WOMAN SUFFRAGE and ETHNICITY in RURAL MINNESOTA

Local Agitation in Pipestone and Lyon Counties

Sara Egge ing a MWSA quarterly conference in ing.” While Stevens’s interlocuters southwestern Minnesota. Her letter did not elaborate on what had gone n June 26, 1916, Rene Ste- served as an evaluation of potential wrong with the previous gathering, Ovens, a field director for the sites. the Worthington suffragists also National American Woman Suffrage Lincoln County’s town of Ivanhoe quashed any future plans by declaring Association (NAWSA), sent a long was unfit, Stevens noted, because it that they could not possibly fund the letter to Ethel Briggs, office secretary was on a railroad stub and “practically conference. In Rock County, Luverne for the Minnesota Woman Suffrage unreachable.” Worthington, in Nobles was promising, but it had only one Association (MWSA), detailing the County, seemed an attractive location, hotel—and “not a good one”—which results of her recent trip to south- but a quick visit confirmed otherwise. meant that “practically everyone with western Minnesota. As an affiliate of The few local suffragists Stevens could a spare room would have to be inter- NAWSA, MWSA had hired Stevens find there told her how difficult it had ested enough to take a guest.” When in January to organize suffrage clubs been to organize a district conference Stevens approached Luverne’s Equal across the state. The work was slow earlier that year because the “spirit of going, prompting Stevens to concoct inhospitality was revolting as well as above: Scandinavian women in national cos- a plan to drum up support by hold- deadening to the success of the meet- tume march for suffrage in Minneapolis, 1913.

116 MINNESOTA HISTORY Suffrage Society—a group she called German, Belgian, and French Cana- it would upend rigid gender notions a “band of old conservatives”—about dian immigrants who despised of women as wives, mothers, sisters, hosting the conference, they flatly woman suffrage, Lyon County was and daughters. In addition, many turned her down.1 not a hotbed of activity for the cause. Minnesotans opposed the cause Ultimately, Pipestone, a small Nonetheless, Randall convinced four because they associated it with tem- town on the border of South Dakota local women to lead suffrage efforts perance. For decades, the Woman’s and county seat of Pipestone County, there. By August the quartet was Christian Temperance Union had emerged as the best location. With working diligently, despite the odds, been a champion of woman suffrage, Pipestone accessible by rail, Stevens to collect signatures on a pro-suffrage and many suffragists belonged to this estimated that she could find enough petition and to secure support from national organization. Immigrants local support among ethnically and local organizations. Over the next whose ethnic customs embraced the religiously diverse women to pull off two months, all four women—Laura consumption of alcohol mistrusted the conference. Plans that drew in Lowe, Minnie Matthews, Harriet suffragists. Anti-temperance sen- locals whom MWSA assumed were Sanderson, and Tillie Deen—carried timent was especially high in Lyon unreservedly opposed to woman suf- out grueling schedules to complete County. frage actually revealed the opposite. Before the mid-1910s, the suffrage The hardest-fought battles of woman suffrage in Minnesota cause had been unpopular in rural took place in counties like Pipestone and Lyon, where women areas in part because grassroots combated ignorance or apathy among their neighbors. organizing—in general as well as among ethnic groups—had been limited. Stevens’s visit signaled MWSA’s the work for MWSA while also con- While Clara Ueland, Rene Stevens, new focus on outreach. As organizers tinuing their responsibilities to the Grace Randall, and their counterparts tapped into Pipestone and other rural Red Cross in supporting both an influ- deserve attention for their important enclaves, suffragists began to under- enza outbreak and US troops fighting work, local suffrage advocates also stand how Minnesota’s European in World War I.3 deserve credit for their critical role ethnic diversity and vibrant social How these four women came to in the overall success of MWSA’s and religious networks shaped local woman suffrage and achieved the efforts. The hardest-fought battles politics.2 success they did in the previously of woman suffrage in Minnesota Two years later, in July 1918, a unfertile territory of Lyon County took place in counties like Pipestone young MWSA field-worker named provides important insights into how and Lyon, where women like Lowe, Grace Randall visited Lyon County, the woman suffrage quest unfolded in Matthews, Sanderson, and Deen also in southwestern Minnesota. Minnesota and why the state lagged combated ignorance or apathy among Populated primarily by Norwegian, behind its neighbors in pro-suffrage their neighbors. Making woman activity until the mid-1910s, when suffrage popular also meant divorc- new leadership and young talent ing it from temperance in the minds flooded MWSA. Though woman of Minnesotans. It meant reaching suffrage activists continued to face out to ethnic groups with political difficulties, MWSA’s evolution, thanks connections. It meant crafting argu- to the organizing and fundraising ments that deradicalized the cause skills of its newly elected president, by promising that women would still Clara Ueland, made possible the maintain their cherished place in the cause’s striking transformation from family even with the ballot. Finally, one of Minnesota’s least desirable the charged political climate of World political causes to one of the most War I changed expectations for Min- fashionable. nesota’s immigrants. Local suffrage Most Minnesotans at the time leaders capitalized on the rising fear viewed suffrage as radical and dan- of foreign-born residents, champi- gerous. Public attacks, especially in oning their mobilization as patriotic • Lac Qui Parle County • Lyon County newspapers, revealed that Minneso- in a tactical move to win additional • Pipestone County tans feared women voting because political clout.

