Victory at the Polls
The efforts of the Texas Equal Suffrage Association (TESA), known prior to 1916 as the Texas Woman Suffrage Association, succeeded in finally obtaining voting rights for women in Texas. The path to victory was a winding one, as the suffragists first tried for an amendment to the state constitution.
Minnie Fisher Cunningham, who served as TESA president from 1915-1919, and the group’s public relations director Jane McCallum led a vigorous campaign in favor of an amendment to the Texas Constitution. Suffragists gave speeches, wrote newspaper columns, circulated pamphlets and flyers, held meetings and walked door-to-door to make their case directly to voters. The proposed state amendment garnered endorsements from important groups and community leaders, but when the vote was held on May 24, 1919, the resolution failed.
Fortunately, another opportunity to obtain the right to vote was near. In June of 1919, Texas became the ninth state to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which specified that one could not be denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. Enactment required that 36 states ratify the amendment, which was made official when Tennessee voted to ratify in August 1920, expanding suffrage to women throughout the United States.
Primary Voting in Texas
After attempts for a state constitutional amendment in 1915 and again in 1917 for woman suffrage failed to obtain the two-thirds majority needed to pass in the Texas House of Representatives, activists directed their energies toward the right to vote in primary elections. Primary suffrage did not require a constitutional amendment, and the act passed in 1918. The July primary was the first election in Texas in which women could participate.
African American women had also worked hard for suffrage, but they were turned away from the polls. The practice of the “white primary” in Texas, through which political parties were legally allowed to exclude voters based on race in party nominating contests, effectively prevented African Americans from voting for decades during segregation. The federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 was an effort to ensure full suffrage for women throughout the nation, regardless of race.
Exhibit Items
Early group of women registrants at Austin, Texas, 1918. William Deming Hornaday photograph collection, Image 1975/70-5449.
This group of women gathered outside the old Travis County Courthouse is an example of women registering to vote in their respective counties.
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Precinct No. 10, San Patricio County primary poll tax list, July 27, 1918. Cover, Page 1, Page 2, Back Cover. Texas Secretary of State, State of Texas election returns (county-by-county), Box 2-12/755.
This poll tax list is representative of many lists across the state that demonstrate the interest of women in voting. Each woman’s name includes the parenthetical note of “woman” beside it.
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Bill file for Senate Joint Resolution 1, 36th Legislature, Second Called Session, June 25, 1919. Page 1, Page 2 and Page 3. Bill files, Texas Legislature, Box 2-8/900.
This Senate Joint Resolution proposed an amendment ratifying the federal equal suffrage amendment proposed by the 66th Congress of the United States. The resolution upheld the 19th Amendment and declared the right of citizens to vote “shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by a State on account of sex.” When the Senate adopted the resolution on June 28, 2019, Texas became the ninth state in the U.S. to ratify the amendment. [Digital facsimile on display. Original document transferred to the Legislative Reference Library.] Click or tap on thumbnails and links for larger images.
Draft version of “On Motion for Rehearing,” Case file number 3359, Mrs. Alma Koy v. William Schneider, Tax Collector, April 21, 1920. Texas Supreme Court Records, Case files, 201-5576.
This case originated in the Fayette County District Court when Mr. Schneider, the tax collector of Austin County, refused to issue Mrs. Koy a poll tax receipt. Without the poll tax receipt, she would be unable to vote in the Democratic primary election of 1920.This case set a precedent, as it determined that the law allowing women to vote in primaries did not violate the Texas Constitution.
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Texas League of Women Voters notes on resolutions adopted, October 10, 1919-December 6, 1923. Jessie Daniel Ames papers, Box 2-23/1142.
The Texas League of Women Voters was established in October of 1919 with the purpose of educating new female voters. Founder Jessie Daniel Ames served as the League’s first president and was a driving force in making Texas the first Southern state to ratify the 19th Amendment.
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"Women Vote Under These Flags" broadside, National Woman Suffrage Publishing Company, about 1918. Erminia Thompson Folsom papers, Box 1985/119-2.
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"Texas Women Cannot Forget Minnie Fisher Cunningham," Minnie Fisher Cunningham campaign poster, 1928. Jessie Daniel Ames Papers, Box 2-23/1142.
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Declaration of Independence Committee: McCombs, Hopkins, Holbrook, Love, Woodward, McCallum, Parrish, and Finch, 1929. Groups collection, Image 1-104/117.
Jane McCallum served as a former president of the Austin Suffrage Association. In 1927, Gov. Daniel Moody appointed McCallum as Secretary of State, and shortly thereafter she discovered an original copy of the Texas Declaration of Independence stored in a vault in the State Capitol building. McCallum is featured in this 1929 photograph with the legislative committee assigned to properly preserve and display this important document. Click or tap on thumbnails for larger images.