California Women's Suffrage

Overview of the October 10, 1911 Election:

Proposition 4 - Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 8 - granting California women the right to vote was proposed by the California State Legislature and placed on the October 10, 1911 ballot. Determined suffragists drove from small town to small town in every county across the state sometimes in a fancy blue convertible attracting crowds who listened to their speeches.

On the day of the election determined women across the state woke up at 4:00 a.m. to insure passage. Some collected brochures to hand out near voting places to hopefully influence the undecided voter; others stood watch at the polls to insure all of the votes were counted; and others grabbed the keys to the family car and throughout the day drove men identified as supportive to the polls to be sure every vote for suffrage was cast that day.

When returns came in from the cities the proposition was failing. It was voted down in San Francisco with a vote of 62% NO and 38% Yes. City newspapers declared the proposition dead but when Californians woke up the next morning returns from the rural counties showed that the proposition was going to pass. In rural San Luis Obispo County it won with 56% voting YES and 44% voting NO, an outcome repeated across rural California. In 1911 California became the sixth state to give women the franchise joining Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Washington.

100 years of women's suffrage in California Sacramento, CA through Sept. 30, 2012

We Won the Vote 1911 passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave American women the right to vote in 1920, California granted the same right to the state's women in the special election on Oct. 10, 2011. To celebrate that achievement, the Sacramento History Museum yesterday unveiled a new exhibit celebrating 100 years of California suffrage.

Visitors to the Museum can gain a better understanding of the social and political struggle through interactive displays, historical photographs, period campaign materials, clothing worn during the campaign and oral histories.

The exhibition will move to the State Capitol Museum on Oct. 1 and remain there through Sept. 30, 2012.

What: We Won the Vote! 100 Years of Equal Suffrage in California exhibition
Where: Sacramento History Museum, 101 I Street in Old Sacramento
When: June 16 thru Sept. 16. Museum open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Cost: Museum admission $5 for adults; $3 for youths ages 6-17 and free for children five and under
More info: 916-808-7059 or www.historicoldsac.org

California State Capitol Museum -- Women's Vote in California: 100 Year Anniversary Living History Program In connection with the exhibition, "We Won the Vote!" -- October 15
California State Capitol Museum 10/1/2011 10/15/2011
http://www.seecalifornia.com/events/california-state-parks.html

A compelling exhibition We Won the Vote! 100 Years of Equal Suffrage in California is produced jointly by The Center for Sacramento History and California State Parks. The exhibition is located at Sacramento History Museum in Old Sacramento from June through September 2011, then moves to the State Capitol Museum (located inside the State Capitol building) with an opening on October 1, 2011. The We Won the Vote! exhibition will remain at the State Capitol Museum through September 30, 2012. The We Won the Vote! exhibition will showcase interactive displays, historical photographs, period campaign materials, clothing worn during the campaign, and oral histories designed to guide guests through the tumultuous history of the movement that resulted in a successful resolution in 1911. The Capital City was the stage where legislative and lobbying efforts culminated 100 years ago amid changing political, economic and social conditions. Triumphs in the West and in California -- the sixth western state to grant women the right to vote -- helped to build much needed electoral power and political support in the nation's capital to ensure passage of the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that awarded women across America the right to vote in 1920. About the Sacramento History Museum Supported by the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation, the Sacramento History Museum is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (except on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day) and is located at 101 I Street in Old Sacramento. Admission is $5 for adults; $4 for youths ages 6-17 and free for children five and under. For more information, call (916) 808-7059 or visit www.historicoldsac.org. About the California State Capitol Museum The California State Capitol Museum is operated by California State Parks under contract to and supported by the California State Legislature. Open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for guided and self-guided tours of the Capitol Building and its extensive outdoor gardens, the Museum is located in the California State Capitol, in downtown Sacramento on 10th Street between L and N Streets. Admission is free. For more information, call (916) 324-0333. capitolmuseum.ca.gov

Autry National Center Sunday, September 18, 2011

4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles, CA 90027
323.667.2000 theAutry.org
The Autry Celebrates the California Woman's Suffrage Centennial

Museum admission rates apply
Schedule

11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Susan B. Anthony Speech Reenactment
11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. Cast Your Ballot!
11:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. Suffragist Sash Making
11:30 a.m. Advance Screening of The Sixth Star: California Women Win the Vote!
Noon–3:00 p.m. Western Music Association Jam Session
12:30 p.m. Girl Scouts West Opening Ceremony
1:30 p.m. Hands-On Women's History Tour

The League of Women Voters will be on-site registering people to vote and a Susan B. Anthony reenactor will recite some of the women's rights activists' well-known speeches. Visitors will also be able to create their own suffragist sash, and then cast their vote on when they think the first woman president will be elected in the United States. Votes will be cast in replica historical ballot boxes and tabulated, with results announced at the end of the festival.

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of woman's suffrage in California with a full day of activities at the Autry. In 1911, California became the sixth and largest state to approve women's suffrage, nine years ahead of the 19th Amendment that won suffrage for all women in the United States.