FALL 2020 117 Development of Woman highest vote total cast in the election, tion, as the source of change in rural Suffrage in Minnesota not just on the amendment itself. An communities.” In Minnesota, this abstention was now the same as a resource remained untapped until the A group of 14 women from around “no” vote. Lobbying the legislature, mid-1910s not because suffragists sud- the state had formed the MWSA the approach favored by MWSA, was denly recognized the extensive power decades earlier, in 1881, first led by no longer a viable option. Suffragists rural women wielded but because Sarah Burger Stearns. Its early efforts struggled to regroup.5 their state leaders finally had the largely targeted enfranchisement by Since its founding, MWSA had talent and financial support to move a state amendment. At every legisla- also struggled with a shortage of beyond Minnesota’s urban centers.7 tive session between 1881 and 1898, both resources and talent, which The dearth of local engagement MWSA submitted bills to secure helped explain why the organization made Minnesota an outlier among woman suffrage. Prominent individ- had stuck with a narrow strategy other states in the region. Local ual suffragists who lived mostly in St. focused on the state legislature in St. women throughout Wisconsin, Iowa, Paul or Minneapolis promoted these Paul. In addition, navigating ethnic and South Dakota had been partici- efforts, giving speeches or hosting communities in rural Minnesota pating in suffrage efforts for decades. meetings to drum up support, but the was complicated. Historian Barbara In Wisconsin, women had agitated work was infrequent and often lim- Stuhler characterizes MWSA’s early since the 1860s, largely through tem- ited to elite circles. In addition, a few attempts at rural advocacy as “less perance reform, and in 1912 voters field-workers attempted to organize ardent and less successful” than urban considered but ultimately rejected a suffrage clubs, including national efforts. A debate among scholars has suffrage referendum. Since the 1880s, organizers Laura Gregg and Helen emerged about what Stuhler calls Iowa had enjoyed a robust history of Kimber in 1899, but agitation was a “lack of commitment to suffrage local activism, which culminated in spotty and uneven. These local and from rural constituencies.” Some 1916 when Iowans voted for the first county clubs were usually short-lived, historians, like William Watts Folwell and only time on an (unsuccessful) lasting less than a year, and mostly and Stuhler, argue that traditional amendment to the state’s constitu- ineffective. attitudes about gender or suffrage tion. In fact, when Stevens came to Nineteenth-century suffragist opposition born from anti-prohibition southwestern Minnesota in mid-June Ethel Hurd wryly noted that she and sentiment “restrained” Minnesotans, 1916, she was returning from a dis- her cohort had “little honor or glory, especially rural people, from sup- appointing stint in Dubuque, Iowa, much less remuneration.” Prior to porting the cause. Other historians to support the campaign before the MWSA’s efforts, in 1875 women had point out how “practical hurdles of June 5 referendum. A stone’s throw to won the right to vote in school elec- farm chores and distance from town” the west from Pipestone, residents of tions, making them eligible to serve prevented rural dwellers from engag- South Dakota were experiencing their on school boards. In 1898, the state ing in the ways urban suffragists had sixth of seven amendment campaigns legislature passed a law that enfran- envisioned. In other words, everyday in 1916. Since 1890, suffragists there chised women in library elections. obstacles, not rigid convictions about had staged tenacious campaigns to While these were victories, they gender, obstructed advocacy in rural enfranchise South Dakota women, were rather small, and most bills Minnesota. While rural Minnesotans and the 1916 effort was the third in that extended women’s rights died in did largely oppose the cause, espe- a series since 1910. Less than a week committees or on the floor of either cially in the nineteenth century, the after the 1916 Pipestone conference, the house or the senate. Focusing on sentiment was not permanent.6 Stevens became a field organizer the state legislature not only led to Scholars like Barbara Handy- based out of Aberdeen in northeast- minimal legislative success but also Marchello hit squarely on the issue, ern South Dakota.8 stymied efforts at the local level.4 placing outright blame on urban- Despite Aberdeen’s proximity, Moreover, after late 1898 secur- dwelling suffragists for refusing to Stevens’s presence in Minnesota was ing a woman suffrage amendment organize rural women. In her assess- hit or miss; organizing there often became virtually impossible. That ment of suffragists in North Dakota, received second billing when contests year, voters approved a constitu- she posits that leaders failed to see erupted in neighboring states. That tional amendment that said all future “their rural counterparts as allies, little on-the-ground mobilization amendments to the state’s constitu- as intelligent women with strong for woman suffrage had existed any- tion had to receive the majority of the credentials in community organiza- where in rural Minnesota before the

118 MINNESOTA HISTORY Pipestone conference in southwest typically “excluded women from cause. Opinions ranged from indif- Minnesota made the event even more independent public activities.” Rural ference to opposition. Moreover, for remarkable. Not only would it offer women, however, did take positions most rural inhabitants ethnic identity a significant opportunity to advocate as school officers, librarians, county profoundly shaped their political for woman suffrage, it was likely the deputies, police officers, and super- viewpoints. After the Civil War, large first time that most people living intendents for charitable causes. This numbers of European immigrants there had ever interacted with a pro- activity, combined with their work had arrived in Minnesota, bringing fessionally trained suffragist.9 in collective organizations such as cherished customs that included the This new strategy to engage with church groups and federated women’s consumption of alcohol. Distinct rural women in Minnesota was part clubs focused on civic engagement populations flourished in their own of a broadened vision for MWSA that and community volunteerism, gave relatively isolated rural communities, took shape after Clara Ueland became rural women a record of public service creating a patchwork quilt of ethnic its president in 1914. In the legislative and community engagement that res- settlements. At the heart of these arena, MWSA leaders reconfigured onated with suffragist organizers.11 communities was the rural church, an their goals, focusing on suffrage just To extend MWSA’s base into these institution that sanctified an enclave in presidential elections. Presidential rural areas, Ueland organized the culture that privileged ethnic values. suffrage bypassed the state’s difficult state by legislative district, empha- People spoke their native languages, amending