KY Woman Suffrage

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Kentucky equal rights movement is the tension that led to Laura Clay’s break from the Kentucky Equal Rights Association (KERA) and the National Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). From the establishment of KERA in 1888, Clay had dedicated her life to the organization and fighting for women’s rights.

            When considering the women’s suffrage movement, most Americans think of iconic national figures like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. However, the fight for the right to vote was by no means monolithic.

Breaking The Bronze Ceiling is a campaign to build a monument to celebrate the history of women in Lexington and Fayette County, Kentucky.  The campaign kicked off in March 2018 with a public event at ArtsPlace in Lexington. Their goal is to raise $500,000 and have a monument in place in a prominent downtown Lexington location in 2020 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. See more at their website: www.breakingthebronzeceiling.com.

Today's news warn of us human trafficking in the U.S. and how to spot a victim when you see one. Sadly, this modern day form of slavery involves both children and adults are forced into labor, including sex work. The majority of these victims are women and girls and U.S. citizens. The most vulnerable are runaways - estimates, likely undercounting, published that 1:5 runaway minors became sex slaves. A headline Sex trafficking of minors in Kentucky is nothing new and is connected with the work Kentucky suffragists did for decades to try raise the age of consent to 18 years of age.

As part of the Kentucky Woman Suffrage Project, H-Kentucky offers images of the original Constitution of the Kentucky Woman Suffrage Association (KWSA) adopted on October 27, 1881 - with many thanks to Sarah Dorpinhaus, Director of Digital Services in the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.

Genie Potter sent in a wonderful find that was obtained from (and given permission to publish) The Avery Memorial Association, Groton, Connecticut. I published it here on H-Kentucky as a primary source in our Kentucky Woman Suffrage Project's Annotated Bibliography.

As the Kentucky Woman Suffrage Project steams ahead, we hear this frequently asked question: 

What is the difference between a “suffragist” and a “suffragette”?

Here's a list of planned events in Louisville that was forwarded to me from Genie Potter (representing KY with Vision 2020 in Philadelphia) and Marsha Weinstein (President of Board of Directors, National Collaborative for Women's History Sites now housed in the Francis Willard house museum in Indiana, and leading the collaborative National "Votes for Women" Trail).

In 1838, Kentucky passed the first statewide woman suffrage law (since New Jersey revoked theirs with their new constitution in 1807) – allowing female heads of household to vote in elections deciding on taxes and local boards for the new county “common school” system. The law exempted the cities of Louisville, Lexington and Maysville since they had already adopted a system of public schools. Kentucky was crucial as a gateway to the South for women’s rights activists.

Under the expert advice of Dr. Margaret Spratt, consultant with Making History Matter, when we were building the LexArts Gallery HOP exhibit in the offices of the Lexington History Museum, we undertook a brief experiment with recording audio clips relating to Kentucky woman suffrage. We're thinking we want to do more, but would very much appreciate your feedback on the ones we currently have done. (Click on the links below to get to each of the recordings and details about each of them.)

During the last decade of the fight for voting rights, many suffragists embraced public protests, and suffrage parades and other types of demonstrations became more common.  Kentucky’s first suffrage parade (which the Kentucky Equal Rights Association claimed was the first in the South) was held in Louisville in 1913 and was followed in succeeding years by parades in other cities.

This week I have continued to learn more about the Western Recorder (Kentucky’s Southern Baptist newspaper), and the social attitudes of J.W. Porter, its editor.

This week I had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Melanie Goan.  Dr. Goan, an assistant professor in the Department of History at the University of Kentucky, is currently conducting research for a book on the suffrage movement in Kentucky.  I asked her to address some of the ways she is seeking to fill the gaps in our knowledge of the movement, as well as some of the challenges and unexpected findings she has encountered along the way.   

JL: What are some of the main questions you are hoping to answer through your research?

Hello everyone!  I wanted to take this opportunity on Election Day to introduce myself.  My name is Joanna Lile and I am very excited to be a new fellow with the Kentucky Woman Suffrage Project.  I graduated with a BA in History from Georgetown College and have a PhD in History from the University of Kentucky.  I have taught US History, History of the South, and Kentucky History at Georgetown College, Transylvania University, and the University of Kentucky.  I also want to thank Kristen Dawson for her impressive contributions to the project.  Thank you, Kristen, for your careful research an

          Good morning everyone! It’s time for the final blog post of September, hard to believe, I know, but it's true! Having another month draw to a close is an appropriate time for this blog post, because I have finally finished going through all of the minutes of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association. As September ends, so does my experience with the minutes. I’m sure you’re all dying to know how the minutes concluded, so that’s what I’m going to write about today.

            Hello once again! Another week is about to draw to a close here at the Kentucky Woman Suffrage Project, and that means another update for all of you! As I worked this week, I found myself continuing to think about the idea behind last week's blog post, how we are often surrounded by suffrage sites and don’t even know it. I decided to test myself and really think about this for my own life, and what I realized is that the history of woman suffrage is around me all the time!

            Hello everyone! It’s the time for the first blog post of September. It’s hard to believe it’s already September, but I guess time really does fly when you’re having fun, like we are here at the Kentucky Woman Suffrage Project. This week has been an exciting one, as I got some really great contributions from people around the state.

            Hi there everyone! It’s Thursday once again, and you know what that means, another update from us here at the Kentucky Woman Suffrage Project. This week has been an exciting and busy one as we continue to work on our portal and database, which will be rolling out to all of you guys very soon! Even with all those new developments, research hasn’t stopped, so I’ll give you an update on that. This week I set out to find out more about the writing of suffragists themselves.

            Hello once again everyone! The time has come to give you another update into what has been happening with the Kentucky Woman Suffrage Project this week.

            Greetings everyone! Another week will soon draw to a close, and that means another update for all of you about what has been going on with the Kentucky Woman Suffrage Project in the past few days. Research continues for now, primarily in more newspapers and the Kentucky Equal Rights Association minutes. I have found looking through the newspaper particularly enjoyable, as they have a great deal of variety and often contain fun quotes or images. A few papers in particular stood out to me, and I’m going to share some of those stories with all of you!

            Hi readers! After our break with routine due to the Kentucky History Education Conference last Thursday, this week we are back to our regularly scheduled programming. That means more research, and continuing to think about how best to get all of you involved with and engaged in the project. We have some exciting things in the works, and we can’t wait to share them with all of you!

Hi everyone! It’s the end of another week and so its time for another blog update. Research continued this week, and I had a few really interesting finds. The first was a speech by Madeline McDowell Breckinridge given before the House of Representatives’ Committee of Rules regarding the Committee on Woman Suffrage. During a hearing that lasted from December 3-5, 1913, Breckinridge and other leaders of the movement from around the country, including Anna Howard Shaw and Carrie Chapman Catt, spoke to lend their support to the suffrage cause.