CONNECTING COMMUNITIES IN THE AIR AND ON THE GROUND. Proud to support Georgia Historical Society. ON THE COVER The Woman Citizen (cover), February 14, 1920. MS 1267, Stewart Huston Family Papers. Fall/Winter | Volume 13, Number 2 Photo: Georgia Federation of Colored Womens Clubs Page 1 and 2, July 29 1921. MS 1278, Maude Heyward Collection on Women’s Clubs. Page (4) – Women’s Suffrage at 100 TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE PROFILES 4 | Women’s Suffrage at 100 14 | 2020 Georgia Trustees by Lisa Landers by Patricia Meagher PERSPECTIVES GEORGIA HISTORY FESTIVAL 9 | Building for the Future 22 | Schedule of Events by W. Todd Groce, PhD GEORGIA HISTORY FESTIVAL GEORGIA GEMS 30 | Messages from our Friends 10 | Helen Dortch Longstreet and Supporters by Noah Prince and Lisa Landers INSIDE GHS 12 | GHS Research Center Renovation and Expansion Begins by W. Todd Groce, PhD Georgia Power is committed to making communities thrive for generations to come. We are proud to call this state home and to be ‘Citizens Wherever We Serve.’ 2 2019-2020 special issue Bringing History to Life in the Classroom and Beyond This special issue of Georgia History Today focuses on the Georgia Historical Society’s annual Georgia History Festival. From a full schedule of events (pg. 22), to stories based on the Festival’s theme (pg. 4), to messages from our friends and supporters (pg. 30), each page offers a glimpse into the many ways GHS brings history to life in the classroom and beyond. After reading this issue, please continue exploring everything the Festival has to offer by visiting georgiahistoryfestival.org. About the Georgia History Festival The Georgia History Festival is the signature K-12 educational program of the Georgia Historical Society. Beginning with the new school year in September, a variety of public programs, exhibits, in-school events, and educational resources bring history to life for students of all ages and encourage Georgians to explore the richness and diversity of our state’s past. The Festival culminates in February, the founding month of the Georgia colony, with Founding City events like the popular Colonial Faire and Muster living-history program held at Wormsloe State Historic Site, Savannah’s colorful Georgia Day Parade, and the annual Trustees Gala. About the 2019-2020 Georgia History Festival Theme Each year, GHS selects a person or topic that made a great impact on Georgia’s history as the focus of our educational programs and resources. The 2019-2020 focus of study will be “Women’s Suffrage at 100: The 19th Amendment and Georgia History.” From public programs, events, and activities to new classroom resources, in-school programming, and training opportunities for teachers, GHS will explore the legacy of women’s suffrage in Georgia and the United States in commemoration of the struggle to pass the 19th Amendment in which women won the right to vote 100 years ago. 2019-2020 Georgia History Festival Committee Chairs Mr. Ed Bastian | Mr. W. Paul Bowers | Dr. and Mrs. William T. Moore Committee Curt Anderson; Libba Anderson; Frank Blake; Ellen Bolch; Becky Cheatham; Dolly Chisholm; Dale Critz, Sr.; Bob Faircloth; Phil Jacobs; Kathy Levitt; Stephanie Lindley; Vern Nagel; Pat O’Connor; Rebecca Ogden; Swann Seiler; Don Waters 4 UFFRAGE—THE RIGHT TO Everyone is familiar with the story of suffrage, or so VOTE—IS THE BASIS OF it seems. We know names like Susan B. Anthony and DEMOCRACY AND A HALLMARK Elizabeth Cady Stanton. We recognize the photographs OF CITIZENSHIP. SUFFRAGE of women donning all white, picketing the White House GIVES US THE POWER TO during the Wilson administration in the early 20th century. CHOOSE OUR LEADERS AND TO HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE. IT’S THE SRIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN CIVIC LIFE AND SHAPE THE COMMUNITIES IN WHICH WE LIVE, WORK, AND RAISE OUR FAMILIES. One hundred years ago, during the summer of 1919, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by both houses of the U.S. Congress, granting women the right to vote. One year later, in August 1920, the We understand that women’s suffrage was hard fought and amendment was ratified by the 36th state—meeting the that the movement was ultimately successful. three-fourths, constitutional requirement needed for its approval. As one of the most important events of the 20th But what about what we don’t know? As an educator, century, its passage marked the culmination of an extensive I found that one of the major challenges to teaching struggle for women to achieve full citizenship. history—but what makes it endlessly fascinating for both teachers and students—is that history is layered and Born out of the abolitionist movement, fueled by the intricate. School curriculum typically doesn’t call for passage of the 15th amendment, and shaped by post-Civil the women’s suffrage movement to be taught within the War society, the