Women’s Right To Vote In El Paso

El Paso Joins The Fight

Women’s suffrage in America was being debated as far back as the late 1800’s. At least two attempts were made to enshrine the women’s right to vote in the Texas constitution. They, and several other measures franchising women failed throughout the 1800’s and early 1900’s. Like the rest of the nation, El Paso’s women organized themselves to demand the right to vote. The El Paso Equal Franchise League was formed on January 12, 1915, at the Hotel Orndorff. The first “temporary chairman” was Mrs. George Ullrick and the recording secretary was Ruth M. Augur. The charter members were Olga Kohlberg, A.P. Averill, J.F. Williams, Horace A. Lay, Anna Reum, S.J. Freudenthal, Mrs. Charles DeGroff, Alice G. Merchant, Mrs. Burt Ordendorff, I.J. Bush, B.F. Hammett, Mrs. George Ullrick, W.S. Tilton, W.J. Cox, Mrs. Erick St. Clair Purdon, W.M. Laughlin, Octavia Barlow, A. Louise Deitrich, Dorothy Morgan, Irene Laughlin, Geraldine Merchant and Ruth M. Augur. [6] The league’s purpose was “to work for women’s suffrage, to create a favorable sentiment for women’s suffrage” in El Paso, and “to band together all women interested” in the right to vote. [7]

In opposition to the women’s suffrage movement was the belief that “a women’s place is in the home, where her dignity, her grace, her modesty may bloom unharmed by the world and that if women were given the ballot it would unsex them.” [8] The first president of the organization was Mrs. S.J. Fennell. However, as readers will soon discover, there is some discrepancy as to who the first president was. For now, we accept the name provided by the newspaper contemporaneously reporting the formation of the El Paso women’s suffrage movement. In January 1917, new officers were inducted. The new president was Mrs. O.A. Critchett. [9] The third president of the organization was Mrs. Ernest A. Young. Young was elected on January 17, 1918. [10]

The discrepancy in the historical record of who was the first president of the group involves Mrs. Charles De Groat. The 1915 account of the group’s foundation that the El Paso Herald published identified Mrs. George Ullrick as the “temporary chairman” and Mrs. S.J. Fennell as the first elected president in 1917. However, an El Paso Herald column written by Critchett, then the president of the group, on February 1, 1919, identified Mrs. Charles de Groff “as the first president.” It is unknown why the discrepancy exists, but the contemporaneous report does not name De Groff as the president while the second account written by the group’s president does name De Groff. [11] An El Paso Herald article on August 11, 1926, reaffirms that de Groff was the organization’s first president. [12] Nonetheless, the El Paso Equal Franchise League took on the mantle of women’s suffrage for El Paso.

Although the League organized to give women the right to vote, much of the group’s work was in baby wellness, organizing entertainment for the community and other activities like gardening. Very little political activity was carried out by the group, and in fact the group of women originally distanced themselves from political activities in the city.

By 1917, the organization was focused on “civil government and the laws of the state of Texas” for their limited political activities. [13] However, the group endorsed a woman for the upcoming elections. Although women were not yet allowed to vote, Mrs. J.A. Rawlings announced as a candidate for the school board elections scheduled for the spring. Unlike “many Texas cities,” who had elected “one to three” school board members, El Paso had never “had a woman on the school board” by 1917. Rawlings hoped to change that. Rawlings opened her campaign for the board on February 16, 1917. She was supported by the women’s suffrage group. [14] Rawlings was the first woman candidate in an El Paso election. Rawlings lost her election. The women’s suffrage group met shortly after Rawlings’ loss and agreed to “to continue its work to place a woman on the board of trustees of El Paso schools.” [15] Opposition to women voting was the belief that women belonged in the household.

