The Fifth Star Washington State and Women’s

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ………………………………………….…….... 2 Background ………………………………………………..... 3 Suffrage: What’s the Big Deal? .………………...……….. 4 Women in the West Lead the Way ………………...…….. 5 Washington Women and the Vote ……………...……….. 6 An Incomplete Victory ……………...……………………... 8 Washington State Voting Today …...……………………. 11 Additional Resources and Activities ...... ………………. 12

Glossary ………………………………………….…...…….. 15 The Fifth Star Washington State and Women’s Suffrage

Introduction

Welcome to Girl Scouts of Western Washington’s Suffrage Centennial Patch Program! Developed in partnership with the Washington State History Museum, this program focuses on the women’s suffrage movement in Washington State and the rest of the USA. Why now? 2020 is the 100th anniversary of the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, which granted women the right to vote. The 19th Amendment states: As you explore this patch program, you will Discover the history of the women’s “The right of citizens of the United suffrage movement and how Washington States to vote shall not be denied or contributed to the process that led to the abridged by the United States or by any 19th Amendment. You will Connect what State on account of sex.” you learn about women suffragists to current Women suffragists famously fought for this issues around voting, and to the role you right at both national and state levels—but play as a future voter. And, you will Take what is less known is Washington State’s Action by attending an event sponsored by role in the process. the Washington State History Museum virtually or in-person or using the information The patch for this program is modeled after in the Additional Resources section of this the flag of the National Women’s Party. New handbook, create your own Take Action stars were hand-sewn onto the flag for each project. state that granted women suffrage. By 1896, four states—Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Register on our website to participate in this Idaho—had already granted women program. You will receive the curriculum by suffrage, but it would take another 14 years email and patch by mail. Not a Girl Scout for Washington to follow suit. As the fifth yet? Join here! Financial Assistance is state to do so, Washington is represented available here. by the fifth star. The Fifth Star Washington State and Women’s Suffrage

Background

In March 1776, John Adams, who was the passage of the Snyder Act in 1924. Asian representing Massachusetts Colony at the Americans suffered the same problem until the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, received passage of the McCarran-Walter Act in 1952. a letter from his wife, Abigail. She wrote: Hispanic Americans and African Americans also faced barriers to voting until the passage of “I long to hear that you have declared an the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which made independency. And, by the way, in the new the law of the land. Even codes of law which I suppose will be today, Americans still experience voter necessary for you to make, I desire you suppression due to voter registration and would remember the ladies and be more identification processes, gerrymandered voting generous and favorable to them than your districts, and other problems. ancestors… Do not push such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. The path to the ballot box has also never been Remember that all men would be tyrants if straightforward or linear, as women have they could. If particular care and attention is repeatedly gained and lost the right to vote. not paid to the ladies, we are determined to They lost it in New York, New Hampshire and foment a rebellion and will not hold Massachusetts in the 1770s and 1780s; in all ourselves bound by any laws in which we states except New Jersey in 1787 when have no voice or representation.” delegates at the United States Constitutional Convention voted to make state legislatures This letter began the long, arduous fight for responsible for deciding their voting women’s suffrage in the United States—a battle qualifications; then in New Jersey in 1807; and that lasted well over a century. later in western territories that sought On August 18th, 1920, the 19th Amendment statehood, including Washington. Yet, was passed and ratified by US Congress, giving confusingly, women were still allowed to vote in women across the country the right to vote. 100 school or local elections in some instances— years later in 2020, we celebrate the centennial they were just barred from voting in federal of this historic victory for American women—but elections. we also must recognize its incompleteness. Though gaining suffrage for women was a Contrary to common belief, the 19th national struggle, Washington played an Amendment did not grant universal suffrage. integral role in the success of the movement. Native American women (and men) did not gain This program will delve into some of that citizenship, and therefore the right to vote, until trailblazing history. The Fifth Star Washington State