process because it only sizing local outreach among the consumed native foods and alcohol, required the approval of the legisla- constituents of legislators whose and celebrated native holidays at ture, not an amendment supported support seemed attainable. The seven church, while their children attended by the majority of all votes cast at an districts in southwestern Minnesota the parochial school taught by mem- election. It also aligned with NAWSA’s were particularly attractive because bers of the congregation and held “winning plan,” which gave states they bordered suffrage-rich eastern within church walls. Enclaves and their institutions made it easy for newcomers not only to pass down This new strategy to engage with rural women in Minnesota ethnic values to their children but was part of a broadened vision for MWSA that took shape also to resist pressure to assimilate to after Clara Ueland became its president in 1914. American norms.12 Late nineteenth-century immi- different goals depending on the like- South Dakota. Still, coordinating gration was highest from countries lihood of success. While the national a suffrage campaign in any rural in northern Europe, including Ger- plan focused primarily on securing a Minnesota district was a challenge. many, Norway, and Sweden, but other federal amendment, it also allowed Ueland charged field-workers with ethnic groups also founded colonies simultaneous state campaigns, either changing public opinion. En route, that made Minnesota ethnically and for constitutional amendments or, in they struggled to overcome rugged culturally diverse. For example, Pipe- states like Minnesota where the odds terrain, underdeveloped communica- stone County’s population included were not favorable, for presidential tion networks, poor road conditions, Germans and Norwegians, while suffrage.10 and vast distances. Traveling to rural immigrants in Lyon County to the In addition, MWSA’s up-and- communities was a feat; but convinc- northeast included Icelanders, Bel- coming advocates began embracing ing locals to support woman suffrage gians, and French Canadians as well tactics to increase their base. As they was perhaps the most difficult task. as larger communities of Norwegians pursued grassroots organizing among and Germans. They came to Lyon rural women, MWSA field-workers Ethnic Dynamics County because boosters seeking encountered ethnic and religious in Rural Minnesota to develop the local economy lured groups that needed to be won over farmers and laborers to emigrate to advance the cause in Minnesota. By March 1916, Stevens and Maria from Europe. Campaign tactics included demon- McMahon, another NAWSA orga- In one instance, American-born strations to generate public attention nizer, were working in Minnesota’s business leaders in Marshall, the and publicity among an electorate southwestern districts, encountering county seat, pledged their own that Folwell described as “restrained” “unenlightened” people with a “cry- money to construct a Catholic church, by traditional gender norms that ing need” for information about the explaining that they were desperate

FALL 2020 119 to attract a large cohort of workers and affiliated with MWSA. The SWSA The Scandinavian Woman Suffrage Associ- at a time when many Catholics were pursued twin goals of woman suf- ation expanded the cause among Scandi- founding large colonies in Minnesota. frage and cultural preservation. By navians by adopting a broad message that Over time, these boosters’ efforts paid 1915, all Scandinavian countries had Scandinavians were progressive-minded. This off, and the number of foreign-born granted women the right to vote, a white ribbon sash was worn by a member of the St. Paul Political Equality Club. residents rose substantially. While victory SWSA’s second president, ethnic communities were a minority Nanny Jaeger, was quick to champion. in Pipestone County, by 1920 in Lyon While SWSA proved vital to expand- community leaders endorsed it, County only 40 percent of the popula- ing the cause among Scandinavians defusing its radical charge (steeped, tion was native-born, eclipsed by the by adopting a broad message that as it was, in both prohibition and Germans, Norwegians, Irish, Polish, Scandinavians were progressive- women’s rights) in the process. In Belgians, and French Canadians in minded, SWSA remained primarily addition, agitation increased among their midst. Lyon County represented an elite urban group as nearly all its rural Minnesotans when the Con- demographic trends across Min- members lived in the Twin Cities and gressional Union (later renamed the nesota. As Stuhler notes, the 1905 were the wives of well-to-do Scandina- National Woman’s Party), led by Alice census revealed that more than two- vian men. In addition, only first- and Paul, established a state chapter in thirds of all Minnesotans had at least second-generation Scandinavian Minnesota in 1915. MWSA appre- one foreign-born parent.13 Americans could join, which further ciated the union’s recruitment of Understanding how ethnicity restricted its base.15 younger suffragists who championed shaped politics proved essential for The stakes were particularly high direct action tactics that included suffragists working in rural Minne- for the SWSA. After 1916, its members parades and street meetings in rural sota, but MWSA had to navigate the did not hesitate to downplay their communities. Scholars often overlook issue carefully. Suffragists recognized ethnic immigrant identities in favor the vibrant spectacles orchestrated that many immigrants opposed the of celebrating American assimilation- by Congressional Union suffragists cause because they believed women ist ones. But in so doing, the SWSA in Minnesota, but Ueland welcomed only wanted the vote to enact pro- undercut itself and its mission to pre- them, noting that the union sent hibition. Immigrants also enjoyed serve Scandinavian culture. By 1918, organizers into “places where there tremendous political power, a power it even considered changing its name has never been a suffrage meeting. that began even before they became to the Woman Citizen Association. In (Minnesota is an untouched field citizens. In Minnesota, male immi- the end, the SWSA kept its name, but comparatively.) . . . and their work has grants received the right to vote after the debate reflects the political pre- certainly reinforced our own.” Finally, they registered their Declaration carity foreign-born Americans faced after 1917, World War I virtually of Intention, a legal document that during World War I. Most ultimately silenced immigrant opposition born proclaimed their desire to become bowed to pressure to assimilate out of anti-prohibition concerns. Instead, a naturalized citizen after only two of loyalty. For Germans, the most ethnic communities, especially non- years of living in the United States. vilified group, nativist hostility was German ones, mostly endorsed the Stuhler claims that Minnesota’s suf- tremendous.16 cause in public ways.17 fragists were “not, as a rule, offended Woman suffrage came to rural that male immigrants” could vote Minnesota with renewed energy in Pipestone Suffrage before becoming citizens, or, if they 1916, when state suffrage leaders Conference were, they “held their peace.”14 began partnering with locals who This attitude no doubt helped took up the cause themselves and The woman suffrage conference MWSA cultivate close relationships infused it into their already vibrant planned in Pipestone in 1916 served with immigrant women, especially ethnic social and political networks. as the first inkling of just how pow- those from Scandinavian countries. MWSA, and to a lesser extent SWSA, erful local coalitions of women could In 1907, the Scandinavian Woman could claim a change in public opin- become if given the opportunity. Suffrage Association (SWSA) formed, ion in favor of suffrage only when Stevens had selected Pipestone as

