MISSISSIPPI.[100]
From 1899 to 1906 no State convention of the Mississippi Woman
Suffrage Association was held. Mrs. Hala Hammond Butt, who was elected
president at its second annual convention in Clarksdale in 1899, acted
as president during this time but the editing of a weekly newspaper in
addition to other duties left her little time for its trying demands
at this early stage of its existence. Among the few other women
consecrated in their hearts to woman suffrage some were barred from
leadership by ill health, some by family cares, while others were
absent from the State most of the time. No definite progress,
therefore, was made during the early years of the century.
In 1901 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American
Woman Suffrage Association, gave addresses in six cities in the State,
arrangements for which were made by local suffragists, and a great
deal of interest was aroused. In 1903 a business conference was held
in Jackson, at which Mrs. Butt and three other women were present, to
consider whether anything could be done for the cause of woman
suffrage. In 1904 enrollment cards were distributed in a limited and
unsystematic way, letters were sent to members of the Legislature,
State officials and others and literature was distributed. An
inspiring feature was the visit of Dr. Anna Howard Shaw,
vice-president at large of the National Association, who spoke in
three cities.
Early in December, 1906, Miss Belle Kearney of Flora, formerly
organizer for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, at this time a
public lecturer, returned from an absence in Europe and on the 21st,
in response to a call sent out by her, a meeting was held in the
parlor of the Edwards House in Jackson. Those in attendance were Miss
Kearney, Mrs. Butt, Mrs. Edward Sloan and Dr. Delia Randall. By
invitation Dr. William La Prade of the First Methodist Church opened
the meeting with prayer, after which he retired leaving these four
women to reorganize the State Suffrage Association. Mrs. Nellie Nugent
Somerville of Greenville was in touch with the conference by telegraph
and Mrs. Lily Wilkinson Thompson of Jackson, physically unable to
attend, received reports from the meeting at her telephone. In this
historic hour the breath of a new life was blown into the expiring
association and from that time it grew and thrived. The officers
elected were Miss Kearney, president; Mrs. Somerville, vice-president;
Mrs. Thompson, treasurer.
During the following spring Miss Kearney, lecturing in the State on
sociological subjects, spoke unfailingly for suffrage and wherever
possible organized clubs. Press work was taken up earnestly by the
newly elected superintendent of that department, Mrs. Thompson. All of
the over two hundred editors in the State were interviewed by letter
in regard to their attitude towards woman suffrage and space was
requested for suffrage items. Twenty-one agreed to publish them, only
two openly declining. Among the friendly editors were L. Pink Smith of
the Greenville _Democrat_, J. R. Oliphant of the Poplarville _Free
Press_, Frank R. Birdsall of the Yazoo _Sentinel_, C. E. Glassco of
the Cleveland _Enterprise_, Joseph Norwood of the Magnolia _Gazette_,
James Faulk of the Greene County _Herald_.
Adverse articles were carefully answered and private letters were
sent, the enemy quietly reasoned with and in most cases converted.
News bulletins furnished by the national press department were used
but most of the matter sent out was prepared at home in the belief
that an ounce of Mississippi was worth a pound of Massachusetts.
Articles published in leaflet form and distributed broadcast were
written by Mrs. Somerville, Miss Kearney, Mrs. Thompson, the Rev.
Thomas K. Mellen and the Rev. H. Walter Featherstun, Methodist
ministers. One of the most valuable contributions was The Legal Status
of Mississippi Women, by Robert Campbell, an attorney of Greenville.
In November, 1907, a conference lasting five days was held at Jackson
in the home of Charles H. Thompson, a devoted suffragist, and his
wife, Lily Wilkinson Thompson. Among those attending were Miss
Kearney, Mrs. Somerville, Mrs. Harriet B. Kells, president of the
State W. C. T. U. and a life-long suffragist; Miss Laura Clay of
Kentucky and Miss Kate Gordon of Louisiana. The advisability of
attempting to have a woman suffrage measure introduced in the next
session of the Legislature was considered. Two men besides the host
appeared at this conference, a reporter, who regarded the meeting as
something of a joke, and the Hon. R. H. Thompson of Jackson, an
eminent lawyer, who came to offer sympathetic advice. Visits were made
to the Governor, James K. Vardaman, and other State officials; to the
Hinds county legislators who had recently been elected and to others.