and Women’s Suffrage

1 Suffrage: What’s the Big Deal?

Step The Latin word suffragium initially meant “a taxes and literacy tests. voting-tablet”, “a ballot”, “a vote”, or “the right to At the 1848 Seneca Falls Women’s Rights vote”. In subsequent centuries, suffragium came Convention, hundreds of women and men met to to mean a number of different things, but it discuss women’s rights and suffrage. The regained its original meaning in the 17th century resulting resolution stated that: with the English word we know today: suffrage, “a vote” or “the right to vote”. “[I]t is the duty of women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the When citizens have the right to vote for laws and elective franchise.” leaders, that government is called a democracy. Suffrage is one of the most important principles The “elective franchise” is the right to vote. of a democracy, and the right to vote through a Why would women (and other groups) work free and secret ballot is one of the pillars of so hard to win the right to vote? American democracy. It is a right that comes with citizenship, which itself comes with other Voting gives us a voice in who we elect to civic duties. represent us, and in the laws that govern us. Women who petitioned Congress for the vote in From the founding of our nation until after the 1878 summed up some of the reasons they Civil War, states and territories defined voting wanted suffrage thusly: credentials. These included limitations based on age, race, sex, property ownership, criminality, “No taxation without representation.” mental ability, literacy, religion, and the ability — to pay poll taxes. During the “Laws made by men for women can be unjust Reconstruction era—the and one-sided.” —Ann Hosmer period after the Civil “Without the right to vote, women are classed War—the 14th and with minors and people of unsound mind.” 15th Amendments —Lucinda Proebstel were passed and ratified, changing “Righteous government cannot exist without the qualifications equal rights for all.” —Ann Hosmer of voting although “Women have political views that they want many states would represented.” —Eliza Jane Christie place additional barriers in the way of Why would YOU want to vote? Why do you voters, such as poll think some people do not vote? The Fifth Star Washington State

and Women’s Suffrage

2 Women in the West Lead the Way

Step The Wild West. What do you think of when you in 1896 and 1898; and in Oregon in 1900. Then, hear that? Cowboys? Horses? Gold? How do in 1905, the National American Woman Suffrage you picture women in that scene? Association (NAWSA) held a convention in Portland, Oregon, propelling the suffrage In the early years, there were few people in the movement forward once again. Five years later, western territories. Men outnumbered women suffragists saw their next lasting victory when nine to one. This was a problem for several Washington State became the fifth state to grant reasons, so territorial legislators came up with women suffrage. This led to further successes ways to entice women to come west. One of elsewhere as the reality of votes for women them was suffrage. spread east. Life in the west, though, was hard. People were Look at the map below. Which four states very isolated, which made it necessary to split granted women suffrage before Washington? chores and housework more evenly between What do you notice about how suffrage men and women. Women helped with tough spread across the nation? farm work and homesteading, and shared in the task of building their communities from the Why do you think women in the west were ground up. They founded churches, schools, more successful in winning the fight for and other cornerstones of new communities, suffrage? which gave them local leadership roles and involved them in the development of political norms. The women’s suffrage movement began in earnest on the East Coast in 1848, and western territories were quick to take to the idea. Women in the west gained the right to vote—and lost it—many times in the following years. Washington Territory granted women suffrage in 1883, but rescinded it four years later in 1887. Suffrage bills failed in California in 1896; in Washington The Fifth Star Washington State

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3 Washington Women and the Vote

Step Washington State has a strong historical collect research, ask questions, refine connection to the nationally famous women’s viewpoints, form opinions, run committees, suffrage movement, which itself launched in handle budgets, raise funds, circulate publicity, earnest at the 1848 keep records, and lobby policymakers. Along in New York. Washington’s fight began just six with farmers from eastern Washington, the years later when Seattle Women’s Club played a legislator Arthur A. Denny pivotal role in the suffrage proposed women’s suffrage movement that year, which at the first meeting of the saw the triumphant Washington Territorial amendment of the Washington Legislature in Olympia in voting code to read, 1854. The bill was defeated “wherever the word ‘his’ at 8-9—a difference of just occurs in the chapter one vote. aforesaid, it shall be construed to mean ‘his’ or That was far from the end ‘her’ as the case may be.” of the struggle, though. The This effectively gave women issue was raised—and the vote at last. defeated—again in 1871 at the state constitutional In the following year’s convention in Walla Walla. elections, women cast a full Ten years later, in 1881, quarter of the total ballots, women’s suffrage again whereas they numbered far came before the territorial less than a quarter of the legislature. Many women population when compared to were supporters of the men. But their freedom to do temperance movement, so this was short-lived, for in the saloon lobby worked 1887 the Territorial Supreme hard to defeat the bill—and Court overturned the law that it too failed. allowed them to vote. Washington women employed a unique Another voting law was passed and overturned strategy when in 1883, the Women’s Club of in 1888—but that did not deter women Olympia was founded. Members learned to suffragists.

