The first women's suffrage group in Georgia, the Georgia Woman Suffrage Association (GWSA), was formed in 1892 by Helen Augusta Howard. Over time, the group, which focused on "taxation without representation" grew and earned the support of both men and women. Howard convinced the National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to hold their first convention outside of Washington, D.C., in 1895. The convention, held in Atlanta, was the first large women's rights gathering in the Southern United States. GWSA continued to hold conventions and raise awareness over the next years. Suffragists in Georgia agitated for suffrage amendments, for political parties to support white women's suffrage and for municipal suffrage. In the 1910s, more organizations were formed in Georgia and the number of suffragists grew. In addition, the Georgia Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage also formed an organized anti-suffrage campaign. Suffragists participated in parades, supported bills in the legislature and helped in the war effort during World War I. In 1917 and 1919, women earned the right to vote in primary elections in Waycross, Georgia and in Atlanta respectively. In 1919, after the Nineteenth Amendment went out to the states for ratification, Georgia became the first state to reject the amendment. When the Nineteenth Amendment became the law of the land, women still had to wait to vote because of rules regarding voter registration. White Georgia women would vote statewide in 1922. Native American women and African-American women had to wait longer to vote. Black women were actively excluded from the women's suffrage movement in the state and had their own organizations. Despite their work to vote, Black women faced discrimination at the polls in many different forms. Georgia finally ratified the Nineteenth Amendment on February 20, 1970.
Early efforts The first woman's suffrage to group to form in Georgia was the Georgia Woman Suffrage Association (GWSA), founded by a small group of women led by Helen Augusta Howard. GWSA was originally made up of Howard and her relatives. GWSA was formed in Columbus, Georgia, but by 1892, members from outside the city had begun to join, drawing members from the temperance movement in the state. By the end of 1893, GWSA had members in five different Georgia counties. On the outside of envelopes sent from GWSA, the group printed "Taxation without representation is tyranny." GWSA also had the support of some men in Georgia and in 1894, the group shared the opinions of prominent men in support of women's suffrage in a pamphlet. Early on, GWSA was more involved with raising awareness of the issues surrounding women's suffrage and advocating for women's right to vote. Members of GWSA attended the national suffrage convention held by the National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in Washington, D.C., in 1894. Howard requested that the next convention be held in Georgia.
In late January 1895, for the first time, NAWSA held their annual convention outside of Washington, D.C. After strong lobbying on behalf of Georgia by Howard, the NAWSA suffragists held that year's convention in Atlanta. This convention was the first large women's right's gatherings in the South. Howard and her sisters funded the convention with their own funds. Georgia suffragist, Mary Latimer McLendon was one of the speakers and Susan B. Anthony was a headliner. The convention featured both male and female speakers and had musical numbers for entertainment. Susan Atkinson and her husband, Governor William Atkinson, attended the convention. The convention was covered by the major newspapers and impressed several women's groups in the South.
After the convention, Frances Cater Swift became the president of GWSA, holding the office for a year. In 1896, McLendon took over as president.
GWSA held the next state suffrage convention in November 1899. At the convention, they decided to lobby the Georgia General Assembly on several women's and human rights issues, not just women's suffrage. The lobbying of GWSA had an effect on several efforts relating to child labor, age of consent laws and more. The work GWSA raised its profile and earned it the support of the State Federation of Labor. Frances A. Griffin, from the GWSA, was also responsible for encouraging the support of the Federation of Labor. There was no state convention in 1900.
In November 1901, GWSA held the state convention at the Universalist Church of Atlanta. Carrie Chapman Catt was a speaker and later she spoke to the Atlanta Woman's Club. After the 1902 convention, women of Atlanta protested not being allowed to vote and earned the support of Mayor Livingston Mims. Suffragists added placards to the polls that read: "Taxpaying women should be allowed to vote in this bond election."
During 1903, Georgia suffragists worked to raise awareness of their cause. They worked at the Woman's Department at the Inter-State Fair in Atlanta, where they could collect names of suffrage supporters and give out suffrage literature. At the 1903 convention, held at the Carnegie Library in Atlanta, Kate M. Gordon spoke about women's suffrage in Louisiana.
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. However, WCTU leader, Warren Candler, was against women's suffrage.
GWSA continued to hold yearly conventions. However, they were unable to persuade state legislators to bring up women's suffrage in the General Assembly. 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. The suffragists were successful in getting the Georgia Prohibition Party to support women's suffrage.