Most of these gentlemen were polite but bored and it was decided to
defer legislative action. When two months later Governor Vardaman sent
his farewell message to the Legislature he mentioned woman suffrage as
one of the questions "pressing for solution in a National
Constitutional Convention."
In the spring of 1908 the State convention was held in the Governor's
Mansion at Jackson, Governor and Mrs. Edmund Favor Noel giving the
parlors for the meeting. Six clubs were reported and State members at
twelve places. Three or four women from outside of Jackson were
present, Mrs. Pauline Alston Clark of Clarksdale having come from the
greatest distance, and about fourteen were in attendance. The officers
elected were: President, Mrs. Somerville; vice-presidents, Mrs.
Thompson, Mrs. Fannie Clark, Mrs. Kells; corresponding secretary, Mrs.
Pauline Clark; recording secretary, Dr. Randall; treasurer, Mrs. Sarah
Summers Wilkinson. Superintendents were appointed for Press,
Legislative, Enrollment, Industrial, Educational and Bible Study
departments.
In the spring of 1909, the convention was held in the ladies' parlor
of the Capitol at Jackson. It lasted two days, a public evening
session being held in the Senate Chamber, at which Miss Kate Gordon,
corresponding secretary of the National American Woman Suffrage
Association, told of the work of the Era Club of New Orleans; Miss
Jean Gordon, factory inspector for that city, spoke in behalf of child
labor regulations and Mrs. Thompson gave a report of the press work,
which had grown to such proportions that it was considered very
significant of advance in suffrage sentiment throughout the State.
The Rev. George Whitfield, a venerable Baptist minister, came from the
neighboring town of Clinton and conducted devotional exercises and
gave a talk on woman's position from a Biblical standpoint. R. K.
Jayne of Jackson, an early suffragist, also spoke. At this time
dues-paying members were reported from seventeen towns. Mrs.
Somerville was re-elected president.
The annual convention was held in Greenville in 1910. Dr. Shaw and
Miss Ray Costello of England made addresses; Judge E. N. Thomas of
Greenville presided at one of the evening meetings; John L. Hebron, a
Delta planter and afterwards State Senator, made an earnest speech of
endorsement. It was reported that hundreds of letters were written and
the association had gained a hold in fifty places, ranging from rural
neighborhoods and plantation settlements to the largest towns.
Frederick Sullens, editor of the Jackson _Daily News_, had given space
for a weekly suffrage column edited by Mrs. Thompson. Mrs. J. C.
Greenley edited a similar column in the Greenville _Democrat_. Mrs.
Madge Quin Fugler supplied five papers and Mrs. Montgomery two. Miss
Ida Ward of Greenville wrote articles for the papers of that town and
Mrs. Mohlenhoff edited a column in the Cleveland _Enterprise_. Among
other papers publishing suffrage material were the McComb City
_Journal_ and the _Enterprise_ and the Magnolia _Gazette_. From the
press superintendent there had gone out 1,700 articles, ranging in
length from a paragraph to a half page, many of them written by her,
and they were given prominence in special editions. Ten copies of the
_Woman's Journal_ which came from the national press department for
years were forwarded to college, town and State libraries and to
editors. How far and deep the influence of those _Journals_ reached is
beyond computation.
In the fall of 1910 the State association joined the Tennessee Equal
Suffrage Association in a booth at the Tri-State Fair in Memphis. An
interesting feature was the press exhibit, consisting of a width of
canvass many yards long on which had been pasted clippings from
Mississippi newspapers, suffrage argument and favorable comment. The
annual convention was held in Cleveland in 1911. Miss Gordon and Judge
Thomas spoke at the evening session. Editor C. E. Glasco gave an
earnest talk at a morning session. The department chairmen brought
encouraging reports of their work. A letter was read from Colonel Clay
Sharkey of Jackson, which later was published in leaflet form.