women’s suffrage movement was a struggle context of Jim Crow history (the topics are usually taught for over seven decades between those who fought for and separately). Understanding the fight for women’s suffrage those who fought against women’s participation in politics in Georgia requires placing it within the context of the and in the political process. It was a critical battle over New South, the period of economic recovery and political civil rights that set the stage for social justice movements resurgence of white, Democratic dominance following that characterized the 20th century in the United States Reconstruction. and continues to inform current debates over civic participation today. The first women’s rights convention was held during the antebellum period in 1848—thirteen years prior to the Civil The story of the struggle to win the vote for women in War—in Seneca Falls, New York, a time when few in the Georgia—much like the larger, nation-wide movement—is South were calling for female suffrage. complex, dynamic, and difficult. It must be placed within political, cultural, and social contexts including efforts in The movement during the post-Civil War era was this state to both enfranchise and disenfranchise. influenced by the enfranchisement of black men. The Civil War amendments prompted debates over civil rights throughout the country—the thirteenth ending slavery, the fourteenth establishing rights of citizenship, and the fifteenth enfranchising black men. Not until Reconstruction or after did women’s suffrage groups emerge in the South. The movement in Georgia can be divided into three stages—1) the origins of women’s suffrage groups in the post-Reconstruction era; 2) the establishment of other suffrage groups, including the Equal Suffrage Party of Georgia and the Georgia Men’s League for Woman Suffrage, with wider significant as they were not only working towards reforms acceptance and in their communities but also aimed to uplift African participation in Americans socially, culturally, and politically. They fought club activities in the not only for their own rights but those that had been early 20th century; stripped from black men in the South, including suffrage. and 3) the final years, characterized By the culminating years of the women’s suffrage by heavy media movement, World War I was being waged across Europe; campaigns by many western territories had granted voting rights to pro- and anti- women prior to state-hood, and many states granted full suffrage groups, and voting rights to women long before the passage of the 19th considerations for female suffrage in the Georgia legislature. Amendment, but in the South there was strong opposition to a federal amendment. In 1890, Helena Augusta Howard of Columbus formed the first women’s suffrage group in Georgia. The first members One of the strongest arguments utilized on both sides of of the Georgia Woman Suffrage Association (GWSA) were the question was the threat of federal interference in state Howard, her mother, and four of her sisters. The impetus and local government. Southern states were resistant to behind the group came after Howard’s father died. Her federal control and both sides used this argument to their mother (like many women across the state) bore the burden favor. Pro-suffrage groups argued that an amendment of taxation but had no representation in the government to the Georgia constitution would deter the need for a that taxed her and constitutionally classified women in the federal amendment, while those opposed viewed a state same condition as minors, lunatics, traitors, and felons. amendment as an endorsement of nationwide suffrage. The GWSA was formed as a branch of the National The later years of the movement were heavily characterized American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), a group by the fight waged publicly in the Georgia press, where pro- led by prominent suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and suffrage groups could boast 45 suffrage-friendly newspapers Susan B. Anthony. By the mid 1890s several branches of the across the state by 1915. Public speeches, literature, and GWSA were active across the state. propaganda were tactics used on both sides. The central event of the early movement in Georgia The pro-suffrage arguments in Georgia were both typical occurred in 1895 when NAWSA held its annual meeting of the wider movement but also represent the complexity in Atlanta at DeGive’s Opera House. It was the group’s of the movement in the South. Those in favor of women’s first meeting outside of Washington D.C. and the largest suffrage cited female property ownership, women in the gathering of suffragists in the South up to that time. workforce, and the fact that all women were subject to the laws of the state as reasons for Georgia to grant women By 1910, more branches of the GWSA and other women’s direct political representation.