120 MINNESOTA HISTORY part of an effort to advocate for the Stevens arrived in Pipestone in Their willingness seemed insig- cause in both southwestern Minne- early July 1916, and she set to work nificant when compared to Stevens, sota and southeastern South Dakota. immediately by contacting local who was a whirlwind of energy and In late June 1916, at a meeting with politicians, business leaders, and demanded as much from her cowork- Mamie Pyle, president of the South prominent women from immigrant ers, so much so that Clara Ueland Dakota Universal Franchise League, and non-immigrant groups to gain responded to one of Stevens’s letters Stevens explained that MWSA sought their endorsements for a confer- by advising her to take it easy. “Do not to bolster the ongoing campaign ence. In particular, she drummed kill yourself trying to get a confer- there by holding the conference in a up support among churchgoing ence,” she advised. Simply organizing county along South Dakota’s border. women, including Presbyterians and agitating in rural Minnesota was Pyle asked—“wistfully” according to and Methodists, who were mostly enough, according to Ueland, but Ste- Stevens—“if it wouldn’t help Minn. non-immigrants, and Catholics, who vens was undeterred, responding to about as much if we worked the were mostly immigrants. For Stevens, state headquarters that she had set the border counties on the Dakota side.” Stevens’s response was telling. In as “tasteful language as possible,” she The woman suffrage conference planned in Pipestone in 1916 indicated that Minnesota lagged served as the first inkling of just how powerful local coalitions far behind South Dakota in support of women could become if given the opportunity. for woman suffrage. She judged the South Dakota league’s efforts more locals with “social position” were key date for August 3 and 4 and had pub- beneficial among South Dakotans, to a successful conference, and she licized the conference in neighboring who demonstrated more knowledge reportedly “bulldozed” those reticent counties, including Lyon County.20 of and enthusiasm for the cause. As advocates into providing entertain- Newspaper reports about the she put it, Minnesota resembled “the ment, housing, and funding. But it is Pipestone conference were spotty at Lord in a willingness to help those unclear just how recalcitrant locals best, not because Stevens failed to who help themselves” but at the same were toward the cause. Stevens had notify newspaper editors but because time had a “desire to be shown” the low expectations, stating, “I [just] they could not always print her press way. Her few months in Minnesota want to make a dent in the attitude releases as quickly as she wanted. earlier that year had revealed that of the townspeople,” but she also With face-to-face contact difficult to some locals wanted to help organize named scores of Pipestone residents maintain among rural populations, the conference but needed a guide to who took on the myriad tasks she newspapers were crucial for orga- “advise, stimulate, push, etc.”18 gave them.19 nizing. On July 20, Stevens visited Marshall, the county seat of Lyon County, meeting with the editors of both the Marshall News Messenger and the Lyon County Reporter. Staff at both newspapers admitted that their previous coverage of woman suffrage had been irregular, and they prom- ised to advertise more among their subscribers. Yet their assurances were somewhat hollow. The Lyon County Reporter merely published a single, three-paragraph missive about the upcoming conference, while the Mar- shall News Messenger failed entirely, printing a brief that appeared a day after the conference had begun. The lack of coverage, however, did

West Main Street, Pipestone, about 1904.

FALL 2020 121 not keep an unnamed “Marshall “triumphant tour” of southern and were piecemeal and somewhat delegation” from attending the con- western rural Minnesota that pro- limited incursions by individual ference, and they reported it “a great moted enthusiasm for the conference activists into sustained and mean- success.”21 leading up to the big event. Traveling ingful efforts organized around a Despite the less-than-sterling in an automobile caravan totaling 50 central message. When President work of some local newspapers, cars, MWSA officers held open-air Woodrow Wilson convinced Congress MWSA proclaimed the Pipestone street meetings at small towns, includ- to declare war against Germany in conference a victory. Five days before ing Lakefield, Slayton, and Woodstock, April 1917, Minnesotans were initially it began, Stevens had hung Votes for along the route from the Twin Cities reluctant. Some groups, particularly Women posters in the windows of to Pipestone. They also crossed the Scandinavian immigrants, endorsed nearly every business in Pipestone. border into South Dakota, holding neutrality while others, especially While she admitted that “it seemed open-air street meetings in nearby Germans, supported intervention on early to do this stunt,” she did it so Flandreau. These spectacles were the side of Germany. In short order, that country dwellers, including Ger- invaluable for bringing rural Minne- however, suspicions of disloyalty mans and Norwegians, who came to sotans in direct contact with woman fostered broad patriotic support for Pipestone only on Saturdays—“the suffrage, something that the subdued US involvement, and in turn, antiwar big country day in town”—could see campaigns of the past had not been positions faced increasing public them. The main events were a street able to do. The conference proved to scrutiny. As nativism gripped Minne- meeting during which suffragists Stevens and others in MWSA that sota, immigrants from Germany and walked from corner to corner, repeat- rural populations, including members Scandinavia, including the Scandi- ing their speeches as they went, and a of ethnic and religious communities, navian Woman Suffrage Association, massive banquet hosted by members were not categorically opposed to the faced criticism. of two local churches, one Catholic— cause and would step forward when According to historian Anna most likely German—and the other state leaders gave them the chance.23 Peterson, the result was a “violent Presbyterian. Stevens had printed almost 1,300 programs, and although World War I and she did not tally the total attendance, Suffrage parade in Madison, in Lac qui Parle Lyon County County, about 1916. Spectacles such as this her letters after the conference were were invaluable for bringing rural Minneso- full of positive reports.22 World War I dramatically trans- tans in direct contact with woman suffrage, The conference’s success stemmed formed woman suffrage campaigning something that the subdued campaigns of the in part from what Ueland called a in rural Minnesota, changing what past had not been able to do. backlash” that mainly targeted Germans and German Americans but that also caused many immigrants, including Scandinavians, to “renounce their ethnic heritage.” No longer could they defend alcohol consumption as an expression of cultural values. Vocal opposition to woman suffrage out of concerns it would lead to prohibition decreased markedly. Most immigrants ultimately bowed to pressure to assimilate out of loyalty. This was a boon for state suffragists, and neither MWSA nor SWSA spoke out against the anti-German frenzy as it grew. Instead, they loyally mobilized, infusing patriotic pro-war efforts, like selling Liberty Bonds, News and Art Club of Minneota, one of the groups from the Lyon County town that sent a resolu- sewing items for the American Red tion to the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association supporting a federal suffrage amendment. Cross, and conserving foods, into their suffrage work, and ethnic communities, especially non-German Examining Lyon County reveals willingly joined MWSA as it mobi- ones, mostly endorsed the cause how World War I reshaped woman lized for both suffrage and war. After publicly.24 suffrage in rural Minnesota as it, like 1917, MWSA pursued two main lines Pro-war advocacy spurred the many rural counties, had a fractured of work: circulating petitions and creation of groups like the Minne- experience with the cause before the securing resolutions from prominent sota Commission of Public Safety, an war. Snippets in the MWSA archives groups. The goal was to secure both a agency that pursued both patriotic demonstrations and persecution of any group deemed “un-American.” Despite the lack of sustained engagement among locals in Lyon MWSA aligned with these efforts at County before World War I, a number of local women willingly boosting loyalty, reporting themselves joined MWSA as it mobilized for both suffrage and war. and “the mass of Minnesota’s women” as unquestionably loyal, with “their indicate that field-workers twice orga- federal amendment for women’s full record for Red Cross work, for food nized a suffrage club in Lyon County, suffrage access and women’s limited conservation . . . [and] for American- first in 1899 and again in 1912. Both presidential suffrage by bombarding ization” as their “entire validation.” efforts were brief, and little evidence members of Congress and state leg- Americanization was especially exists about the clubs’ membership islators with overwhelming evidence powerful, for it situated immigrant or activities. One report about the that constituents in their district suffragists as responsible citizens 1912 group suggests that it was prob- wanted women to vote. MWSA man- who understood American values. ably the Current News Club, a local aged these efforts by sending field War mobilization further politicized federated women’s club in Marshall. organizers to coordinate directly suffragists and the activist networks Meeting minute records, scrapbooks, with local residents, as in July 1918, they had cultivated, especially in rural and other documents left by the when suffragist Grace Randall visited areas and among ethnic groups for Current News Club, however, never the county. Although she met with which demonstrating their fervent mention any sort of affiliation with or a number of locals, including state patriotism could mitigate nativist work for MWSA.26 legislators, other political candidates, attacks. Infusing woman suffrage Despite the lack of sustained and supportive women, she reported with war work brought sustained and engagement with the cause among little about her time there. Randall’s compelling campaigns for the cause locals in Lyon County before World brief remarks obscure how mean- to rural Minnesota.25 War I, a number of local women ingful her visit was for pro-suffrage

FALL 2020 123 activists in Lyon County, for shortly women; Minneota’s was 124 apiece. opposition.” Despite all these diffi- after she left, women in Marshall and MWSA requested separate petitions culties, Lowe and Matthews pulled Minneota, a small town of Norwegian for each gender, which likely allowed off a tremendous feat. Although they and Icelandic immigrants located officials to demonstrate widespread secured only 130 signatures on the northwest of Marshall, began the support among both men and women men’s petition (not even half of the county’s first intensive woman suf- while also providing an opportunity MWSA quota), they had collected 311 frage campaign.27 for women to sign even if their male signatures from local women, falling By August 1918, two pairs of counterparts did not.28 only two names short of their quota. women—Laura Lowe and Minnie For over two months, Lowe and Lowe also submitted a resolution Matthews in Marshall and Tillie Deen Matthews disseminated petitions and endorsed by the Ladies’ Aid Society and Harriet Sanderson in Minneota— faced an onslaught of obstacles. War of Marshall’s Congregational Church were engaging in a countywide work, especially for the American that supported a federal woman suf- canvass and petition drive. All four Red Cross, consumed nearly every frage amendment.29 were established leaders in their com- available minute, they reported. In While residents in Marshall munities. Lowe and Matthews were addition, bad weather that fall turned engaged impressively with woman members of the Current News Club roads into sloppy rut-filled messes. suffrage, their rural counterparts and the Ladies’ Aid Society of the An influenza outbreak and subse- contributed even more remarkably. Congregational Church in Marshall. quent quarantine made contacting Of the nine resolutions submitted to Matthews’s home also served as the all voters on their list impossible. To MWSA from groups in Lyon County, headquarters of the local American top it all off, MWSA staff had failed seven came from an extraordinary Red Cross chapter. These networks twice to respond to requests from anchored local suffrage agitation, and Lowe and Matthews for “literature Lowe and Matthews used them to cir- on the suffrage question” to distrib- Members of the Scandinavian Woman Suffrage culate MWSA’s pro-suffrage petitions. ute in the community, prompting Association pose in front of headquarters of the National Woman's Party in Washington, State leaders set signature quotas for office administrator Clara Heckrich DC, 1917. Minnesota NWP chair Jane Potter is each town based on the number of to apologize for the oversight. Lowe at center. The women brandished the banners voters at the last election. Marshall’s also noted that while “soliciting the as part of "Minnesota Day" on the picket line at goal was 313 apiece for men and men [they] encountered considerable the gates of the White House, February 1917.

124 MINNESOTA HISTORY canvass by Sanderson and Deen, the house and the senate. Grassroots a History of Women in the North American Wests, the well-connected rural advocates organizing—those “deft strategies eds. Elizabeth Jameson and Sheila McManus (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2008), from Minneota. Four federated of the MWSA” to partner with locals 173–83; Sara Egge, “Ethnicity and Woman Suf- women’s clubs (the Minneota News to assemble numerous petitions and frage on the South Dakota Plains,” in Equality at and Art Club, the Fortnightly Club, resolutions at the district level—had the Ballot Box: Votes for Women on the Northern Great Plains, eds. Lori Ann Lahlum and Molly P. the Get-To-Gether Club, and the generated irrefutable proof that Min- Rozum (Pierre: South Dakota Historical Society Friday Exchange Club); one chapter nesotans wanted women to have the Press, 2019), 218–39. of the Royal Neighbors of America right to vote. With the ratification 8. Genevieve McBride, On Wisconsin Women: (the Alpha Camp Chapter); and two of the Nineteenth Amendment the Working for Their Rights from Settlement to Suf- frage (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, Red Cross chapters (the Nordland following year, Minnesota women 1993); Stevens to Briggs, Aug. 21, 1916, 2:190–93, and the Eidsvold Auxiliaries of the achieved their ultimate goal of access 196–97, and Clara Ueland to Stevens, Aug. 26, American Red Cross) all submitted to full suffrage.31 1916, 2:200—both MWSA, MNHS. The amendment in Iowa failed by just over 10,000 votes: resolutions in support of a federal see chapter 4 in Sara Egge, Woman Suffrage and amendment. The sheer number of Citizenship in the Midwest (Iowa City: University of resolutions was astounding and their Iowa Press, 2018). 9. Stuhler, Gentle Warriors, 20–22; Hurd, ethnic composition was noteworthy. Notes Woman Suffrage in Minnesota, 31; Stuhler, “Orga- Minneota had a large population of 1. Rene Stevens to Ethel Briggs, June 26, nizing for the Vote: Leaders of Minnesota’s Icelandic Lutherans, while Eidsvold 1916, 1:800–802, and Stevens to Briggs, June 30, Woman Suffrage Movement,” in The North Star and Nordland Townships were Nor- 1916, 1:815–18—both Minnesota Woman Suf- State: A Minnesota History Reader, ed. Anne J. Aby frage Association Collection, Minnesota History (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 2002), wegian Lutheran communities. In Society [hereafter, MWSA, MNHS]. 226–30; Nineteenth Amendment Celebration other words, a major source of sup- 2. Stevens to Briggs, June 26, 1916, 1:800–802, Committee, “Minnesota Woman Suffrage port from Lyon County came from MWSA, MNHS. Chronology,” folder 7, box 7, Barbara Stuhler 3. Clara Heckrich to Grace Randall, July 11, Papers, Manuscripts Collection, MNHS; Green, ethnic enclaves with vibrant social 1918, 3:568; Randall to Heckrich, July 12, 1918, Children of Lincoln, 255–318. networks that had mobilized for 3:569; Randall to Heckrich, July 20, 1918, 3:572; 10. Jacqueline Van Voris, Carrie Chapman patriotic work in response to World Laura Lowe to Clara Ueland, Oct. 14, 1918, 3:808; Catt: A Public Life (New York: The Feminist Press War I.30 Heckrich to Lowe, Oct. 15, 1918, 3:818; Lowe to at the City University of New York, 1996), 132–35; Heckrich, Nov. 12, 1918, 4:131—all MWSA, MNHS. Corrine McConnaughy, The Woman Suffrage During this period, MWSA also 4. Ethel Hurd, Woman Suffrage in Minnesota: Movement in America: A Reassessment (New York: sought to secure presidential suffrage A Record of Activities in Its Behalf since 1847 (Min- Cambridge University Press, 2013), 10–14, 52–54; through the state legislature, and they neapolis: Inland, 1916), 5. National American Woman Suffrage Associa- 5. William Anderson and Albert James Lobb, tion, Headquarters News Letter 2, no. 8 (Aug. 15, relied extensively on local advocates A History of the Constitution of Minnesota: With the 1916), NAWSA Records, Manuscript Division, to lead grassroots efforts—the cen- First Verified Text (Minneapolis: University of Min- Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Carrie tral component of this strategy. The nesota Press, 1921), 145–47. According to Ander- Chapman Catt, celebrated for her organizational son and Lobb, the proposition that changed the abilities, was the architect of NAWSA’s “winning most compelling battles for woman amending process did not even pass its own plan.” She served as NAWSA’s president from suffrage took place in counties like standards. Laws of Minnesota for 1897, Chapter 1900 to 1904 and again from 1915 to 1920. Pipestone and Lyon, where women 185, 345–46, https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws Stuhler, Gentle Warriors, 111–18. like Stevens, Lowe, Matthews, Sand- /1897/0/General+Laws/Chapter/185/pdf/. 11. Linda Lumsden, Rampant Women: Suf- Susan B. Anthony and Ida Hustad Harper, eds., fragists and the Right of Assembly (Knoxville: Uni- erson, and Deen personally combated The History of Woman Suffrage, 1883–1900 (India- versity of Tennessee Press, 1997), xiii–xxv, 33–42; seemingly insurmountable obstacles, napolis, IN: Hollenbeck, 1902), 4:772–73, 778–79. Jessica Ellen Sewell, Women and the Everyday from influenza to indifference. But 6. Barbara Stuhler, Gentle Warriors: Clara City: Public Space in San Francisco, 1890–1915 Ueland and the Minnesota Struggle for Woman (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, these advocates also benefited from Suffrage (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society 2011), 95–168; Katherine Adams and Michael the nativism that had mobilized eth- Press, 1995), 20–22, 107–10; William Watts Keene, Alice Paul and the American Suffrage Cam- nic communities to prove their loyalty Folwell, A History of Minnesota (St. Paul: Minne- paign (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008), sota Historical Society, 1930), 4:335; William D. 76–116; Holly J. McCammon, “‘Out of the Parlors during wartime. MWSA profited from Green, The Children of Lincoln: White Paternalism and into the Streets’: The Changing Tactical this loyalty even after World War I and the Limits of Black Opportunity in Minnesota, Repertoire of the U.S. Women’s Suffrage Move- ended. In January 1919, two months 1860–1876 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota ments,” Social Forces 81 (Mar. 2003): 787–818; after armistice, state legislators Press, 2018), 255–318. Folwell, A History of Minnesota, 4:335; Stuhler, 7. Barbara Handy-Marchello, Women of the Gentle Warriors, 20–22. Wanda Hendricks exam- enthusiastically passed a resolution Northern Plains: Gender and Settlement on the ines civic engagement among African American that endorsed a federal woman suf- Homestead Frontier, 1870–1930 (St. Paul: Minne- women in Illinois: see Wanda Hendricks, Gender, frage amendment. In March 1919, the sota Historical Press, 2005), 97. See also Joan Race and Politics in the Midwest: Black Club Jensen, “The Perils of Rural Women’s History: Women in Illinois (Bloomington: Indiana Univer- state legislature approved presiden- A Note to Storytellers Who Study the West’s sity Press, 1998), 51–74. For a broad discussion of tial suffrage by large margins in both Unsettled Past,” in One Step Over the Line: Toward the formulation of anti-suffragism, see Sarah

FALL 2020 125 Hunter Graham, Woman Suffrage and the New vote, in the hands of civilized, white Americans 24. Peterson, “Adding ‘A Little Suffrage Spice Democracy (New Haven, CT: Yale University both abroad and at home. In addition to immi- to the Melting Pot,’” 295. Press, 1996), 11–30. grants considered undesirable, suffragists also 25. Stuhler, Gentle Warriors, 149; “State Con- 12. Stuhler, Gentle Warriors, 111–18; Clara viewed African American and Indigenous voters vention,” Nov. 16–17, 1917, 3:56–59, MWSA, MNHS; Ueland to “Suffragist,” Aug. 5, 1915, 1:291–92; with similar disdain. See Wayne Gannaway, “The Gayle Gullett, “Women Progressives and the Poli- Clara Ueland to “Suffragist,” Nov. 23, 1915, Perils of Peace: Frederick Douglass, Winona, and tics of Americanization in California, 1915–1920,” 1:371–72; Stevens to Briggs, Mar. 25, 1916, Civil Rights in Minnesota after the Civil War,” Pacific Historical Review 64 (Feb. 1995): 73–76; 1:483–85; “Plan for Work for Suffrage District Minnesota History 66 (Summer 2018): 74–84; Martha Gardner, The Qualities of a Citizen: Women, Association,” [1916], 10:3; “President’s Address, Allison Sneider, Suffragists in an Imperial Age: U.S. Immigration, and Citizenship, 1870–1965 (Prince- 1916,” 8:95–100—all MWSA, MNHS; Robert Expansion and the Woman Question, 1870–1929 ton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005), 3–5, Swierenga, “The Settlement of the Old North- (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008); 24, 50–62, 89. west: Ethnic Pluralism in a Featureless Plain,” Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, African American Women 26. Stuhler, Gentle Warriors, 67, 77–79; Sophie Journal of the Early Republic 9 (Spring 1989): in the Struggle for the Vote, 1850–1920 (Bloom- Kenyon to Anna Howard Shaw, Mar. 10, 1913, 76–79; Frederick Luebke, “Ethnic Group Settle- ington: Indiana University Press, 1999); Molly P. 1:164–67; “List of Clubs Paid,” [1912], 9:423; “Suf- ment on the Great Plains,” Western Historical Rozum, “Citizenship: Civilization, and Property: frage Clubs,” 1912, 9:426; “Clubs Paid Before June Quarterly 8 (Oct. 1977): 412, 417, 427–28; Andrew The 1890 South Dakota Vote on Woman Suffrage 30, 1912,” 9:438; “Appointment Charts, Dec. 31, Cayton and Susan E. Gray, “The Story of the Mid- and Indian Suffrage,” in Equality at the Ballot Box: 1916,” 10:29–30—all MWSA, MNHS. The South- west,” in The Identity of the American Midwest: Votes for Women on the Northern Great Plains, eds. west Minnesota History Center in Marshall has Essays on Regional History (Bloomington: Indiana Lahlum and Rozum, 240–63. the minute books and scrapbooks of the Current University Press, 2001), 15; Andrew Cayton and 15. Anna Marie Peterson, “Adding ‘A Little News Club: see Current News Club Collection, Peter Onuf, The Midwest and the Nation: Rethink- Suffrage Spice to the Melting Pot’: Minnesota’s Southwest Minnesota History Center, Southwest ing the History of an American Region (Blooming- Scandinavian Woman Suffrage Association,” Minnesota State University, Marshall, MN. ton: Indiana University Press, 1990), 27; John Minnesota History (Winter 2011–12): 288–90; 27. Ueland to Winifred Bartlett, Oct. 11, 1917, Hudson, “Migration to an American Frontier,” Anna Peterson, “Making Women’s Suffrage Sup- 2:786; “Yellow Medicine and Lyon Co. Senators,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers port an Ethnic Duty: Norwegian American Iden- 1918, 9:139; Heckrich to Randall, July 11, 1918, 66 (June 1976): 258; Robert Swierenga, “The tity Constructions and the Women’s Suffrage 3:568, Randall to Heckrich, July 12, 1918, 3:569; Little White Church: Religion in Rural America,” Movement, 1880–1925,” Journal of American Randall to Heckrich, July 20, 1918, 3:572—all Agricultural History 71 (Autumn 1997): 415–17. Ethnic History 30 (Summer 2011): 14–17; Stuhler, MWSA, MNHS; Stuhler, Gentle Warriors, 151–60. 