Women's suffrage in Georgia (U.S. state)

Howard convinced the National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to hold their first convention outside of Washington, D.C., in 1895.

In addition, the Georgia Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage also formed an organized anti-suffrage campaign.

[24] After the 1902 convention, women of Atlanta protested not being allowed to vote and earned the support of Mayor Livingston Mims.

[24] Suffragists added placards to the polls that read: "Taxpaying women should be allowed to vote in this bond election.

[25] At the 1903 convention, held at the Carnegie Library in Atlanta, Kate M. Gordon spoke about women's suffrage in Louisiana.

[24] In 1905, McLendon attempted to get the Georgia chapter of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) to adopt a suffrage plank, but she was unsuccessful.

[26] In 1908, Georgia suffragists wrote to encourage the delegates for both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions to support a women's suffrage plank in their respective party platforms.

[30] When Rebecca Latimer Felton joined the group in 1912, it helped bring additional publicity to the suffrage cause in Georgia.

[33][34] Lawyer for GWSA and later other groups, Leonard Grossman, formed the Georgia Men's League for Woman Suffrage in 1913.

[35] The Georgia Young People's Suffrage Association (GYPSA) was formed in 1913 with Ruth Buckholz serving as president.

[37] Also in 1913, the Georgia Woman Suffrage League (GWSL) was created in Atlanta with Frances Smith Whiteside as president.

[38] This group did not attract women outside of Atlanta, and so the Equal Suffrage Party of Georgia (ESPG) was formed in 1914 and elected Maybelle Stephens Mitchell as its president.

[39] During 1914, around 275 women's suffrage meetings were held across the state in Athens, Atlanta, Bainbridge, Decatur, Macon, and Rome.

[41] The Georgia WCTU softened their stance on women's suffrage that year, allowing McLendon to welcome suffragists to their convention.

[42] In March 1914, a suffrage rally was held in Atlanta with famous women such as Jane Addams speaking.

[46] Representative Barry Wright introduced an equal suffrage amendment in the Georgia House on June 25, 1914.

[48] The first women's suffrage speech given in the House happened on July 6 when Whiteside spoke in front of the assembly.

[37] The parade was led by Eleanor Raoul on horseback and following her, suffragists riding in Eastern Victory, a car once owned by Anna Howard Shaw.

[55] Other suffragists, including the president of ESPG, Emily McDougald, felt that rural women were "ignorant and hopeless.

[56] However, the group was not very popular in the state because of the militant tactics the national leaders used to fight for women's suffrage.

[66] Suffragists testified in the House, with McLendon questioning Jackson's introduction of support and then subsequent rejection of the federal equal suffrage amendment.

[66] Mabel Vernon criticized the rejection the amendment and said it would look bad for the Democratic Party which had endorsed women's suffrage.

[74] McLendon appealed the case to the Secretary of State, Bainbridge Colby, saying her rights under the Nineteenth Amendment were violated.

[76] In 1921, the Georgia General Assembly passed a law that would allow women to vote and hold public office.

[82] Rebecca Latimer Felton herself was an advocate of lynching even while she was an ardent suffragist for white women's right to vote.

[84] Emily C. McDougald wrote to the state legislation and said, "Everyone knows that the enfranchisement of the women of the south will enormously increase white supremacy...

[87][89] While Black women were excluded from the 1895 suffrage convention, Susan B. Anthony did go to Atlanta University and speak there.

[92] Suffragist and leader in the NACW, Lucy Laney, reached out to white politicians and clubwomen to seek justice.

[93] Anti-suffragists, Dolly Blount Lamar and Mildred Rutherford invoked the idea of the Lost Cause to oppose women's suffrage.

[106] After World War I, anti-suffragists began to claim that women's suffrage would bring socialism, and more labor unions to the country.