Ella Gifft

Gifft was one of the first suffrage activists in the US Virgin Islands and according to the memoir of Joseph O'Neal, was a "teacher from Jost Van Dyke".

[2] Other prominent suffragists in the movement included Bertha C. Boschulte, Eulalie Stevens, and Edith L. Williams, who were all teachers.

[3] Reportedly, when Herbert Hoover visited St Thomas, Gifft waited to meet him, then presented him with a petition for the islands to have their own governor, which she had secreted on her person.

[1] The group was aware of developments in Puerto Rico led by Milagros Benet de Mewton to gain enfranchisement there in 1929.

[3][5] An influential figure in politics, Gifft also encouraged Earle B. Ottley to seek election to the Legislative Assembly in 1936.