Minerva K. Brooks letter to Lucile Atcherson, April 5, 1914   Save
Franklin County Woman Suffrage Association Records
Description: On April 5, 1914, Minerva K. Brooks, a Cleveland suffragist, wrote this letter to Lucile Atcherson, a leader in the suffrage movement in Franklin County, Ohio, and executive secretary for the Franklin County Woman Suffrage Association. Brooks sent the letter in response to a letter from Atcherson that mentioned the difficulties of campaigning for women's suffrage. She described the process that canvassers followed in their effort to persuade male voters in Cleveland. Suffragists in Cleveland were supposed to be very persistent, and when trying to convince men to sign their lists they were "never to let anyone escape." Brooks also informed Atcherson that although canvassers preferred freelance work, they would not allow freelance work until after the 1st of May of that year. Until May 1st, canvassers would work their way through each ward and precinct. The Franklin County Woman Suffrage Association was formed in 1912, after the Ohio Constitutional Convention elected to bring to a vote the question of removing the words "white male" from the state constitution with regard to voting rights. Headquartered in the Chamber of Commerce building in Columbus, Ohio, the organization put out regular publications, organized public speeches and meetings, distributed literature and held parades in support of the suffrage movement. Women's suffrage in Ohio was defeated in a special election in 1912 and again in 1914 and 1916 before a resolution narrowly passed in 1917 allowing municipal voting by women in Columbus. In 1920, the 19th Amendment passed, extending the vote to women and prohibiting state and federal government from denying suffrage on the basis of sex. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS1025_B01F01_08_01
Subjects: Women -- Suffrage; Social movements; Franklin County Woman Suffrage Association;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio); Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio);