Women's suffrage in Arkansas
Other social activists, like Minnie Rutherford Fuller became involved in the Political Equality League (PEL) founded in 1911 by Jennings.
The first woman to address the Arkansas General Assembly was suffragist Florence Brown Cotnam who spoke in favor of a women's suffrage amendment on February 5, 1915.
While that amendment was not completely successful, Cotnam was able to persuade the Arkansas governor to hold a special legislative session in 1917.
When the Nineteenth Amendment passed the United States Congress, Arkansas held another special legislative session in July 1919.
"[1] Other men in Arkansas, like James Mitchell, felt that it was necessary for women to have equal rights, including suffrage, to have economic justice.
[6] Also in 1884, Fyler attended the annual convention of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), where she was the first delegate from Arkansas.
[5] Another suffrage group that went by different names was founded by Clara McDiarmid, a Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) officer, in 1888 in Little Rock.
[9] A month after the formation of the new Little Rock suffrage group, the women started a journal called the Woman's Chronicle.
[9] The journal, edited by and for women, was a major source of information for Southern suffragists and temperance activists.
[10] Editor, Catherine Cunningham, shared that she received "much adverse criticism" due to her work on the journal.
[12] In 1895, Lide Meriwether, a suffragists from Tennessee, spoke in many Arkansas cities, sometimes bringing the first women's suffrage lecture the citizens had ever seen.
[19] The group was formed partly because of a pro-women's suffrage article written by Mrs. D. D. Terry in the Arkansas Gazette.
[23] Fuller and Olive Gatlin Leigh testified in 1911 about proposed suffrage legislation at a Committee meeting held at the Marion Hotel.
[26] Fuller, also active in the AFWC, continued to support the idea that women could better enact social change if they were able to vote.
[27][28] She was there to testify in favor of the joint resolution for a state constitutional amendment to give women full suffrage.
[28] Cotnam helped persuade Governor Charles Hillman Brough to call a special legislative session to consider a primary election vote in 1917.
[32] She also helped organize 67 women in Huntington to pay their poll taxes in advance so they would be ready to vote.
[1] The group decided to take a new direction and put their efforts into campaigning for a federal suffrage amendment.
[34] Another event taking place in Arkansas in July 1918 was the state Democratic Party convention which included women delegates for the first time.
[36] The woman delegates wrote a women's suffrage platform plank which was adopted by all members of the convention.
[37] On December 3, 1919, the ESSCC dissolved and reformed as the League of Women Voters (LWV) of Arkansas with Cotnam as president.
[27] Cotnam helped educate women about voting and politics in citizenship schools held around the country after the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.
