Suffragists at the 1916 Virginia State Fair (Photo courtesy Sophie Meredith Sides Cowan, Library of Virginia)
One hundred years ago, the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution enshrined women's right to vote. Two local exhibitions tell the stories of the Virginia women who sought their enfranchisement for more than 70 years.
The Library of Virginia opened “We Demand: Women’s Suffrage in Virginia,” in January, the day after the General Assembly voted to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, making the commonwealth the 38th state to affirm the language and send the amendment to the U.S. Congress for ratification. Similarly, Virginia delayed ratification of the 19th Amendment until 1952.
“We Demand,” along with “#BallotBattle: Richmond’s Social Struggle for Suffrage” at The Valentine (which frames the discussion through an imagined use of social media), showcases the accomplishments and sacrifices of these suffragists, who have inspired generations of people to continue fighting for a more equitable world.
‘We Demand’
The Library of Virginia’s exhibition gallery, closed for the second quarter of this year, reopened to the public on Sept. 1 with new COVID protocols. “We Demand” has been extended through May 28, 2021.
During the exhibition’s opening in January, Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax), the Virginia House of Delegates’ first female and first Jewish speaker, spent time among the exhibits describing through words and imagery the enormous work and sacrifices made by women — and often their partners — in gaining a foothold into governance.
"Many of these incredible, driven women have gone unrecognized for too long,” she said that night. “It is past due that they be recognized and commended as trailblazers who led the way for modern leaders and activists.
“They created a tremendous organization,” says historian Brent Tarter, the library’s senior editor for publications. “They managed an incredible statewide movement.”
Ida Mae Thompson, the secretary and office manager first of the Equal Suffrage League and then the Virginia League of Women Voters, kept track of nearly everything and gave the archive to the library.
On view are cards with pictures of legislators and their record of opinions when the women came to visit. Richmond Democrat James H. Price is noted in 1916 as voting “No” and in 1918 “Uncertain. Probably opposed.” By 1919 he’s “Very favorable,” but preferring not to support suffrage during a special session.
At the entrance to the exhibit cutout figures of Adèle Goodman Clark and Annie Boyd (Mrs. Archer G.) Jones greet visitors. They are supposed to be life-sized, although Clark was a woman of stature who commanded a presence from her 6-foot height.
Not so small are the achievements of the Equal Suffrage League and its more activist parallel organization, the Congressional Union, which bent toward Washington, and the efforts of Alice Paul, who wanted an Equal Rights Amendment added to the U.S. Constitution. One of Richmond’s most vigorous proponents of the ERA was a grandmother named Sophie Meredith. Her several arrests and jailings caused one of her adult children to admonish Meredith that a living suffragist is better than a dead one.
“We Demand” underscores, however, that the suffrage movement wasn’t universal in its approaches. In Virginia, as throughout the South, suffrage broke on the color line. The most active proponents were often white women of means. Opponents declared that suffrage for women would push aside white leadership. This fear amid the politicians and people kept the Virginia legislature on the fence. One pamphlet declared, “TWENTY-NINE COUNTIES WOULD GO UNDER NEGRO RULE,” if black women gained the vote.
The work of Black women beyond renowned personalities such as Maggie L. Walker, — whose name is on view in an opened “Rolls of Registered Colored Voters” — isn’t as well known. Ora Brooks Stokes remained active in her Richmond community for 30 years and served as the city’s first African American female probation officer. Alongside Walker she registered Black women to vote and presided over the Negro Women Voters League of Virginia, and, crossing interests, assisted in national organization for the alcohol prohibitionist Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.
Even with the vote, a $1.50 poll tax was levied and local registrars asked potential voters often complicated or obscure questions about the state constitution and the Code of Virginia. Republicans and Blacks received particular discriminatory attention. Nevertheless, the women persisted: On Nov. 2, 1920, 75,000 Virginia women voted for the first time.
"Democratic Women Will Please Enroll Here," East Broad Street, Richmond, circa 1920 (Photo courtesy Cook Collection 1176, The Valentine)
‘#BallotBattle’
“#BallotBattle: Richmond’s Social Struggle for Suffrage” at The Valentine closes Nov. 8. This exhibition’s savvy take on the centennial frames the discussion through an imagined use of social media by indefatigable Equal Suffrage League champion Lila Meade Valentine (who died on the eve of gaining the vote), Black publisher of the Richmond Planet John Mitchell Jr. and anti-suffragist Mary Mason Anderson Williams, among others. The work of Williams against the suffragists prevented the ratification of the 19th Amendment. The exhibition utilizes quotes from their letters and newspapers, photographs, cartoons and other illustrative media.
This presentation brings out in relief the splits suffrage caused not only on race and class lines but within families — including the Valentines. John Mitchell Jr., in a snarky way, wonders aloud if there’ll be an “awkward family gathering” at a Valentine event, “since the news came out that the rest of the family opposes suffrage?”
Henry Lee Valentine, Lila’s brother-in-law, says, “We can set aside politics to support the Valentine Museum. But for the record, even though I couldn’t attend last month’s meeting, I am supporting the antisuffragists (including my wife Katherine Valentine) and will join their Advisory Committee along with my uncle [artist and museum president] Edward V. Valentine and brother Frederick S. Valentine.”
Lila agrees they can put politics aside but notes that she agrees with novelist and activist Mary Johnston that the “battle royal’s coming.”
Further Afield
The Occoquan Workhouse, where women were detained and tortured following their demonstrations in front of the White House in 1917, became the controversial Lorton Correctional Facility that by federal order was not to last another year past its 110th, closing on Dec. 31, 2001. Fairfax County citizens and its board of supervisors rezoned 55 acres of the property, and in 2008 the modernized campus opened as the Workhouse Arts Center.
Earlier this year the center opened the Lucy Burns Museum in a renovated 10,000-square-foot former prison barracks. A portion of the museum concerning the history of the prison is devoted to the women’s rights crusaders.
The Turning Point Suffragist Memorial is currently under construction in Lorton, adjacent to Occoquan Regional Park. The entrance duplicates the White House gates where the suffragists were protesting when arrested. The gateway opens to a plaza featuring 19 informational stops mounted on 10 interactive historic vignette stations. The memorial, the work of a nonprofit association, is set to open in 2021.
