[4] Under her leadership the league began a campaign to educate Virginia's citizens and legislators on the topic of women's suffrage and brought the issue to the floor of the General Assembly three times between the years 1912 and 1916.

[6] When Valentine's legislative efforts proved unsuccessful at the state level, she focused her attention on the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, seeing it become law shortly before her death.

had business obligations in England, and he hoped the change in scenery would improve his wife's health and disposition; her illnesses did not allow her to be as active as she would have liked.

[12] During her tenure as REA president, Valentine, with Munford, led the charge in replacing Richmond's only high school at the time, which had never been renovated since its construction in 1879.

By speaking out about the filthy, hazardous, rat-infested school—and inviting reporters on a tour to document the conditions—Valentine helped secure a $600,000 appropriation for the construction of John Marshall High School.

The conference—and her conversations with Robert Curtis Ogden, a Northern businessman and then-head of the Southern Education Board—energized Valentine and left her adamant that the Board should meet the following year in Richmond.

In her speeches she called for public investment in improved educational facilities, playgrounds, and vocational training for Virginia's children.

[14] Valentine's work in public schools made her aware of the need for improved access to health care, as she saw children suffering from treatable illnesses.

In January 1902 at the area Woman's Club, Valentine heard Sadie Heath Cabiness, director of nurses at Old Dominion Hospital, speak about her work establishing the Nurses' Settlement two years earlier and the importance of teaching patients about hygiene, nutrition, and home care in efforts to lower hospital readmission rates.

Cabiness also shared the ongoing struggles she and her volunteer nurses faced in raising financial support and public buy-in of their work.

She worked with the Board of Health to establish two fully staffed tuberculosis clinics—one for whites and one for blacks—which greatly reduced the number of new cases of the disease.

Valentine and Cabiness established the Anti-Tuberculosis Auxiliary (a subsidiary of the IVNA), which led to the opening of Pine Camp Tuberculosis Hospital in 1910.

Valentine's time abroad allowed her to witness the work of radical suffragists in England while also observing the problems back in America with a wider lens.

Seeing little legislative urgency to solve the ongoing challenges of education, public health, and child labor, Valentine concluded that giving women the right to vote would facilitate reform in these arenas.

Months later, under Valentine's direction, the league joined forces with the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).

[4][5] At the time NAWSA was using "practical politics" to make the argument for suffrage; they organized by electoral districts to orchestrate major publicity campaigns and put pressure on politicians.

The approach proved difficult for the Virginia suffragists as they faced intense public apathy; as a result, they switched tactics, believing that education would be the only way to make suffrage a viable political issue in their state.

[4][5][15] In 1912, Valentine met with several of Richmond's most prominent businessmen and convinced them to found the Men's Equal Suffrage League of Virginia.

To meet these needs, I commend to the suffragist of the State the 'Virginia Suffrage News,' which should bind us together in one harmonious whole, and I bespeak for it a wide circulation amongst all those interested in this next great step in the development of women.

In a letter to a friend she wrote: Valentine preferred a "quiet, educational propaganda"[8] approach to organizing support for the suffrage movement; militant and extremist strategies were said to anger her.

She developed a style that combined a dramatic flair with a fluency with language and a command of facts, winning many over to the cause through her tact and charm.

[3] Valentine quickly earned a reputation for being an engaging speaker, addressing crowds on the topic of women's suffrage whenever the opportunity presented itself and usually without prepared remarks—just minimal notes.

[1][3][5] After the United States Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment, Valentine and the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia fought for ratification.

She retreated to Northeast Harbor, Maine, with two of her sisters for a time, but she found comfort in her work towards suffrage and a new-found passion for educating women about the functions of government.

She reached out to the University of Virginia and successfully proposed a three-day conference on government for newly enfranchised women, which took place in April 1920 in Charlottesville.

[24] Valentine's name is featured on the Wall of Honor on the Virginia Women's Monument, located in Capitol Square in Richmond.