OUR VOICE OUR VOTE
In 1919, Arkansas became the 12th state to approve the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which provided for Women’s Suffrage.
In 2019, the Every Word We Utter sculpture and the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Plaza will be dedicated in the Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden in Little Rock’s Riverfront Park.
The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens on the basis of sex. What does this mean? Why is it important? Prior to 1919, women in most of the U.S.—Arkansas included—couldn’t vote in a general election.
The fight for women’s right to vote, more popularly known as the suffrage movement, gained steam in the mid-19th century when a regional suffrage meeting took place in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York. Attendees called for equality between the sexes and a resolution urging women to secure the vote. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton went on to become leaders in the national suffrage movement.
The U.S. Civil War interrupted the movement’s momentum, but activities resumed again in the late 1860s. Arkansan Miles Ledford Langley, a delegate to the 1868 Arkansas Constitutional Convention, proposed legislation to enfranchise women. Although his fellow delegates had little regard for his efforts, he was earnest in his beliefs and wrote to Susan B. Anthony following the convention to express his dismay at the outcome. Arkansas women began to organize suffrage efforts, and the Arkansas Gazette began printing articles about the movement.
Many notable Arkansas women fought for the right to vote. Clara McDiarmid was active in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union as well as the suffrage movement. Mary Fletcher helped form the Political Equality League (PEL), and her sister Adolphine was a member of the PEL, the National American Woman Suffrage Association and even the National Woman’s Party. Florence Brown Cotnam was a national speaker on the suffrage circuit and was the first woman to address the Arkansas General Assembly in 1915.
In Arkansas, both Governor Charles Brough and First Lady Anne Brough believed that women should be able to vote. Brough’s support helped pass the 1917 law giving women voting rights in primary elections, making Arkansas the first non-suffrage state to do this.
Repeated attempts to pass a national suffrage amendment failed until 1919, when President Woodrow Wilson called a special congressional session. The proposed amendment passed the House of Representatives on May 21, 1919, and then the Senate on June 4, 1919; it was then submitted to the states for ratification.
Governor Brough called a special session of the State Legislature to ratify the 19th Amendment; Arkansas was the 12th state to ratify the amendment, passing it by a vote of 74—15 on July 28, 2019. The 19th amendment was officially adopted nationwide August 26, 1920.
The 19th Amendment officially enfranchised 26 million American women in time for the 1920 U.S. presidential election. Although it would take several more decades before African American and Native American women could easily vote, passage of the 19th Amendment was a significant milestone in the ongoing struggle to expand voting rights for American women as a whole.
Join us for an event that wasn’t possible 100 years ago.
Thursday, October 10, 2019 at 11:00 A.M.
Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden in Riverfront Park