The State meeting was held at Flora in April, 1912. Mrs. Judith Hyams
Douglas, president of the Era Club of New Orleans, and Omar Garwood of
Colorado, secretary of the National Men's League for Woman Suffrage,
were the principal speakers. The president, Mrs. Somerville,
recommended that the various State organizations of women be invited
to unite with the suffrage association in forming a central committee
to secure such legislation as should be agreed upon by all. This was
afterwards accepted by the Federation of Women's Clubs and the United
Daughters of the Confederacy. Resolutions were passed regretting the
retirement from the presidency of Mrs. Somerville, to whose good
generalship during the past four years the success of the association
was in a large part due. Mrs. Lily Wilkinson Thompson was elected
president.
In response to the call to take part in the parade in Washington March
3, 1913, Mrs. Avery Harrell Thompson, temporarily residing there, was
put in charge and with her husband, Harmon L. Thompson, arranged for a
handsome float, on which Miss Fannie May Witherspoon, daughter of the
member of Congress, represented Mississippi. Mr. Gibbs, a
Mississippian, carried the purple and gold silk banner of the State
Suffrage Association and four other young Mississippians, Judge Allen
Thompson and his brother, Harmon, Walter and Edward Dent, marched
beside the float, preforming valiant volunteer police duty when it
became necessary. During this year the enrolled membership increased
four-fold. Quarterly reports, nearly a thousand, were printed for the
first time instead of written. A letter from the Irish Women's League
of Dublin and one from the English Women's Equal Rights Union to the
State president indicated the world-wide spirit of fraternalism which
embraced even Mississippi's modest organization. Good work was done by
the new superintendent of press work, Mrs. Dent. Not only did editors
by this time willingly accept material but some of them wrote
favorable editorials. The Yazoo City _Herald_, edited by N. A. Mott,
was a new recruit. The _Purple and White_, a Millsaps College paper,
was supplied with suffrage material by a bright senior, Janie
Linfield.
For the first time suffrage headquarters were maintained at the State
Fair by the Equity League of Jackson. Furnishings were loaned by Mr.
and Mrs. C. C. Warren from their beautiful home "Fairview." A rest
room for mothers and babies was provided, other tired visitors were
also welcomed and the suffrage booth was the most popular place on the
grounds. For the first time the association was invited to take part
on Woman's Day at the State Fair, when representatives from the
women's State organizations held a joint meeting, and the president,
Mrs. Thompson, spoke for the suffragists.
Letters were sent to the Mississippi members of Congress urging them
to vote for the Federal Suffrage Amendment and to President Wilson,
pleading for his favorable consideration. Motion pictures were
utilized in three ways--suffrage plays were shown, local clubs selling
tickets received a part of the proceeds and suffrage slogans were
thrown on the slides between pictures.
The State convention was held in the Senate Chamber of the new Capitol
at Jackson in April, 1913. At the evening sessions all seats on the
floor were taken, the galleries filled and chairs brought from
committee rooms to accommodate the audiences. Music was furnished by
the Chaminade Club of Jackson. Mayor Swepson I. Taylor gave the
address of welcome. Others who spoke were Mrs. Fannie S. Clark, Mrs.
E. T. Edmonds, president of the Equity League, and Mrs.
Royden-Douglas, president of the State Federation of Women's Clubs. In
her president's address Mrs. Thompson recommended that the association
ask the next Legislature to submit to the voters a State
constitutional amendment giving women the ballot, and this was
unanimously adopted. The Rev. E. T. Edmonds of the First Christian
Church of Jackson spoke on Woman Suffrage in New Zealand, where he had
been a resident.