The Debate On Women’s Suffrage

Like the national opposition to women’s suffrage, those in support of women voting in El Paso centered on the equality of the right to vote. Opposed were those who believed that women were not equipped to make voting decisions. On May 19, 1915, the El Paso Equal Franchise League held a debate between those in favor of giving women the right to vote and those against it. Speaking in support of suffrage for women, Paul McCombs, argued that women should be allowed to vote because “women bore the burden of taxation without representation.” McCombs added that although he agrees with the view that “a women’s place is in the home,” he added that “does not prevent her from going to the polls on election days and expressing her views on public questions.” [16]

Opposing the women’s right to vote was Gunther Lessing. Lessing was scheduled to attend but backed out saying that he had a business issue to address. However, Lessing provided a paper in opposition that was read by O.L. Bowen, who told the audience that the “views expressed were not his own.” Lessing’s paper argued that “women was not created to do man’s work; she was passive and not aggressive.” The paper added that “woman is unfit to assume additional burdens upon her already overtaxed nervous system.” Lessing’s paper went on to add that “women’s thoughts do not run along lines of public policy.” Interestingly, although the debate was attended mainly by women, at a vote taken of the audience at the conclusion of the debate, “the affirmative (for right to vote) won by a small majority.” [17] Clearly not all El Paso women supported the idea that women should be allowed to vote.

At a meeting of the organization on May 21, 1915, W.J. Morgan of the Nation Federation of Labor told members that the women opposed to the women’s right to vote was because “most of the women who are opposed to equal franchise are housewives, who from their narrow life have lost broader viewpoint of the need of humanity.” [18] Morgan also told the members that “organized labor has been strongly in favor of extending the franchise to women because organized labor believes that if women were given the power of the ballot they would as a body work for the eradication of child labor in mines, factories, sweat shops,” and “enforce compulsory education laws.” [19]

As much as the El Paso women’s suffrage group argued for voting rights, it did little to drive the demand to the public. At best, the group participated in parades and held a few protests in El Paso. On May 12, 1916, the women’s right to vote organization held a protest at the Pioneer Plaza to bring attention to women not being allowed to vote. In addition to the demonstration, the women adopted a “tax protest” whereby every tax paid for by women included a note that read, “this tax is paid under protest by a woman taxpayer because the government denies her the right of representation by the vote, and taxation without representation is tyranny.” [20] But the El Paso women were loath to become too militant in their quest. Other than a handful of protests and parades, the El Paso suffrage for women movement concentrated on other issues.

The Silent Sentinels

America’s women’s suffrage movement “became the first Americans to regularly protest outside the White House.” [21] Although the general narrative is that El Pasoans are progressive and inclusive, the women’s suffrage movement in El Paso not only suffers from the same national problem of being “the story of middle-class white women,” it also exposes that the El Paso movement was subdued and ineffective at best, and mostly became a women’s club emphasizing other issues like baby wellness programs and tea-party gatherings during their weekly meetings starting in 1915. [22]

The National Woman’s Party (NWP) launched a silent protest for women’s suffrage outside of the White House in 1917 after meeting with then-President Woodrow Wilson. [23] Starting on January 10, 1917, between 12 to 15 members of the NWP stood “firmly day after day throughout 1917 and 1918” outside of the White House holding banners asking Wilson what he “will do for woman suffrage” and “how long must women wait for liberty?” The protestors became known as the Silent Sentinels. [24] Their militant approach to women’s suffrage was not acceptable to the white-middle-class El Pasoans that lobbied for the women’s right to vote.

On July 7, 1917, the El Paso suffragists group repudiated the methods of the Silent Sentinels. The group issued a proclamation that read, in part, that the El Paso group of women “wishes to voice a decided protest against the militant and untimely demonstrations” of the Silent Sentinels. The proclamation added that the El Paso suffragists “although believing as firmly as ever in equal suffrage for both sexes,” they “repudiate” the actions of “some over-zealous advocates.” They added that they will give “its unqualified support to the president of these United States, and all to all those in lawful authority; knowing that in due time its cause, which is just, will triumph.” [25]

The Strategy

There were two primary strategies behind the women’s suffrage movement. One was the white-middle-class view that the right to vote was “a symbol of parity with their husbands and brothers,” while for the people of color, the struggle was “seeking the ballot” for the Black communities in the south, both the men and the women. [26] The El Paso movement took on the “parity” view in their activities for the right to vote.

