Women’s History Month

Suffrage in the West

Suffrage: the right to vote in political elections.

Did you know that the Territory of Wyoming was first to give women the right to vote in 1869?

The article below details how women of the Wyoming Territory were granted the right of suffrage. (1)

Quoting the Cheyenne Herald in the article above, “We now expect at once quite an immigration of ladies to Wyoming…. We’ll even give her more than the right to vote — she can run for Congress!”

Twenty four years later Colorado joined its neighbor to the north, giving women the right to vote. After the woman suffrage amendment passed in a state wide election, Colorado Governor Waite issued a proclamation, as highlighted in the 1893 national newspaper coverage below. (2, 3)

The following is a beautifully done PBS video (4) illustrating the suffrage experience in Colorado. https://www.pbs.org/video/colorado-experience-suffrage/

It wasn’t until 1920 that women nationwide, won the right to vote with the ratification of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. (5)

SOURCES

1. Chicago Tribune (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 29 Mar 2020)
2. Los Angeles Herald (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 29 Mar 2020)
3. The Dighton Herald (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 29 Mar 2020)
4. COLORADO EXPERIENCE Suffrage, PBS (https://www.pbs.org/video/colorado-experience-suffrage/ : accessed 29 Mar 2020)
5. Carnegie Corporation of New York (https://www.carnegie.org/topics/topic-articles/voting-rights/voting-rights-timeline/ : accessed 29 Mar 2020)