Letters to the president and secretary from U. S. Senators John Sharp
Williams and James K. Vardaman were read in reply to appeals that they
vote for the Federal Amendment. Senator Vardaman said that when the
amendment came up he would "be glad to vote for it." Senator Williams
said that he thought "the federal government ought not attempt to
control a State in the exercise of this privilege," that he favored a
"white woman's primary, in which the women of the State might say
whether they wanted the ballot or not" and that he thought women just
as competent to use it as men but did not approve of "forcing it upon
them." He was "inclined to woman suffrage" and believed that "with
safeguards it might be made a bulwark of white supremacy in the
State." The large reception planned by Governor and Mrs. Earl Brewer
had to be omitted because of the sudden illness of Mrs. Brewer. On
account of home demands Mrs. Thompson declined re-election and Mrs.
Dent was made president.
Under Mrs. Dent's administration the work prospered and advanced in
popular favor. In the fall "woman suffrage day" was for the first time
on the calendar of the State Fair. Headquarters were again maintained,
for which space three times as large as that used the previous year
was occupied. Mrs. Dent, a successful cotton planter, brought a bale
of cotton from her plantation and presented it to the headquarters,
where it afforded a unique platform for the speakers. Women from
different parts of the State came to act as hostesses and take part in
the speaking. This year a college contest was conducted by Mrs.
Thompson, who offered a gold medal for the best argument for woman
suffrage written by a college student of the State. Six of the largest
colleges were represented and the medal was won by Mrs. Pearl Powell,
of the Industrial Institute and College.
In April, 1914, the State convention was again held in Jackson. Among
the speakers were Rabbi Brill of Meridian and Mrs. Alex Y. Scott of
Memphis. Mrs. Dent was re-elected president. In the fall for the first
time there was a suffrage section in the parade that marked the
opening of the State Fair. Six women, gowned in white and wearing
yellow silk Votes for Women badges marched--Mrs. Ella O. Biggs and
Miss Sadie Goeber bearing a banner inscribed Women vote in twelve
States, why not in Mississippi? followed by Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Avery
Harrell Thompson, Mrs. Sarah C. Watts and Mrs. R. W. Durfey and they
were generously cheered along the way.
In the spring of 1915 the State convention was held in Greenville. Dr.
Shaw was a guest, stopping on her way to Jackson, where under the
auspices of the Equity League she spoke in the House of
Representatives to a large audience, many standing throughout her
address, which made a profound impression. The convention was well
attended. Some of the interesting features were "an hour for men"
presided over by Congressman B. G. Humphries, with excellent speeches;
a five o'clock tea, given by the Belvidere Chapter of the Daughters of
the American Revolution, and the presentation of the motion picture
play, Your Girl and Mine. Miss Pauline V. Orr was elected president.
Miss Orr served as president for two years, widely extending the
influence of the association through the hundreds of young women who
came under her instruction at the Industrial Institute and College,
where for many years she held the chair of English.
The annual convention was held in 1916 in the city hall in Meridian,
where nineteen years before the State Woman Suffrage Association was
organized, and Mrs. Pattie Ruffner Jacobs of Alabama, auditor of the
National Association, made an address on the opening evening. During
the following year eight new leagues were formed. The convention met
in Starkville in April, 1917, and addresses were made by Dr. Shaw,
Miss Margaret Hamilton Erwin, president of the Tennessee Equal
Suffrage Association; Mrs. Walter McNab Miller, first vice-president
of the National Association; Mrs. W. H. Price, president of the
Mississippi Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and
Mrs. Edward F. McGehee, president of the State Federation of Women's
Clubs. Miss Orr, the president, declining re-election was succeeded by
Mrs. McGehee. The United States had now entered the war and the
suffragists began to concentrate on war work. As chairman of the
Woman's Committee, Mississippi Division of the National Council of
Defense, she was able to help popularize woman suffrage.[101]
In April, 1918, a one-day conference was held in the Capitol at
Jackson, when Mrs. Marion B. Trotter of Winona was elected president
and brought a great deal of energy and enthusiasm into her office. No
convention was held in 1919 but at the close of the meeting of the
State Federation of Women's Clubs in Clarksdale in November a
conference of the suffragists present was called. It was there decided
to organize to support the ratification of the Federal Amendment,
which had been submitted by Congress and was to come before the
Legislature the following January. Mrs. B. F. Saunders of Swan Lake,
retiring president of the federation, was made chairman of the
Ratification Committee; Mrs. Trotter, treasurer; Mrs. Somerville
chairman of Petition and Press Work; Mrs. McClurg chairman of Finance.