In 1909, women of Atlanta lobbied the city government for the municipal vote for women. Women in Atlanta were paying taxes on more than $13,000,000 worth of real estate and personal property. Despite the efforts of women to show that they were being taxed without being represented, the City of Atlanta rejected municipal women's suffrage. Again, women protested their lack of the vote on election day.
Continuing efforts
The membership of GWSA grew during the 1910s. When Rebecca Latimer Felton joined the group in 1912, it helped bring additional publicity to the suffrage cause in Georgia. Felton became a delegate to the national suffrage convention held in Philadelphia.
The years 1913 and 1914 showed increased interest in women's suffrage in Georgia. The Atlanta Constitution formed a women's suffrage department in July with McLendon in charge. Lawyer for GWSA and later other groups, Leonard Grossman, formed the Georgia Men's League for Woman Suffrage in 1913. The Georgia Young People's Suffrage Association (GYPSA) was formed in 1913 with Ruth Buckholz serving as president. Members of GYPSA marched in the Woman's Suffrage Procession in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 1913. Suffragists also entered three cars in an "auto floral parade" in December of that year. Also in 1913, the Georgia Woman Suffrage League (GWSL) was created in Atlanta with Frances Smith Whiteside as president. 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. This group grew rapidly, with 100 members at first, but growing to around 2,000 by January 1915. Members of ESPG raised money, held parades, contests and plays.
During 1914, around 275 women's suffrage meetings were held across the state in Athens, Atlanta, Bainbridge, Decatur, Macon, and Rome. The Georgia WCTU softened their stance on women's suffrage that year, allowing McLendon to welcome suffragists to their convention. In March 1914, a suffrage rally was held in Atlanta with famous women such as Jane Addams speaking.
Also in 1914, the Georgia Association Opposed to Women's Suffrage (GAOWS) was formed in Macon. Anti-suffragist, James Calloway, gave GAOWS publicity in his Macon newspapers, the Daily-Telegraph and the News. Anti-suffragists began to write broadsides and went after other suffragists publicly, challenging them to debates.
Representative Barry Wright introduced an equal suffrage amendment in the Georgia House on June 25, 1914. On June 30, W. J. Bush introduced a women's suffrage bill to the Georgia Senate. The first women's suffrage speech given in the House happened on July 6 when Whiteside spoke in front of the assembly. On July 7, 1914 more women testified about women's suffrage in front of the Georgia House Constitutional Amendment Committee. Both suffragists and anti-suffragists were on site to present their views and around two hundred women, mostly suffragists, were viewing from the gallery. The suffrage measures did not pass.
Suffragists hosted a large parade as part of the Harvest Festival Celebration in 1915. 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. The parade had a marching band and around two hundred marchers, all wearing yellow sashes. After the marchers, came female college students wearing caps and gowns who were followed by two-hundred decorated cars. Despite the size of the parade, the suffragists had almost no help controlling traffic from the Atlanta Police Department. The police did help significantly with the harvest parade which was taking place at the same time.
In February 1916, suffrage groups worked to attain 10,000 signatures on a petition in support of municipal women's suffrage in Atlanta, but were unsuccessful in getting the vote. Raoul tried to expand the influence of ESPG by campaigning in rural areas in 1916. Other suffragists, including the president of ESPG, Emily McDougald, felt that rural women were "ignorant and hopeless."
Women formed a Georgia branch of the National Woman's Party (NWP) in 1917. 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. Beatrice Carleton of the Georgia NWP testified before the Georgia legislature when they were considering equal suffrage measures in July 1917. Rose Ashby from GWSA also testified. Anti-suffragists were also on hand to oppose women's suffrage and the bills did not pass. Though women were not making progress with suffrage state-wide, the city of Waycross, Georgia did approve women to vote in municipal primary elections.
During World War I, suffragists and anti-suffragists alike aided in the war effort. GWSL president, Whiteside, described the work of suffragists during the war. Women in Georgia made garments for soldiers and raised money for the war and the Red Cross. Suffragists were involved with the Women's Council of National Defense, with McLendon acting as president. The work of suffragists to aid the war effort was noticed by the press in Georgia, with the Columbus Enquirer Sun praising their efforts.
Rejection, ratification and challenges
Women in Atlanta finally achieved municipal suffrage in 1919. Mrs. A. G. Helmer, in charge of the Fulton County Suffrage Association, discovered that the city council of Atlanta was supportive of women's suffrage. The city voted on May 3 to allow women to vote in municipal primaries on a vote of twenty-four to one. Four thousand women registered to vote.