American Woman Suffrage Association and Kentucky Woman Suffrage Association

Name of Historic Site
Old Opera House (now Kaufman-Straus)
Event(s) / Use associated with woman/group/site
This was the site of the 1881 meeting of the American Woman Suffrage Association, the first time Louisville hosted a national suffrage event. The convention also gave birth to the state's first organization, the Kentucky Woman Suffrage Association.
County
Jefferson
Address

Louisville, 40202
United States

Associated Organization
4th Street Live/Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant
Years of Importance
1880-1894
Geographic Location
Your Affiliation
The League of Women Voters of Kentucky
Additional Comments

This was the 11th Annual Meeting of the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) held on October 26 and 27, 1881. This was the first time Louisville hosted a national suffrage event - and the first in the South. Organized by AWSA President Lucy Stone and Mary Barr Clay (who became AWSA president in 1883) at the home of Mary Jane Warfield Clay in Lexington. The convention gathered many who were curious about the suffrage movement, and it also gave birth to Kentucky's first suffrage organization (and the first in the South), the Kentucky Woman Suffrage Association.