Source: Washington State Historical Society The Fifth Star Washington State

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3 Washington Women and the Vote (continued)

Step Suffrage for Washington women was next influencing the national campaign to give raised at the second Constitutional Convention women the vote—which culminated 10 years in 1889. There was little support for it, though, later with the passage of the 19th Amendment. as only male voters could select Check out Washington State History representatives for the convention and many Museum’s Washington Women Get the of those representatives considered women’s Vote exhibit that celebrated the 100th support for prohibition and tendency to be anniversary of their victory in 2010. independent voters as a threat to party-based politics. Some historians theorize that the Constitutional Convention representatives were not comfortable with women having the vote because it would allow them to participate in juries, increase public participation (perhaps leading to women holding public office), and open avenues beyond the domestic sphere. Why would women want to participate in jury service or run for public office? To pressure the representatives at the convention, Washington suffragists brought in national speakers to assist with their efforts and flooded the convention with petitions. Yet despite this effort, the representatives chose not to act, instead leaving the issue for a statewide ballot—for later that year, Washington gained statehood. That meant that any measure to enact women’s suffrage would require both a two-thirds majority legislative approval and a statewide election to amend the State Constitution. Finally, in 1910, Washington women were permanently granted suffrage, heavily

Source: Washington State Historical Society The Fifth Star Washington State

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4 An Incomplete Victory

Step Despite its monumental historical importance, territories conquered were given US citizen-ship passage of the 19th Amendment was in truth an in 1848. But the states in these territories incomplete victory. Contrary to common belief, required voters to speak English, limiting the the 19th Amendment only applied to white voting rights of Mexican Americans. women. Women—and men—of color had to All white men. Many people think that all white continue the fight in the name of suffrage for all. men had the right to vote from the start—but In the elections shortly after the 19th that’s not actually true. White men who owned Amendment’s ratification, black women in many property were originally the only people allowed states across the country were able to register to vote. North Carolina was the last state to to vote and cast their ballots. However, barriers remove property ownership as a requirement to to suffrage and violence against black voters vote in 1856. quickly suppressed the votes of people of color Black Men. The 15th Amendment, passed in for many decades, especially in the South. 1870, declares that the right to vote could not Why would the government place limits on be denied by the federal or state governments voting, or put requirements in place that based upon race. But many states found other make it hard for people to vote? ways to suppress votes. The history of voting rights for people of color was and continues to be a complicated one, both in Washington State and nationally. In the 1890s in Washington, the state legislature passed new voter laws that required voters to be able to read and speak English. This effectively suppressed foreign-born and immigrant voters, which at the time was approximately 20% of Washington’s population. That was far from the only instance of voter suppression. Let’s take a look at when different The First Vote groups of Americans gained suffrage. Drawn by Alfred Mexican Americans. With the end of the R. Waud, 1867 Mexican-American War and the Treaty of www.loc.gov/ Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Mexicans living in the item/00651117/ The Fifth Star Washington State

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4 An Incomplete Victory (continued, part 1)

Step Indian Citizenship Act granted citizenship to all Native Americans—but many states enacted policies that restricted voting rights. In 1947, legal barriers to Native Americans voting were finally removed. Chinese Americans. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, barring people of Chinese ancestry from becoming US citizens. With passage of the McCarran-Walter Act in 1952, people of Asian ancestry were granted the right to become citizens, and therefore the right to vote. Japanese Americans. In Native Americans registering to vote, circa 1922, the US 1948. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images. Supreme Court Native Americans. In 1876, a Supreme Court ruled that people of ruling determined that Native Americans were Japanese heritage not citizens and therefore could not vote. In were ineligible to 1887, with passage of the Dawes Act, Native become naturalized Americans who gave up their tribal affiliation citizens. The could apply for citizenship. In 1890, the Indian Immigration Act of Naturalization Act was passed, allowing Native 1965 ended a 40- Photo of Mabel Lee from Americans to apply for citizenship as if they year ban against New York Tribune article. From the Library of Con- were immigrants. In 1919, Native Americans immigration from gress's Chronicling America Japan and other who served in the military in World War I were website. Public domain. granted US citizenship, and then in 1924 the countries. The Fifth Star Washington State

