SPEAKERS
Alex Colvin, Earth Mama, CM Marihugh
CM Marihugh 00:00
Welcome to Her March to Democracy where we're telling stories along The National Votes For Women Trail. The trail chronicles the fight for voting rights for women. The Suffragists or Suffs, as they were called, were the revolutionaries of their day and they battled the powers that be. These foot soldiers cut across the lines of geography, race, ethnicity, class, and gender, and numbered in the many 1000s over 70 plus years.
Earth Mama 00:37
We are standing on the shoulders
Of the ones who came before us,
They are safe, and they are humans.
They are angels, they are friends.
We can see beyond the struggles
And the troubles and the challenge
When we know that by our efforts
Things will be better in the end.
CM Marihugh 01:09
Each episode is a tour on the trail to the places of struggle. The cities, the towns, where wins and defeats happened over and over again. Our theme music is "Standing On the Shoulders" by Joyce Johnson Rouse and recorded by Earth Mama. Join us on our travels to hear the stories along The National Votes For Women Trail.
In this episode, we welcome Dr. Alex Colvin, for part two of the Alabama experience and stories along the national votes for women trail after 1920. Could you tell us what happened in Alabama during the ratification period?
Alex Colvin 01:55
Of course within two weeks after the 19th Amendment is passed by Congress on June 4th 1919. A formidable foe to suffragists grew in Alabama. And of course, this is the- The Women's Anti-Ratification League of Alabama. It formed in Montgomery and it quickly spread across the state. And they were really kind of- the whole idea of forming was they wanted to block ratification. They did not want Alabama to actually ratify a federal amendment.
Some of these were women who didn't necessarily care one way or the other for a statewide amendment, they- if it had passed, they would have been fine. But they definitely did not want a federal amendment. And they made arguments that women were incapable of voting that that it wasn't women's place to be in politics, and that it would cause a race war, if you actually opened up the possibility of women voting within the state and across the nation. And in July of 1919, the Alabama legislature chose to do a joint session.
So they're going to bring in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and they're going to hear arguments for and against ratification. Everyone was given 90 minutes of time to do with whatever they wanted. The suffragists lined up eight speakers, both women and men who could come and make arguments on behalf of ratification. And one speaker was Chief Justice John C. Anderson of the Alabama Supreme Court.
Now you see, he said that at first he wasn't sure he should join in. He is a judge. Should a judge speak on political matters. But he said, "I concluded that the question now under consideration was one beyond an ordinary political issue and involved the sanctity of every home and fireside in the state. You are called upon to strike the shackles from your wives, your daughters, your mothers and your sisters. Are you chivalrous men of the South, going to wait for the other states of the Union to make your wives and daughters your equal."
So as I said, eight speakers fill the time for pro suffrage arguments. They make legal arguments, they make social arguments. They argue for women's abilities and mental acuity. And then you have the time for The Anti-Ratification League to take the stand. And they chose not to speak. Instead, they submitted a letter to be read aloud by a male legislator, saying that they did not feel comfortable speaking to men as equals. Instead, they asked the legislators to protect them from this measure that would force them out of the home and to the coarse world of politics.
What was brilliant about this strategy was that newspapers the next day could only summarize what the suffragists said. They could print in its entirety the letter of The Anti-Ratification League, as you start seeing more widespread support for blocking the amendment. The fear and the anger that was present in that letter, gave legislators excuse- the excuse of why they needed to vote against ratification.
But the Alabama legislature not only voted against it, they passed a resolution rejecting it. And they wanted to send that resolution to the Federal Congress and the governor actually said, "that's, that's a step beyond we actually don't need to do that. We're just gonna- we didn't pass it. That's all we need to do. And that's that." And these Anti-Ratification Leaguers that they they discussed that it was it was all these issues. They said in an interview "Yes, it's gender, it's women's role. It states rights." But then they also said, "but really, at the core of it all, is the race problem."
And they wanted to make sure to block the amendment not just in Alabama, they wanted a solid south to block it. So Nina Pinckard, who was the president of this league, she reforms it into The Southern Women's League for the Rejection of the Susan B Anthony. And it is a mouthful. And she's going to travel around to Louisiana, all the way to North Carolina, Virginia. She's gonna travel around and make sure that local anti suffrage groups have the resources they need to block the amendment.
And the last place that she goes is Nashville, Tennessee. Where she helped set up a headquarters and an exhibition and different kinds of parties and receptions for legislators to try to convince them to block legislation. Ultimately, she was unsuccessful, in Tennessee as it became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, giving women the right to vote. Even in Alabama, even though Alabama didn't pass it, even though they rejected it. It was now federal law. And so it applied to Alabama just as it applied everywhere else.
CM Marihugh 05:49
It's such a paradox to see the political movement of The Anti-Suffragists, The Anti-Ratification Leagues. They wanted to restrict women's involvement in the political arena. And yet they themselves became so well organized and so politically active. I know some of them would express regret at times that they were forced to do this. And it's really heartening to hear that the Chief Justice became such a strong ally, for women's suffrage. What happened after the 19th Amendment was ratified.
Alex Colvin 07:41
So as I said, immediately after ratification, it is effective in Alabama. The legislature has to meet because there's an election that year. So August 1920, is of course when it is ratified. And that year, they're going to have an election, a presidential election. So legislature has to have a special session to say, "how are we going to bring women into the electorate?" You have a lot of anti-ratification women, including Nina Pinckard, who are actively trying to block all of this in the court.