By request the National Association sent into the State its
organizers, Miss Watkins of Arkansas and Miss Peshakova of New York.
Mrs. Cunningham, president of the Texas Equal Suffrage Association and
a national worker, also came to assist. Petitions were circulated,
leaflets published and distributed, newspapers enlisted and
legislators systematically interviewed. The organization thus speedily
effected worked during the session of 1920. In April of this year the
convention of the State Federation, held in Gulfport, closed with a
"suffrage luncheon," a brilliant affair attended by 125 prominent men
and women. Speeches were made by the Hon. Barney Eaton, a lawyer of
Gulfport; Mrs. S. P. Covington, its president, and others. The State
League of Women Voters was organized at this time with Miss Blanche
Rogers chairman.
It had been the hope for years to have an endorsement of woman
suffrage from the Federation of Women's Clubs, a strong and popular
organization numbering over 3,000 of the State's leading women. During
its annual meeting in 1916 Miss Orr, president of the State Suffrage
Association, had introduced a favorable resolution and with Mrs.
Somerville, Mrs. J. W. McGrath of Canton, Mrs. William Baldwin of
Columbus and Mrs. W. S. Lott of Meridian led the fight for suffrage.
Mrs. William R. Wright of Jackson headed the opposition, which asked
for the postponement of the question until the next year and won. At
the next convention, held in Meridian in 1917, the resolution was
introduced by Miss Ann Rothenberg (now Mrs. Rosenbaum) of Meridian
and passed almost unanimously. In 1919 at the annual meeting held in
Clarksdale, during the presidency of Mrs. Saunders, a resolution
endorsing the ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment was
carried with but one dissenting vote, that of Mrs. Lizzie George
Henderson of Greenwood, daughter of the late U. S. Senator J. Z.
George. When the League of Women Voters was formed the next year Mrs.
Henderson was among the first to join it.
In 1919, the State Teachers' Association passed unanimously a
resolution endorsing woman suffrage introduced by Professor Frederick
Davis Mellen of the State Agricultural and Mechanical College, the son
of the late Reverend Thomas L. Mellen, one of Mississippi's earliest
suffragists. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union here as elsewhere
was a great school for women, teaching them the need of the ballot,
and the majority of its members were suffragists but all through the
years the minority, who did not want the question brought into the
Union, overruled their wishes. Mrs. Harriet B. Kells, the president
for many years and a lifelong suffragist, was not able to overcome
this situation and it never endorsed woman suffrage.
There never has been any organized opposition among Mississippi women.
During the session of the Legislature in 1920 there was an open
attempt to organize opposition to ratification of the Federal
Amendment but it failed.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. After the suffrage association in 1913 decided to
ask for the submission of an amendment to the State constitution to
enfranchise women the preliminary work of interviewing legislators and
distributing appropriate literature was conducted by the chairman of
the Legislative Committee, Mrs. Nellie Nugent Somerville, the
president, Mrs. Annie Kinkead Dent, and other members. The president
at her own expense sent the _Woman's Journal_ and other literature to
all legislators for three months. The concurrent resolution asking for
the submission was introduced in the House Jan. 9, 1914, by N. A. Mott
of Yazoo county. Senator Hall Sanders of Tallahatchie county offered
it in the Senate three days later. The House Committee on
Constitution, to which the bill was referred, granted a hearing, at
which speeches were made by Mrs. Monroe McClurg, Miss Belle Kearney,
Mrs. Somerville, Miss Kate Gordon (La.), Judge Allen Thompson and
Colonel Clay Sharkey. The committee reported unfavorably by a majority
of one. A minority report was made by the chairman, Henry A. Minor of
Noxubee county, and others. Representative Mott offered a resolution
inviting the women to present their case in the House the next day,
which was carried by a close vote about one o'clock in the afternoon
and the hearing was set for ten the next morning. The _Daily News_ had
gone to press and the _Clarion Ledger_, a morning paper, had some time
before forbidden its columns to any news or notices in any way
favoring woman suffrage or advertising it.
