Suffrage (2 total)

The Election of 1920: Danbury and Connecticut

As the first national political election to ever permit the votes of women, the election of 1920 was a milestone for the men and women that had been working for women’s suffrage since the founding of the country.  Following Connecticut’s ratification of the 19th Amendment, voting registrars all over the state scrambled to register women and new voters just weeks before the election.  Participation of voters on became so immense the Election Day was established a national holiday for the Election of 1920.  Come Election Day, the streets of Connecticut bustled with the heels and hats of thousands of women ready to exercise their new right to influence politics through voting.  Voter rolls filled quickly with names of women who had waited many years to stand before a ballot which they could cast as their own, such as Elizabeth Hyslop who was 80 years old when she cast the first ballot in the Danbury election of 1920.  Participation in the election went beyond the traditional…

Women's Suffrage

It has been written in history books that in 1972, women had to struggle for equal rights in the United States. However, many of the books fail to mention the years of struggle that suffragists of both genders had to endure since the beginning of it all. This exhibit’s mission is to bring a broad overview of Connecticut’s fight for women’s rights and how Connecticut participated in the national debate of women’s rights in the 1920’s. Chronologically, we will look at the Connecticut’s major suffragists and how they were able to call upon a vast majority of the population to their aid. In addition,we will look at the 19th Amendment and discuss the national attention of the women suffrage movement.   Credit to: Western Connecticut State University Archives “Men Support the Woman Suffrage Movement.” National Women’s History Museum. http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/rightsforwomen/menforsuffrage.html White, David O. “Marcus Hensey Holcomb.” Connecticut State…