The women’s group held weekly meetings, usually on Thursdays from its inception in 1915 through 1919. Although the meetings included discussions about the suffrage movement, little action was taken other than holding annual marches. Most of the weekly meetings focused on baby wellness programs, schools, gardening, hygiene programs and setting up entertainment for the community and soldiers during the war years. Philanthropy also became a common project for the women’s group.

By 1918, the national strategy of the women suffragists was enacting the Susan B. Anthony amendment. A national convention was held in New York on December 12, 1917. During the convention, the strategy going forward was agreed upon. The group would focus on getting the vote out by targeting the women in the households. [27] It was estimated that the national suffrage movement represented two million women across the country. It should be noted that World War I was changing the makeup of the country. Immigrants, mostly refuges were streaming in, and women were replacing men in the workforce.

Although racism played a significant part in the movement, the leadership enlisted the help of immigrants for their cause to help push the vote in their favor. The strategy adopted to help pass the suffrage legislation was targeting the women entering the workforce and reaching the household men of the “several million” immigrants who were now voters. The “real power” for the suffragists was “the mother of the house” of the immigrant populations. To reach the women migrants, the group focused on providing access to child wellness programs, schools and teaching immigrant mothers how to help themselves by encouraging them to grow their own vegetables. As an example, by teaching the Russian immigrants in Boston how to plant and grow potatoes, “all the men of the Russian colony as well as its women were converted into enthusiastic supporters of the Susan B. Anthony amendment.” [28] Likewise, the working women were encouraged to lobby for workplace benefits like reduced working hours. [29] The suffragists were enlisting the newly arrived immigrants and the women entering the workforce to their movement.

The El Paso movement also followed the national model and organized a “course of study in voting” and began “to investigate matters in city, state, county, and national work, in order to act as instructors to the members” in May of 1918. [30] women were about to get their vote, and the El Paso group began preparing for it.

Women In Texas Get To Vote

Before the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote was enacted, Texas legislators tried to give voting access to women. As explored previously, the Texas primaries were important in Texas elections. They were so important to the electoral process that for years only white voters were allowed to vote in Texas primaries. Before women were given the right to vote, Texas legislators gave white women the right to vote in the Texas primaries. On March 26, 1919, then-Texas governor William P. Hobby signed into law the bill giving women the right to vote in the primaries. It was an important win for the suffragist movement. Hobby was under intense political pressure to sign the bill to keep his seat. [31] The primary legislation allowed women 17 days to register to vote for the July 2, 1918, primaries. Although a political win for the Texas women’s suffrage movement, Texas voters were still divided over the issue.

On May 24, 1919, a constitutional amendment giving Texas women voting rights was on the ballot. It was defeated by over 25,000 votes. Although women had the right to vote in Texas primaries at this time, they could not vote on the constitutional amendment. However, the defeat was short-lived. On June 23, 1919, the Texas legislature convened a special session to ratify the Susan B. Anthony constitutional amendment, later enshrining the women’s right to vote constitutionally as the 19th Amendment. [32]

Opposed to the May 24, 1919, voting rights measure, according to S.J. Isaacks, speaking before the women’s group on March 13, 1919, were “special interests” because “the majority of these interests employ men [who] seek favors of the government.” The “chief argument” in opposition, according to Isaacks, was that “since the women have been given partial franchise [primaries], they have been influenced by designing politicians to vote for things they did not want.” Isaacks added, “the fact that women have not been misled any more than the men have.” Isaacks went on to add that another argument made against women’s suffrage was “that voting will make the women lose their refinement and unsex them.” According to Isaacks, Mexican men were also “very much opposed to the passage” of the women’s right to vote. [33] During the first meeting of El Paso’s suffrage group after the constitutional amendment failed in Texas on June 5, 1919, it was disclosed to the membership that “several hundred” El Paso women signatures for the suffrage petition were gathered. Included in the signature was “95 percent of the city teachers.” [34] The El Paso suffragists continued their focus on election education along with their weekly meetings on baby welfare and entertainment projects.