The president of the Equity League of Jackson, Mrs. J. W. Tucker, with
her assistants, announced the hearing over the telephone, the
legislators spread the story and when the women who were to speak
filed into the House on that memorable morning of January 21 they
found all available space occupied and the galleries overflowing. An
invitation was sent to the Senators to come over but so many had
already deserted their posts for the House that there was not a quorum
to vote on the invitation. Hilary Quin of Hinds county, Speaker of the
House, presided, introducing the speakers and extending every possible
courtesy. They were Mrs. McClurg, Miss Kearney, Miss Orr, Miss Gordon,
Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Dent and Mrs. Somerville. The speeches made so
profound an impression that hardly had the last word been spoken when
there came a loud and insistent call from the enemies for adjournment.
The bill was presented next day. Emmett Cavette of Noxubee county
strongly championed it and Speaker Quin left the chair to make a
speech in its favor. Representative S. Joe Owen of Union county
vigorously led the fight against it and it was lost by 80 noes, 42
ayes.
In 1916 the women's organizations united in a bill making women
eligible to serve as county school superintendents and on the boards
of educational and benevolent institutions. During the session of 1918
the suffrage association being in the midst of war work took no
initiative in behalf of legislation but Senator Earl Richardson of
Neshoba county on his own account introduced in the Senate a
concurrent resolution to amend the State constitution. The members of
the Equity League gave assistance; Mrs. Isaac Reese of Memphis was
invited to come to the Capitol and on the day the vote was taken she
and Miss Kearney made brief speeches before the Senate. On motion of
Senator P. E. Carothers the question was submitted without debate,
which was a disappointment to its friends, H. H. Casteel of Holmes
county declaring that he had remained up nearly all of the night
before preparing his speech. The vote was a tie, 21 to 21. The House
took no action.
Through the years the officers and members of the State and local
suffrage associations united with those of other women's organizations
to obtain laws. The age of consent was raised first to 12, then to 16
and in 1914 to 18; better child labor laws were secured; the law
permitting a father to dispose of the children by will at his death
was repealed. It is a fact not generally known that Mississippi was
the pioneer State in securing to married women the right to own and
dispose of property. This was done by an Act of the Legislature on
Feb. 15, 1839.
RATIFICATION. Congress submitted the Federal Amendment in June, and
the Ratification Committee was organized in November. It opened its
headquarters in Jackson at the beginning of the legislative session in
January, 1920, after having made a whirlwind campaign. At the initial
meeting of the committee in Clarksburg there had been great enthusiasm
and women gave money as they never had done before. Mrs. B. F.
Saunders was made chairman and among those who worked with her in
Jackson were Mrs. Somerville, Mrs. Trotter, Mrs. Sam Covington, Miss
Blanche Rogers, Mrs. Thompson, Miss Kearney, Mrs. Annie Neely and Mrs.
Cunningham of Texas. The legislators were systematically interviewed,
literature distributed, petitions circulated and the press kept
supplied with arguments and news.
Mrs. Thompson, in charge of the Jackson press, wrote innumerable
articles, and Mrs. Somerville and others contributed to the press
work. Letters, telegrams and petitions from all over the State urging
ratification poured in daily upon both Houses. Delegations of women
came to urge their representatives to vote for ratification. Nine
influential women came from Lauderdale county bringing a petition of
2,100 names of prominent people obtained in a day and a half and
begged their representatives to vote for the amendment but not one of
them did so.