California State Senator Carol Liu (21st District) will be on hand to join the celebration. Activities include the opening of The Girl Scout's West, an exhibition curated by Girl Scout Jocelyn Buhlman from Troop 2234 for her Gold Award. The exhibition features artwork by local Girl Scouts depicting life as a Girl Scout, a Californian, and a woman. A special Hands-On Women's History Tour led by museum teachers will highlight women's contributions to the West. Visitors are encouraged to bring their guitar, violin, harmonica, or other musical instrument and join in the monthly Western Music Association Jam. This lively group will give the floor over to several of their female performers.

Museum visitors will be also be treated to a special advance screening of the new documentary The Sixth Star: California Women Win the Vote! by English, ethics, and gender studies teacher Martha Wheelock. This film will also be screened as part of a celebration at the State Capitol in October. The film portrays the incredible work, innovations, dedication, and vision of the 1911 suffragists, and what this victory meant to the passage of the 19th Federal Amendment, granting women the right to vote.

California's contentious political climate brought both great disappointments and remarkable victories for women rights. Early success came in 1893 when a women's suffrage bill won approval in the state legislature, but it was vetoed by the governor who thought it was unconstitutional. In 1896, suffragists took the issue straight to the California voters for a statewide referendum. Although Populists, Prohibitionists, Republicans and unions joined a formidable women's alliance to promote the measure, it was defeated by a sizeable majority. Many blamed the vocal liquor industry and the Democratic Party for the defeat.

Factory Workers Again, disappointment turned to resolve. White middle-class women's clubs, unions, church groups, black self-help groups, temperance groups, and Socialists all incorporated the suffrage issue into their day-to-day grassroots community work. They believed that if women could vote, they could clean up dirty politics and cure social ills like child labor, prostitution and poverty. Disfranchisement became a powerful symbol that unified women from all walks of life.

Working-class women and Socialists broadened the suffrage coalition in California, especially in urban areas. Many political movements flourished in the state in the early 1900s, searching for a more egalitarian society. Women voters, many hoped, would help bring economic and political justice to a state controlled by wealthy corporations. The Women's Socialist Union of California was formed in 1902. Another ally was the Woman's International Union Label League, which championed women's protective legislation, unionization and suffrage. Mainstream suffragists in the California Equal Suffrage Association came to depend upon Socialist organizers and working-class participation in the cause.

Maud Younger Leaders who could bridge economic and racial divides, like Maud Younger, made California's formidable suffrage alliance possible. Copies of Younger's pamphlet "Why Wage-Earning Women Should Vote" appeared in doorways, union halls and public rallies. Katherine Reed Balentine founded The Yellow Ribbon, a statewide suffrage newspaper in 1906. Charlotta Spears Bass published pro-suffrage editorials from Los Angeles in the state's largest African American newspaper, the California Eagle. In early 1911, these leaders organized a huge statewide Cooperative Council to coordinate all the activity toward passage of a suffrage amendment at the polls. Visibility was the first priority in the council's winning plan: Flamboyant parades and rallies, electric street signs, door-to-door canvassing, street speeches, plays, pageants and press coverage reached every voter in the state from San Diego to Sacramento.

Equal Pay Wage-earning women attracted attention. Waitresses, laundry workers, factory workers, fruit pickers and teachers were especially visible in California's suffrage campaign in 1910-11. On Labor Day, Maud Younger sat in the driver's seat of the San Francisco Wage-Earners' Suffrage League's prizewinning float drawn by six black horses and covered with yellow streamers. Workers' wagons rolled past as thousands cheered in San Diego's Labor Day parade, bearing signs for equal pay for equal work as well as women's right to vote.

Charlotta Spears Bass Flyers and leaflets spread the appeal far and wide. Workers even distributed suffrage leaflets in Spanish, Italian, German and Yiddish to attract immigrant worker support from both men and women. Consistent with California racial politics, however, Chinese workers were shunned by movement leaders who feared a white backlash if Asians were embraced.

The eyes of the nation were on California in 1911, when male voters flocked to the polls to approve women's right to vote by a wide margin in the statewide referendum. It was the sixth and largest state so far to approve women's suffrage in the United States.

The League of Women Voters will be on-site registering people to vote and a Susan B. Anthony reenactor will recite some of the women's rights activists' well-known speeches. Visitors will also be able to create their own suffragist sash, and then cast their vote on when they think the first woman president will be elected in the United States. Votes will be cast in replica historical ballot boxes and tabulated, with results announced at the end of the festival.

Weekday hours of operation for the Autry National Center's museum at its Griffith Park location are Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Autry Store's weekday hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the Autry Cafe is open Tuesday through Sunday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday hours for the museum and the store are 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The museum, the store, and the cafe are closed on Mondays. The libraries are open to researchers by appointment.

Museum admission is $10 for adults, $6 for students and seniors 60+, $4 for children ages 3–12, and free for Autry members, veterans, and children age 2 and under. Admission is free on the second Tuesday of every month.

Attention Girl Scouts! (For Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors) Women Through Time Interest Project Award 1:00–5:00 p.m.$15 per Girl Scout (one adult leader may attend free with every seven girls per troop) / $12 per Adult

Advertisement