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4 An Incomplete Victory (continued, part 2)

Step Filipino Americans. In 1925, Filipinos were This landmark act removed the voting barriers barred from US citizenship unless they had that people of color faced, such as the English served three years in the US Navy. -language requirement and other discriminatory restrictions. Asian Indians. In 1923, the US Supreme Court extended that ruling to Asian Indians. Do you think there is voter suppression today? Residents of Washington, DC. Passage of the 23rd Amendment in 1961 granted citizens Unfortunately, even since the Voting Rights of Washington, DC the right to vote for Act passed, some states have enacted new President. However, DC still does not have a regulations that arguably suppress voters and voting representative in Congress (they have a voting rights in new ways—and the voters non-voting representative). It is important to most affected by this are still note that as of 2017, almost half the disproportionately people of color. population of Washington, DC was black. What do you think these new ways might What voting suppression tools were used be, and what can you do help ensure that to keep people of color from voting? everyone has an equal right to vote? It was not until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors: Use passed that the right to vote was given to all. the internet to research voter suppression, voter ID laws, and gerrymandering. Discuss your findings with an adult who is eligible to vote.

Want more information? Take a look at this US Voting Rights Timeline. The Fifth Star Washington State

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5 Washington State Voting Today

Step After Washington State’s voting rights for women victory in 1910, the state continued to trailblaze. It became the first state in the nation to allow women to serve as jurors in 1911. Washington’s current voting rights are as follows:

• You must be a citizen.

• You must be at least 18 years old.

• You must have registered to vote.

• If you commit a serious crime (called a felony), you are only allowed to vote The young women of today, free to study, once you are no longer incarcerated or to speak, to write, to choose their in community custody. occupation, should remember that every inch of this freedom was bought for them Girl Scouts who are US citizens, at least 16 at a great price. –Abigail Scott Duniway years old, and Washington state residents can participate in the Future Voter program. Now that you know more about the fight to win women’s suffrage, what’s YOUR reason to vote? To complete this patch program choose an activity from the Additional Resources Section of this handbook:

• Daisies choose 1 activity

• Brownies choose 2 activities

• Juniors choose 3 activities

• Cadettes/Seniors/Ambassadors choose 4 activities The Fifth Star Washington State and Women’s Suffrage

Additional Resources and Activities (Part 1) MAKE • Do the She Resisted: Strategies of Suffrage interactive program on PBS. All levels: • Visit Promote the Vote and learn more • Make your own Votes for Women sash. about the GSUSA National Civic Action • Make a poster about something you project. learned doing this patch.

• Create a Get Out the Vote campaign. WATCH Juniors, Cadettes, Seniors, & Ambassadors: • Print a Suffrage Cat from the National Park Service website and decorate it. Learn • Watch The Fifth Star documentary. more about suffrage and cats. Seniors and Ambassadors:

DO • Watch the film Iron Jawed Angels. NOTE: All levels: This film covers some sensitive topics and contains scenes that are difficult to watch. • Participate in Operation Sash Bomb— Please obtain the proper place a Votes for Women sash on a statue documentation/permission from a in your town or community! parent or guardian before watching. • Search your local area for the grave of a • American Experience: The Vote Part 1 local suffragist with the Here Lies a Suffragist: Find a Grave tool. Visit her • American Experience: The Vote Part 2 grave and pay your respects, bring flowers • A Seat at the Table: Women’s Sacred for her memorial, or decorate her grave Right to Vote with this sign to honor her contribution to the fight for women’s suffrage and remind LISTEN others what a fight it was. Do you know of a suffragist not on the list? Contact the Daisies, Brownies, and Juniors: Washington State Historical Society. • Listen to National Park Service’s The • Talk to women in your family from several Magic Sash podcast. generations about the first time they voted. Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors: How did they feel? What election(s) were • Listen to the National Park Service’s And they most proud to vote in? If they didn’t Nothing Less podcast. vote, ask them why. The Fifth Star Washington State and Women’s Suffrage