Many of the State's leading newspapers were in favor of ratification.
The _Daily News_ of Jackson, in keeping with its policy for years,
gave editorial support and generously of its space. The _Clarion
Ledger_, also a Jackson daily, boasted of being the only paper in the
State which openly fought ratification. The editor, Colonel Hiram
Henry, a veteran journalist of the State, always bitterly opposed to
any form of woman suffrage, began his attack weeks before the
Legislature met and daily during the session the pages of his paper
reeked with hatred for the cause. The literature of the "antis" was
largely copied and extracts from negro journals published in the North
were reproduced in glaring headlines, extracts so offensive that had
they been used against any cause save that of disfranchised women
would have been suppressed. It was through his influence that Mrs.
Cola Barr Craig, once a resident of Jackson, and Mrs. James S.
Pinckard of Alabama came early in January to organize a branch of what
they called the Southern Women's Rejection League. They held a public
meeting in the Carnegie library, at which besides the two speakers,
there were nineteen women present, many of them the old friends of
Mrs. Craig. No one would take even the temporary chairmanship and the
attempt to organize failed ignominiously. Not daunted Mr. Henry sent
for Miss Kate Gordon of New Orleans, a veteran suffragist who had
joined hands with the "antis" in fighting ratification. She was
advertised for a speech at the Carnegie library and all legislators
were urged to attend. Two legislators and fifteen women were present,
six of the latter State workers for ratification.
The retiring and incoming State officials were almost to a man
outspoken in their advocacy of ratification. Governor Theodore G.
Bilbo, the retiring Governor, instead of having the clerk of the House
read his farewell message, according to time honored custom, delivered
it in person. Woman suffrage was its conspicuous feature and after a
profound argument for ratification of the Federal Amendment, he closed
his remarks with the solemn statement: "Woe to that man who raises
his hand against the onward march of this progressive movement!" The
newly elected Governor, Lee M. Russell, in his inaugural address,
delivered in front of the Capitol to an audience of thousands, devoted
more time to woman suffrage than to any other topic, making a clear
cut, logical argument for ratification and a powerful plea for the
enfranchisement of women.
On January 21, W. A. Winter, Representative from Grenada county,
offered the following resolution: "Resolved that the proposed
amendment to the Constitution of the United States be and hereby is
rejected as an unwarranted, unnecessary and dangerous interference
with the rights reserved to the States, or to the people, in both
State and Federal Constitutions...." This came without warning to the
friends of ratification and was not referred to a committee but rushed
to a vote after Representative Guy W. Mitchell of Lee county had
spoken strongly against it. It was carried by a vote of 94 ayes to 25
noes and the announcement received with cheers and laughter. Sennett
Conner of Covington county was the Speaker of the House whose ruling
permitted this unparliamentary action.
Sent to the Senate the Winter Resolution of Rejection was referred to
the Committee on Constitution, of which Senator Minor was chairman. At
the meeting of the committee W. B. Mixon of Pike county was authorized
to draft a resolution ratifying the amendment, to be offered in the
Senate as a substitute. This was done and Senators Minor, Mixon and
Fred B. Smith made a majority report. This resolution was earnestly
advocated by Senators Percy Bell and Walton Shields of Washington
county, W. B. Roberts of Bolivar, Fred B. Smith of Union, A. A. Cohn
of Lincoln and E. F. Noel of Holmes. It failed of adoption and the
Winter resolution was recommitted to the Committee on Constitution,
where it remained.
In the meantime Senator Mixon had introduced a bill in the Senate
giving the right to women to vote in Primary elections and
Representative A. J. Whitworth of Pike county a similar one in the
House. In Mississippi a nomination is equivalent to an election. Both
bills were defeated. A resolution for a woman suffrage amendment to
the State constitution to be submitted to the voters at the election
of November, 1920, passed both Houses with very little opposition.
