Two years ago on Round and Square (10 October 2011)—Spring and Autumn Roles: Learned Lines
Click here for other posts written by Guest Contributor Sarah Conn:
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| [a] Voting RF |
Sarah Conn, today’s Guest Contributor on Round and Square, is a self-proclaimed “gal from rural Wisconsin” with a B.A. in Japanese Language and Culture and a double-minor in Museum Studies and Anthropology. With a mild obsession for Japanese textiles and working knowledge of the order Cetacea and the family Pinnipedia, she is currently working with four other Beloit College graduates to digitize, process, and research the William Edgar Geil Collection at the Doylestown Historical Society in Pennsylvania. She and Geil do not always see eye-to-eye on certain subjects, but both share a love of photography, writing about food, and USING ALL CAPITALS WHEN THEY ARE EXCITED.
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Please
note that all items marked "DHS" are property of the Doylestown
Historical Society, and used with DHS permission. If you wish to use an
image, you need to have the permission of the Society. Please contact Robert LaFleur
(lafleur@beloit.edu), and he will put you in contact with the
appropriate people.
In 1920, women got the right to vote in the United States of America through the 19th Amendment. Everyone knows this to be true. However, did you know that Colorado actually gave women the right to vote in 1893?
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| [b] Votes for Women! RF |
Remarkably, I did not know this before, despite paying attention in high school history. Of course, the history you learn in school is always simplified down…or perhaps I did forget a bit from high school history. Nevertheless, it was due to the Geil Archive that I had a chance to learn more about some facts that my classes failed to mention.
It all started when I read what Mrs. Ethel Johnson wrote a letter to Geil in 1916; as a (quite long) postscript she added, “I am planning on exercising my duty and privilege as an American citizen and vote. This is the first time. I am reading everything on the subject I can, but can not [sic] make up my mind on all the issues.”
I was instantly confused—wasn’t the right to vote given to women in America in 1920? Indeed, nation-wide, women were given the right to vote in 1920, but before that, individual states were allowed to choose who could vote. However, this letter is written in 1916 and Ethel Johnson is mentioning her that it is her “duty and privilege,” so why the delay in voting?
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| [c] 1910 Parade RF |
Let’s see the suffrage scene during the early 1910s:
1910 marks the first suffrage parade of the Women’s Political Union in New York City. At this time, five states have suffrage (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and Washington).
In 1912, Women’s suffrage finally becomes supported on a national level by Teddy Roosevelt and his Bull Moose Party.
1913 hails the organization of the Congressional Union, soon to be the National Women’s Party.
Over 1914 and 1915, women’s suffrage gains prominence and popularity in both women’s clubs and politics.
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| [d] Rankin RF |
In 1916, not only does Woodrow Wilson declare that the Democratic Party will support suffrage, but Jeanette Rankin (Montana) is the first woman elected to the House of Representatives.
This is the situation where Ethel would be placing her vote. She mentions not being able to make up her mind on the issues; written on October 11, Johnson is probably referring to the upcoming presidential election between Woodrow Wilson (D) and Charles Evans Hughs (R). Wilson would win Johnson’s state as well as the election in November of 1916.
While we do not know who Johnson eventually voted for, we also don’t know that much about Ethel Johnson in general. Other than the fact that she and her husband went as missionaries to China in a trip that sickened Johnson so much that her doctor advised her to stay in the United States for two or more years, not much in the Geil Archive pertains to her. So why does she write such a postscript to Geil?
There could be letters between the Geils and the Johnsons that went unsaved. They could have bonded in China. However, my guess is that Ethel Johnson is deeply proud of her right to vote. Perhaps due to living in China, she did not have a chance to vote but now is taking her duty to her country very seriously. Her vote counted in a presidential election—in 1916, only twelve states (all of them West of the Mississippi) allowed that to happen! What a big responsibility— and thrill—for a woman of that time to have.
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| [e] Postscript DHS |
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