Politics And The El Paso Suffrage Movement

The El Paso women’s suffrage movement kept its distance away from the Ring politics when it first organized itself. Later, they began to side with the political movement for prohibition in El Paso as a matter of public morality. Nonetheless, the El Paso women’s organization maintained a distance from the city’s politics, at least publicly. However, that changed on June 13, 1918, when the weekly meeting exposed a political fracture between two groups. A city political faction, the Cobb faction seemed to have precipitated the divide. At the meeting before the 13th, the issue of what to do with the organization’s president, L.T. Kibler for her support senator, Hudspeth, “who has always been known as unilaterally opposed to women voting.” When Kibler was asked to resign I the previous meeting, she insisted on having the state president be consulted about the matter before any action was taken. The organization agreed to table the matter for a week and tasked both Kibler and Mrs. S.J. Fennell to write the state president for her opinion on the matter of Kibler’s resignation. [35]

At the meeting of the 13th, Kibler revealed that “her husband had told her not to” send the letter, to, instead “let the other women do that.” Fennell sent her letter and received a response from the state president. She read it to the members. According to Fennell, the position of the suffrage organization at the national, state and local levels was to “oppose all candidates who have opposed suffrage for women,” and that the “head of the organization cannot consistently have a personal policy which is opposed to that of the organization.” After some discussion, the membership took a vote on a motion to “voice a vigorous protest against” Kibler’s support of Hudspeth, “who has opposed woman suffrage.” Fourteen members supported censuring Kibler, while eight voted against the censure. [36] By early 1919, the women’s group had become fully engaged in the city’s politics. In addition to their normal weekly meeting topics, they now included speakers that were candidates for office. [37]

The 19th Amendment

The 19th Amendment to the Constitution was passed by Congress on June 4, 1919. The Joint Resolution added to the constitution’s rights that the right to vote “shall not be denied” by the federal or state governments “on account of sex.” Although it prohibits laws keeping women from voting, it did not explicitly give them the right to vote. For example, at that time, only white voters were allowed to cast votes in Texas Democratic Party primaries. Black voters, both men and women, were excluded from voting in the Democratic Party primaries. Nonetheless, the women’s suffrage movement had achieved its purpose. Texas was the ninth state and the first southern state to ratify the 19th Amendment on June 28, 1919. [38]

Blacks And Mexicans

At their regular Thursday meeting on January 16, 1919, the women’s group took up the issue of the “Americanization of the foreigner, particularly in relation to those coming from Mexico.” According to the speaker that brought up the issue, Helen Sherry, “foreigners as a whole were anxious to become Americans and that the great reason for their not doing so was due primarily to the reception given to them by Americans.” She added that “with the Mexican,” it “was the lack of understanding of the Anglo-Saxon race for the Latin race the greatest drawback.” [39]

But racism was still part of the movement, even in El Paso. A letter from the Texas Equal Franchise League was read by S.J. Fennell. The letter from the state organization outlined “every enemy” that opposed women’s access to the ballot. In addition to the “ignorant man,” and the “German who hates” Americans for “defeating the ‘fatherland’ and whose natural tendency is to deny women and voice,” was the “negro, who hates to give up the one bit of superiority he had over the white race,” the right to vote. [40]

Although the Black community was important to the cause, its contributions were largely ignored both in El Paso and nationally. Racism often became part of the debate on suffrage with many suffragists opposed to giving Blacks the right to vote. The El Paso group of women, in particular, undertook to encourage keeping the poll tax as an important element of voting in Texas after they had achieved suffrage for women.