During the last three weeks of the session Senator Mixon introduced a
bill giving the right of suffrage to women in the event of the
ratification of the Federal Amendment by thirty-six Legislatures, thus
enabling them to vote in the August primaries, and Representative
Whitworth introduced two bills, one giving suffrage to women in
primary elections and the other in general elections, both contingent
upon ratification. These bills passed without opposition.
During the last week of the Legislature Senator Roberts called out of
the committee the original Winter Resolution of Rejection and in
Committee of the Whole it was amended by striking out the word
"reject" and substituting the word "ratify." Thus amended the vote in
the Senate stood 21 ayes, 21 noes and Lieutenant Governor H. H.
Casteel broke the tie in favor of its adoption. News of the Senate's
favorable action spread all over the country in a few hours. Telegrams
came pouring in to the Governor and Legislature offering
congratulations and appealing to the House to make Mississippi the
36th State to ratify.
The Senate substitute was presented to the House the next afternoon,
March 31. Representative Winter moved that the House "do not concur
with the Senate Resolution of Ratification." Immediately there came
calls for the vote. Telegrams were on the Speaker's stand from William
Jennings Bryan, Homer Cummings, chairman of the Democratic National
Committee, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, Attorney General A.
Mitchell Palmer and many other prominent Democrats. A vote was taken
as to whether these should be read to the House. Representative E. M.
Lane of Smith county, although an opponent of ratification, made an
earnest appeal that the courtesy of a hearing should be accorded these
national party leaders. A vote of 65 to 32 decided that the telegrams
should not be read. Governor Russell had stated that he desired the
privilege of the floor to make an appeal in behalf of ratification but
this courtesy was denied him. Representatives T. D. Rees of Prentiss
county and Walter Sillers of Bolivar spoke in favor of ratification
but were poorly heard so great was the confusion and so loud and
insistent the calls for the vote. Representative Mitchell was absent.
Dr. Whitworth (author of three suffrage bills at this session) spoke
against ratification and while he was speaking Representative R. H.
Watts of Rankin county interpolated, "I would die and go to hell
before I would vote for it." The substitute was defeated by 94 noes,
23 ayes.
Thus was banished forever the dream of Mississippi suffragists that
the women would receive the ballot from the men of this great State.
Speaker Sennett Conner was responsible above every one else for the
defeat of ratification. Its chance was weakened by the fact that
Mississippi's entire delegation in Congress, including Senators John
Sharp Williams and "Pat" Harrison had voted against submitting the
Federal Amendment.
Did space permit there would be added to the names mentioned in this
chapter many others who gave "aid and comfort" to the cause. Among
those who never failed when asked to help with financial burdens was
the late Major R. W. Millsaps, founder of Millsaps College for men and
women. The army of active suffragists was never large. Many women
wanted the ballot but comparatively few were under conviction to work
for it. To those who did, especially in early, trying days, belongs
that indescribable exultation which is the portion of those who help
onward a great revolutionary movement for the uplift of the race.
The amendment to the State constitution was voted on at the general
election in November, 1920, and received 39,186 ayes, 24,296 noes but
it was not carried, as the law requires a majority of all the votes
cast at the election. As the women were already enfranchised by the
Federal Amendment they did not make a campaign for it but as
registration is necessary four months before election and the
ratification did not take place until two months before this one, they
were not able to vote, Mississippi and Georgia being the only two
States that denied this privilege.
FOOTNOTES:
[100] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Lily Wilkinson
Thompson, an officer in the State Suffrage Association from its
organization until its work was finished.
[101] Besides those mentioned the following served on the official
board: Mrs. Jimmie Andrews Lipscomb, Mrs. Nella Lawrence Lee, Miss
Mattie Kirkpatrick, Mrs. Annie Kinkead Dent, Mrs. Ella O. Biggs, Mrs.
Alma Dorsey Birdsall, Mrs. Durrant, Mrs. Edith Marshall Tucker, Mrs.
Mary Powell Crane, Miss Ethel Clagett, Mrs. C. C. Miller, Mrs. T. F.
Buntin, Miss Estelle Crane, Miss Nannie Herndon Rice.