Additional Resources and Activities (Part 2) RESEARCH African American Suffragists The women’s suffrage movement has a few well-known historical faces, but there are • Ida B. Wells also many hidden figures too. From the list • Mary Church Terrell below, choose a person—or several • Elizabeth Piper Ensley people—and find out more about them and • Nellie Griswold Francis their contributions to the movement. • Naomi Anderson Washington State Suffragists • Daisy Elizabeth Adams Lampkin • Mary Olney Brown • Cary • Charlotte Emily Olney Brown • Francis Watkins Harper • Abigail Scott Duniway • Hester C. Jeffrey • Fanny Leake Cummings • Carrie Williams Clifford • Emma Smith DeVoe • Irene Moorman Blackstone • May Arkwright Hutton Latin American Suffragists • Nevada Bloomer • Jovita Idar • Dr. Cora Smith Eaton King • Adelina “Nina” Luna Otero-Warren Early Suffragists and Supporters Asian American Suffragists • Susan B. Anthony • Mabel Ping-Hua Lee • Native American Suffragists • • Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (Zitkala-Ša) • • Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin • Frederick Douglas • Laura Cornelius Kellogg Second Wave Suffrage Leaders Hawaiian Suffragists • • Wilhelmine Kekelaokalaninui • Lucy Burns Widemann Dowsett The Fifth Star Washington State and Women’s Suffrage

Additional Resources and Activities (Part 3)

READ • Mr. President, How Long Must We Wait? Alice Paul, Woodrow Wilson, Daisies, Brownies, and Juniors: and the Fight for the Right to Vote by • You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Tina Cassidy Stanton? by Jean Fritz • Women’s Votes Women’s Voice: The • The Ballot Box Battle by Emily Arnold Campaign for Equal Rights in McCully Washington by Shanna Stevenson • Around American to Win the Vote: Two Suffragists, a Kitten, and 10,000 Miles by Mara Rockliff WEB RESOURCES FROM THE Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • New Paths to Power: American • Washington State and the 19th Women 1890-1920 by Karen Manners Amendment Smith • In the Press: Women's Suffrage • When Did Women Get the Right to Vote • Civil Rights: Whose Voice is Heard? in the United States? A Timeline by Emily Bloch for TeenVogue • Who was excluded?: Women's Suffrage • Washington Women’s Cookbook Ambassadors and Adults: • Between Two Worlds: Black Women and the Fight for Voting Rights • Why They Marched: Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right • Latinos and the Law to Vote by Susan Ware • What happened after?: Women's • The Women’s Suffrage Movement by History Sally Roesch Wagner • Beyond 1920: The Legacies of • The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight Woman Suffrage to Win the Vote by Elaine F. Weiss The Fifth Star Washington State and Women’s Suffrage

Glossary

13th Amendment: Passed by Congress on to enforce this article by appropriate January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, legislation.” 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery Civil Rights Act of 1964: The Civil Rights in the United States and provides that "Neither Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a basis of race, color, religion, sex or national punishment for crime whereof the party shall origin. Provisions of this civil rights act forbade have been duly convicted, shall exist within discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as, the United States, or any place subject to their race in hiring, promoting, and firing. The Act jurisdiction.". prohibited discrimination in public 14th Amendment: The 14th Amendment to accommodations and federally funded the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, granted programs. It also strengthened the citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in enforcement of voting rights and the the United States—including former slaves— desegregation of schools. and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection Voting Rights Act of 1965: It outlawed the of the laws.” One of three amendments discriminatory voting practices adopted in passed during the Reconstruction era to many southern states after the Civil War, abolish slavery and establish civil and legal including literacy tests as a prerequisite rights for black Americans, it would become to voting. This “act to enforce the fifteenth the basis for many landmark Supreme Court amendment to the Constitution” was signed decisions over the years. into law 95 years after the amendment was 15th Amendment: The 15th ratified. Amendment states: “The right of citizens of the Reconstruction Era: The period (1865–77) United States to vote shall not be denied or that followed the American Civil War and abridged by the United States or by any State during which attempts were made to redress on account of race, color, or previous the inequities of slavery and its political, social, condition of servitude.” and economic legacy and to solve the 19th Amendment: Granted women the right problems arising from the readmission to the to vote, and reads: “The right of citizens of the Union of the 11 states that had seceded at or United States to vote shall not be denied or before the outbreak of war. abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. Congress shall have power