Women's suffrage in Wisconsin
In 1846, the first state constitutional convention delegates for Wisconsin discussed women's suffrage and the final document eventually included a number of progressive measures.
In 1884, suffragists won a brief victory when the state legislature passed a law to allow women to vote in elections on school-related issues.
Carrie Chapman Catt worked hard to keep Wisconsin suffragists on the path of supporting a federal woman's suffrage amendment.
[5] Mathilde Franziska Anneke founded a German language women's rights newspaper in Milwaukee in 1852 called Die Deutsche Frauen-Zeitung.
[11] The True Democrat was run by James Densmore, who publicly supported the vote for women and challenged other newspaper editors to do the same.
[5] In 1853 temperance activists, Clarina I. H. Nichols and Lydia Folger Fowler, toured the state and also talked about the importance of the vote for women.
[12][13] Lucy Stone spoke on both abolition and women's suffrage in several Wisconsin towns, including Madison, in 1855.
[15] In the state House, Hamilton H. Gray from Lafayette County introduced a limited women's suffrage bill, but it was unsuccessful.
[15] Stone may also have inspired the creation of a woman's suffrage group organized in Janesville before the Civil War, but meeting records have been lost.
[18] One of the organizers of the Impartial Suffrage Convention, John T. Dow from Rock County, introduced a joint resolution in the state legislature.
[20] Anneke had called for a convention to be held in the city and it was arranged by Lila Peckham and Laura Ross Wolcott and included speakers Susan B. Anthony, Mary Livermore, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
[28] Alura Collins Hollister, who worked on legislative issues for WWSA, helped ensure the passage of the bill for the second time in 1885.
[29] However, because of the phrasing of the new law giving women the right to vote at "any election pertaining to school matters," there was lot of confusion.
[45] During an open house at the Manona Lake Assembly in 1896 Anna Howard Shaw lectured in front of an audience of around 4,000 people.
[46] Maud Wood Park was brought to Wisconsin in 1908 by Brown and spoke and helped set up suffrage groups at several colleges.
[33] Another women's suffrage organization, the Political Equality League (PEL), was formed in 1911 with Ada James as president.
[33] The two organizations had many differences, but were able to cooperate and share ideas for the state campaign to encourage voters to support women's suffrage.
[52] When the state ruled that PEL and WWSA could only spend $10,000 each per campaign, suffragists organized the Wisconsin Men's League for Women's Suffrage to help raise money.
[53] The Men's League also helped increase the number of speakers available and added "prestige" to the suffrage publicity campaign.
[62] Buffalo Bill Cody also helped the cause when he visited Green Bay, with a suffrage banner carried by his Wild West circus.
[54] The Wisconsin State Fair in 1911 had a Woman's Day which included special programs and exhibits relating to women's suffrage.
[54] During the State Fair Dan Patch, a famous pacing horse, carried a "Votes for Women" banner.
[63] Al Ringling was hired by Georgina J. Koppke in Baraboo to create a multimedia women's suffrage production.
[64] Pilot, Lincoln Beachey, was hired to drop suffrage fliers from an airplane at the 1912 Wisconsin State Fair.
[64] In January 1913, a joint convention of PEL and WWSA was called by Zona Gale and was held in Madison on February 4–5.
[71] La Follett testified in front of the United States Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage on April 26, 1913.
[75] After the failure of the voter referendum in New York, Youmans came back to Wisconsin where WWSA began to work towards a federal suffrage amendment.
[85] During 1919, Youmans was called to Washington to lobby Congress on the women's suffrage amendment, which had to go through another legislative session where it passed both houses.
[90] In Milwaukee, the Political Equality League (PEL) set up an African American chapter, with Carrie Horton as president.
[94] White suffragist, Belle Case La Follette, publicly and strongly criticized racial segregation and also spoke in front of Black audiences.