13. Arthur Rose, An Illustrated History of the Gentle Warriors, 106–8, 131–38. 28. Lowe to Ueland, Oct. 14, 1918, 3:808, and Counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota 16. Peterson, “Adding ‘A Little Suffrage Spice Heckrich to Lowe, Oct. 15, 1918, 3:818—both (Luverne, MN: Northern History Publishing Co., to the Melting Pot,’” 295–96; Stuhler, Gentle War- MWSA, MNHS. 1911), 331–46; John Radzilowski, Prairie Town: riors, 106–9; Frederick Luebke, Bonds of Loyalty: 29. Lowe to Ueland, Oct. 14, 1918, 3:808; A History of Marshall, Minnesota (Marshall, MN: German-Americans and World War I (DeKalb: Heckrich to Lowe, Oct. 15, 1918, 3:818; Lowe to Lyon County Historical Society, 1997), 93; Northern Illinois University Press, 1974). Heckrich, Nov. 12, 1918, 4:131; “Presented to Con- Annette Atkins, Creating Minnesota: A History 17. Quoted in Stuhler, Gentle Warriors, 136. gregational Ladies’ Aid by Laura W. Lowe, Chair- from the Inside Out (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical 18. Stevens to Ueland, June 30, 1916, man,” July 24, 1918, 9:319—all MWSA, MNHS. Society Press, 2007), 72–81; Cayton and Onuf, 1:815–18, MWSA, MNHS. 30. “List (Incomplete) of Resolutions, 1919,” The Midwest and the Nation, 114–16; Luebke, 19. Stevens to Briggs, July 3, 1916, 2:3–7; 9:353–54; Harriet Sanderson to Randall, Jan. 21, “Ethnic Group Settlement,” 412; Stuhler, Gentle Stevens to Briggs, July 6, 2:9–10; Stevens to 1919, 5:235–36; Stevens to Sanderson, Feb. 7, Warriors, 106. Ueland, July 12, 1916, 2:25–30; Stevens to 1919, 5:515—all MWSA, MNHS; “Red Cross Com- 14. Jamin Raskin, “Legal Aliens, Local “People,” July 15, 1916, 43–46; Stevens to Briggs, mittees,” Minneota Mascot, Nov. 15, 1918; Tillie Citizens: The Historical, Constitutional and July 20, 1916, 2:79–81; Stevens to Ueland, July Deen, “News and Art Club History, 1901–1925,” Theoretical Meanings of Alien Suffrage,” Univer- 25, 1916, 2:116–17; Stevens to Briggs, July 29, unpublished manuscript, News and Art Club Col- sity of Pennsylvania Law Review 141 (Apr. 1993): 1916, 2:150–52; Stevens to Briggs, July 30, 1916, lection, in possession of Sandy Josephson, Min- 1391–470; Stuhler, Gentle Warriors, 106; Irene 2:148–49—all MWSA, MNHS. neota, MN; Torgny Anderson, The Centennial Bloemraad, “Citizenship Lessons from the Past: 20. Ueland to Stevens, July 5, 1916, 2:8, and History of Lyon County (Marshall, MN: Henle Pub- The Contours of Immigrant Naturalization in the Stevens to Briggs, July 6, 1916, 2:9–10—both lishing Co., 1970), 45–47; Charles Vandersluis, Early 20th Century,” Social Science Quarterly 87 MWSA, MNHS. Ninety Years at St. Paul’s (Marshall, MN: Ousman (Dec. 2006): 936–42. 21. Carmen Heider, “Farm Women, Solidar- Printing, Inc., 1977), 10. For more on the vital link between temper- ity, and ‘The Suffrage Messenger’: Nebraska Suf- 31. Stuhler, Gentle Warriors, 168–70; Session ance and suffrage in Minnesota, see Sabine frage Activism on the Plains, 1915–1917,” Great Laws of Minnesota for 1919, Chapter 80, HF no. Meyer, We Are What We Drink: The Temperance Plains Quarterly 32 (Spring 2012): 113–30; Stevens 222, 89, https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1919 Battle in Minnesota (Urbana: University of Illinois to Briggs, July 20, 1916, 2:79–81; “On to Pipe- /0/Session+Law/Chapter/89/pdf/; Ueland to Press, 2015). Suffrage activism in Fort Wayne, stone,” 8:154; and “President’s Address, 1916,” Carrie Chapman Catt, Jan. 23, 1919, 5:282–83, Indiana, also required careful consideration of 8:95–100—all MWSA, MNHS; “Suffragets Will and Nettie Shuler to Ueland, Mar. 4, 1919, ethnic identities, temperance, and “deep cultural Meet on Next Thurs. and Fri.,” Lyon County 5:641—both MWSA, MNHS. resistance to social change”: see Peggy Seigel, Reporter, July 26, 1916; “Suffrage at Pipestone,” “Winning the Vote in Fort Wayne, Indiana: The Marshall News Messenger, Aug. 4, 1916. Long, Cautious Journey in a German American 22. Stevens to Briggs, July 29, 1916, 2:150–52; Images on p. 116, 120, 122, MNHS Collections; City,” Indiana Magazine of History 102 (Sept. 2006): Stevens to Briggs, Aug. 8, 1916, 2:179–81; Stevens map on p. 117, copyright iStock.com/hagencd; 220–57. to Briggs, July 30, 1916, 2:148–49; Stevens to p. 121, courtesy Pipestone Historical Museum; While most suffragists might not have explic- Briggs, Aug. 6, 1916, 2:171–74—all MWSA, MNHS. p. 123, courtesy of author; p. 124, Records itly aired their grievances, they understood 23. Briggs to Stevens, Aug. 1, 1916, 2:170–71, of the National Woman’s Party, Manuscript enfranchisement in imperialist terms, which and Stevens to Briggs, Aug. 6, 1916, 171–74— Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. produced friction. Global expansion reinforced a both MWSA, MNHS; Stuhler, Gentle Warriors, racial framework that placed governing, and the 131–38.

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