Women Fight for Their Rights The Progressive Movement in Texas

The Suffrage Movement 1868 - 1920

“No state can be a true democracy in which one half of the people are denied the right to vote.” -The Texas Woman Suffrage Association

In Texas in 1916, the following classes of adult citizens were denied the right to vote: * Idiots * Lunatics * Felons * U.S. soldiers, marines, and seamen in the U.S. service * Women

From 1915 to 1918, suffragists wrote letters, signed petitions, and lobbied state legislators to let women vote. Governor James Ferguson fought against woman suffrage. However, Ferguson was impeached in 1917.

Governor James Ferguson- an “implacable foe of woman suffrage and of every great moral issue for which women stood.”

In 1918 Texas women won the right to vote in primaries by making a deal with new governor William P. Hobby. He would sign a suffrage bill if the ladies would vote him back into office. The women kept their word and were allowed to vote. Hobby won by a landslide.

Governor William P. Hobby (1878 – 1964)

In 1919, Texas became the first southern state to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave all women the right to vote.

Austin Suffragists – ready to vote for the first time.

Women at Work Many Texas Women made important contributions during the Progressive Era.

state superintendent of public instruction. Annie Webb Blanton Became the first woman to win election to a Texas state office. She served as state superintendent of public instruction.

Lucy Ann Kidd-Key Lucy was the first female of a Texas college in 1888. The College was called North Texas Female College located in Sherman, Texas.

Leonor Villegas Established many “escuelitas” or “little schools”, which offered bilingual education programs and excellent academic instruction.

Dr. Sofie Herzog Herzog was one of only a few physicians. She became a chief surgeon in South Texas. She was the mother of 15 children. Her specialty was digging bullets out of gunshot wounds. She also enjoyed collecting snakes.

women’s organizations. Jovita Idar Jovar was a writer for her father’s newspaper in Laredo. She helped establish the League of Mexican Women, and worked to improve education for poor children. She worked tirelessly for women’s rights, although she herself, as a Mexican-American, was unwelcome in many women’s organizations.

Carrie Nation Carrie Nation and her husband, a physician, looked forward to their life together. They soon had a baby girl, but her husbands alcohol abuse had already destroyed the marriage. She divorced, remarried, and moved to Texas in 1879. She became a strong opponent of alcohol sales and even used hatchets to destroy saloons.

Clara Driscoll Texas women took up many causes. Between 1903 and 1905, Driscoll worked with the Daughters of the Republic of Texas to help save the Alamo. She used her personal fortune to buy the Alamo property and restore it for future generations.

Elizabeth Ney Ney was a sculptor who established a studio in Austin in 1872. She is most famous for her statues of Stephen Austin and Sam Houston, which are erected on the Texas Capitol grounds. Her home and studio are now a museum.