia is founded in the home of Anne Clay Crenshaw.

1910s

1910

February: The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia affiliates with the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).

1911

The first state suffrage convention was held in Richmond with delegates from Norfolk, Lynchburg, Williamsburg, and Highland Springs.

1912

February: The House of Delegates rejects a resolution to amend the state constitution to allow woman suffrage.
July: The National Association of Colored Women (NACW) holds their convention in Hampton where they have sessions on women's suffrage and the women's clubs of Hampton and Norfolk state a suffrage parade as part of the convention's activities.
The Virginia Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage is formed.
The Men's Equal Suffrage League of Virginia is formed.
The second state suffrage convention is held in Norfolk.
A resolution for women's suffrage is proposed in the House of the Virginia General Assembly by Hill Montague.

1913

The third state suffrage convention is held in Lynchburg.

1914

March: The House of Delegates rejects amending the state constitution to allow woman suffrage.
May 2: Suffrage demonstration is held on the steps of the Virginia State Capitol.
October: A monthly newspaper, the Virginia Suffrage News, is created.
The fourth state suffrage convention is held in Roanoke.
Another suffrage amendment is brought up in the House of the General Assembly.

1915

From May till Thanksgiving, women held "street meetings" on women's suffrage in Lynchburg, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Richmond, and Warrenton.
May 1: A May Day celebration is held at the Capitol building, with suffragists hosting booths, selling buttons, flags and copies of the Woman's Journal.
June 10: The Virginia Branch of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage is organized in Richmond with Sophie G. Meredith as chair.
December: The fifth state suffrage convention is held in Richmond. Around 200 delegates marched to the governor's office.

1916

February: The House of Delegates rejects amending the state constitution to allow woman suffrage.
October: Aviator, Katharine Stinson, drops women's suffrage leaflets on behalf of the Virginia Congressional Union over the Virginia State Fair during the airshow.
The sixth state suffrage convention was held in Norfolk.
A third suffrage amendment is proposed in the House and the Senate of the General Assembly.

1917

January 29 – February 2: Suffrage school is conducted in Richmond in concert with NAWSA.
November: The seventh state convention on women's suffrage is held in Richmond.
November 15: The Night of Terror takes place in the Occoquan Workhouse.
December: Virginia sends the largest suffrage delegation to the National Suffrage convention in Washington, D.C.

1919

August 13: The General Assembly came together for a special session and suffragists used this time to learn politicians' positions on women's suffrage.
November: State suffrage convention is held in Richmond.

1920s

1920

February 12: The Virginia General Assembly votes against ratifying the Nineteenth Amendment.
August 26: The Nineteenth Amendment is declared ratified.
September: The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia dissolves and becomes the League of Women Voters (LWV) of Virginia.
September 2 – October 2: between 75,000 and 100,000 white and African American women register to vote in Virginia
November 10: LWV of Virginia holds their first meeting.

1924

Native American women are given the rights to vote.

1950s

1952

February 21: Virginia ratifies the Nineteenth Amendment.

1960s

1965

The Passage of the Voting Rights Act ends voter suppression against African American women.

References

Harper 1922, p. 665.
^ McDaid, Jennifer Davis. "Woman Suffrage in Virginia". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
^ "Women's Suffrage in Virginia". Virginia Places. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
Anthony 1902, p. 964.
^ Harper 1922, p. 669.
^ Graham 1993, p. 233.
^ Harper 1922, p. 666.
Journal of the House of Delegates of Virginia. Richmond, Va.: Supt. of Public Printing. 1912. p. 364.
^ Tarter, Brent, Marianne E. Julienne, and Barbara C. Batson (2020). The Campaign for Woman Suffrage in Virginia. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-4671-4419-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Deal, John (June 17, 2020). "Woman Suffrage - The Vanguard of Socialism". The UncommonWealth. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
^ "Women's Suffrage in Virginia". W&M Women's Law Society. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
Journal of the House of Delegates of Virginia. Richmond, Va.: Supt. of Public Printing. 1914. p. 872.
Johnson, Olin (July 12, 2017). "Virginia Suffrage News". The UncommonWealth. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
Harper 1922, p. 666-667.
The Journal of the House of Delegates of Virginia. Richmond, Va.: Supt. of Public Printing. 1916. p. 601.
Julienne, Mari (June 10, 2020). "'Freedom, justice and true democracy': The Virginia Branch of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage". The UncommonWealth. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
^ Harper 1922, p. 667.
Coker, Kathy (April 23, 2020). "A Glimpse at Virginia's Organized Woman Suffrage Movement: Part II". Richmond Public Library. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
Harper 1922, p. 670.
Harper 1922, p. 668.
"Virginia and the 19th Amendment". U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
"Women's Suffrage: Tennessee and the Passage of the 19th Amendment". Tennessee Secretary of State. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
^ Heymann, Amelia; North, Emma (August 26, 2020). "1920 to 2020: 100 years of women's suffrage in Virginia". 8News. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
"Suffrage Centennial Celebration". City of Fairfax, VA. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
"Documentary Commemorates the Women's Suffrage Centennial in Virginia". VPM.org. August 7, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.

Sources

Anthony, Susan B. (1902). Anthony, Susan B.; Harper, Ida Husted (eds.). The History of Woman Suffrage. Vol. 4. Indianapolis: The Hollenbeck Press.
Graham, Sara Hunter (April 1993). "Woman Suffrage in Virginia: The Equal Suffrage League and Pressure-Group Politics, 1909–1920". Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 101 (2): 227–250. JSTOR 4249352 – via JSTOR.
Harper, Ida Husted (1922). The History of Woman Suffrage. New York: J.J. Little & Ives Company.

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