The League of Women Voters

Today, many readers will likely recognize the name: League of Women Voters. The League of Women Voters has been a staple of El Paso’s political scene for over 100 years. It holds political forums where politicians argue their cases before the voters. The League also distributes voter guides to voters. They still meet on Thursday’s, but once a month instead of weekly. Instead of focusing on women’s suffrage, the non-profit now focuses on empowering voters. With women’s right to vote now enshrined into the constitution, the El Paso Equal Franchise League moved away from women’s suffrage towards voter empowerment. The local movement was following the lead of the national movement.

The League of Women Voters was established in Chicago on February 14, 1920, according to its website, “just six months before the 19th amendment was ratified” on August 26, 1920. [41] On October 20, 1919, the El Paso women’s suffrage group met to discuss “considering changing the suffrage association into the new League of Women Voters.” [42] On October 16, 1919, the Equal Franchise League voted to become the League of Women Voters. The most important issue facing the women’s group was the poll tax. Mrs. S.J. Fennell told the membership that the poll tax was necessary because “one dollar” of the poll tax went to the schools and “part of it to state charitable organizations.” The cost of the poll tax in El Paso in 1919 was $1.75. [43] That amount in today’s dollars is $29.25. As readers have observed from our When Mexican Voted in El Paso article, the poll tax was used to disfranchise people of color.

In 1922, the League of Women Voters endorsed its first political candidate, Alice G. Merchant. S.J. Fennell in her letter to the editor explained that the group broke their rule “of being non-partisan only for the most exceptional cases.” Merchant had been a charter member of the Equal Franchise League and very active in the organization. [44]

As readers may note from our reporting, the women’s suffrage movement in El Paso argued for voting equality part-time while spending significant time in their weekly meetings organizing entertainment events and working on wellness programs for babies. Little attention was spent on the suffrage issue and when the Silent Sentinels protested, the El Paso group repudiated their efforts.

Moreover, the El Paso women’s group and the local media ignored the Black community’s contributions to the cause. The Equal Franchise League in many ways remained subservient to El Paso’s political leaders. As its first order of business after becoming the League of Women Voters was to support the oppressive poll tax scheme that disfranchised the minorities in El Paso for many years.

Note on the use of the honorific “Mrs.” During the 1900’s, newspapers routinely referred to women by their married names, substituting their first name with that of their husbands. Thus, for example, Hortencia Jimenez would be referred to as Mrs. Jose Jimenez. To avoid confusion, we have used the Mrs. in the name to avoid confusion with the woman’s husband.

Footnotes:

Jennifer Schuessler, “The Complex History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement,” The New York Times, August 15, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/arts/design/the-complex-history-of-the-womens-suffrage-movement.html
Schuessler, “The Complex History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement”
Schuessler, “The Complex History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement”
Brent Staples, “Opinion: How Suffrage Movement Betrayed Black Women,” The New York Times, July 18, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/28/opinion/sunday/suffrage-movement-racism-black-women.html
Schuessler, “The Complex History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement”
“Organization Of A Suffrage League Of El Paso Women Desiring The Ballot,” El Paso Herald, January 13, 1915, 5.
“Little Interviews,” El Paso Herald, February 5, 1915.
El Paso Herald, April 30, 1915, 7.
Ruth Monro Augur, “Equal Franchise League Observes Anniversary And Instals Officers For Year,” El Paso Herald, January 26, 1917, 10. (note: The published article includes a typographical error in the title.)
“Mrs. Ernest A Young Elected Head of El Paso Equal Franchise League,” El Paso Herald, January 18, 1918, 8.
Mrs. O.A. Critchett, President El Paso Equal Franchise League, column, “Women Of El Paso Want Place In Sun Earned By Years Of Faithful Effort,” El Paso Herald, February 1, 1919, 26.
“Mrs. DeGroff Dies; Funeral On Friday,” El Paso Herald, August 11, 1926, 1.
Ruth Monro Augur, “Equal Franchise League Observes Anniversary,” 10.
“Want Woman On School Board,” El Paso Herald, February 9, 1917, 8.
“Equal Franchise League To Renew Campaign For Trustee,” El Paso Herald, April 13, 1917, 9.
“Suffrage Champions Win Debate; Women Cheer All The Speakers,” El Paso Herald, May 19, 1915, 4.
“Suffrage Champions Win Debate,” 4.
“Labor Wishes Women To Vote,” El Paso Herald, May 21, 1915, 8.
“Labor Wishes Women To Vote,” 8.
“El Paso Suffragists To Parade And Protest At Paying Taxes,” El Paso Herald, May 5, 1916, 12.
Schuessler, “The Complex History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement”
Schuessler, “The Complex History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement”
Belinda A. Stallion Southard, “Militancy, Power, and Identity: The Silent Sentinels as Women Fighting for Political Voice,” Rhetoric and Public Affairs, Vol. 10, no. 3 (2007), 399.
Southard, “Militancy Power,” 400.
“El Paso Equal Franchise League Declares Itself Out of Sympathy With Methods of Suffragists Known as ‘Silent Pickets’,” El Paso Morning Times, July 8, 1917, 14.
Brent Staples, “Opinion: How Suffrage Movement Betrayed Black Women”
“Delegates to Suffrage Convention and Confederate Reunion Report,” El Paso Herald, January 9, 1918, 8.
“Delegates to Suffrage Convention,” 8.
“Delegates to Suffrage Convention,” 8.
“Equal Franchise League to Begin Course in Voting; Mrs. L. T. Kibler Becomes President in Place of Mrs. Young, Who Leaves Soon,” El Paso Morning Times, May 24, 1918, 7.
Kevin Conrad Motl, “A Time For Reform: The Woman Suffrage Campaign In Rural Texas, 1914-919,” (PhD diss., Texas A&M University, 2006), 9-11
Ollie P. Lansden, “Equal Franchise League Is Presented With Pen Used To Sign Suffrage Bill,” El Paso Herald, July 3, 1919, 4.
“Equal Franchise League Makes Plans for Conducting Successful Drive for Votes in Coming Suffrage Campaign Thursday,” El Paso Times, March 14, 1919, 6.
Ollie P. Lansden, “Equal Franchise League Celebrates Granting of Suffrage by Congress,” El Paso Herald, June 6, 1919, 10.
Julia Sharp, “The Equal Franchise League, 14 To 8, Votes A Protest Against Its President Giving Her Support To Man Who Has Opposed Suffrage,” El Paso Herald, June 14, 1918, 8.
Julia Sharp, “The Equal Franchise League,” 8.
Ollie P. Lansden, “Women of the Equal Franchise League Discuss Their Duties and Problems,” El Paso Herald, January 17, 1919, 8.
Ollie P. Lansden, “Equal Franchise League Is Presented With Pen,” 4.
Ollie P. Lansden, “Women of the Equal Franchise League Discuss Their Duties and Problems,” 8.
Ollie P. Lansden, “Women of the Equal Franchise League Discuss Their Duties and Problems,” 8.
“100 Years of LWV.” The League of Women Voters’ Of The United States. https://www.lwv.org/about-us/history
“Equal Franchise League Will Discuss Change To ‘League Of Women Voters’,” El Paso Herald, October 15, 1919, 12.
“El Paso Equal Franchise League Merges Into El Paso League of Women Voters,” El Paso Times, October 17, 1919, 10.
Mrs. S.J. Fennell, letter to the editor, “The League of Women Voters endorsed only one woman at its last meeting,” El Paso Herald, October 23, 1922, 13.