They're trying to say that there was something questionable in Tennessee and, and really, that ratification should be, you know, undone and, and repealed because like they're sketchiness happening there. Eventually, they realize that's not going to work. So then you have them making pleas. "Alright, this vote has thrust upon us. So now we all need to vote and vote the right kind of people into office." And so you start to see you know, The Anti-Ratifiers realizing they have lost.
So legislature comes in, they say, "Alright, how are we going to have women be brought in for one year and one year only", they waived the poll tax. The other requirements were still there, but they're going to let women go in this year without a poll tax. And because of that, you have this kind of influx of women coming in. Over 120,000 women registered to vote. And in the vote that year, there were actually some polling places that said that more women voted than men in that county. Within two years. You have the first woman, Hattie Hooker Wilkins of Selma, serving in the state legislature. But it's also important that not all women got the right to vote.
So those same restrictions that prevented African American men and poor white men; literacy tests, eventually poll taxes came back at the very next election year, poll taxes were returned, Grandfather clauses etc. They applied to women, as well as men. There were a few black women who were able to register immediately in 1920. But we also have so many stories of women being turned away at polling places in 1920, and registration places in 1920s because of their race.
The point I also want to make about poll taxes is that they were cumulative. And so because they were cumulative, it was something that every year if you didn't pay it every year It got more and more and more and more. And they decided to have it be at the age that you were. So you had back taxes. And so if you were 31, you were paying for taxes since you were 21. If that's when you get the right to vote, right, if that's when it's given to you. So if that's when you get the right to vote at 31, you have to pay back taxes, as well. And so understanding that it's cumulative, so if you miss a year like that, it keeps adding up. So that's why it really affects class. Because all of a sudden, you have, you know, a $50 tax to be able to register to vote.
And that's really hard for people to be able to kind of come in with. And so if they missed that ability to get in, and that one year, when the poll tax wasn't there, by the time they are trying to get the poll tax, they're already too far behind to be able to get that right to vote. But you do have women who are attempting the right to vote or they're attempting to get registered even after 1920.
And one story that is both inspiring and frustrating is the story of an African American woman named Indiana Little. So in Birmingham, on the morning of January 18 1926, Mrs. Indiana Little led a large group of wom- of African Americans, both men and women to the Jefferson County registrar's office. She was a wife and a mother of two who worked as a maid in Birmingham, and she was there to register to vote. The registrar's refused Little and her group.
But Little stated, "I am a free born citizen of America and by the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, I shall not be denied the right to vote because of race, color or sex, and I will not move until I had been registered." The Birmingham News reported that the activists were troublemakers creating a ruckus and upheld LK Brown the County Registrar as a valiant upholder of peace, an Alabama state law. Witnesses remembered the registrar saying that voting should be a "white man's business" and that "too many African Americans had been seeking to register." Indiana little was arrested, charged with vagrancy and held on a $300 bond.
One African American newspaper also reported the police had assaulted her. Little remained an active role in her community for many decades thereafter. And in fact, you have other "Little Marches" that are coming up in Birmingham and across Alabama, in honor of her. She was finally able to vote in 1957. In many ways, her story acts as a bridge between two movements, one to secure the vote for white women, and the second to secure the vote for African Americans.
CM Marihugh 12:55
I am in awe of women like Indiana Little she tries to register. She doesn't get to vote until 30 years later. I wonder if anyone has written her life story, if they haven't, someone needs to do that. Can you talk about the movement as it continued into the mid 20th century?
Alex Colvin 13:18
Of course, this movement for greater voting rights continued well into the mid 20th century, men and women are working in the civil rights movement, to end segregation, to get access to better education and of course, to get voting rights. Amelia Boynton Robinson was a central figure in the voting rights movement.
In 1958, when she was still just Amelia Boynton (she was married twice in her life and so the Boynton Robinson is what she's known was really famously but that's after her second marriage). But in 1958, she testified in front of the US Civil Rights Commission in Montgomery, outlining the ways that black citizens were disenfranchised through legal and extra legal means. She reported on low registration numbers and various Black Belt counties. These are areas where there are large African American populations, but there were only small percentages of registered voters.
For example, in Dallas County, only 125 out of 18,000 black citizens of voting age were registered. So when asked about these conditions faced by African American citizens, and why there were such slow numbers, she explained, "They fear going there personally. Pressure has been brought on them from other angles. And because of this reason, they do not want to go there and become unpopular or criticized."
She outlined financial pressure like two black store owners and Lowndes County whose distributors threatened to stop delivering goods because they showed interest in voting. But she also noted that there were other suspicious methods, like the registrar telling one gentleman in Wilcox county to go to the town hall to register. And then when he got there, they had moved the location elsewhere. When he went to that second location, "oh, we moved to a third location." So eventually he just gave up because he couldn't find where to register to vote, there was no clear information.
You see, the state had given county registrar's near total independence, so there was very little recourse to combat these actions. She was a co-founder of the Dallas County Voters League, which helped to prepare African Americans for the registration process. As a registered voter herself, she would stand in line with people to encourage them, act as a witness for them and she helped teach them how to pass literacy and intelligence tests, most of which were considered, you know, rigged.
The Civil Rights Commission, and their report talked about how there were no set answers to these tests. In fact, there is a report of this one question and a county that said, "Would you aid and abed an enemy of the United States; yes or no." And there were multiple white voters who said, "yes, they would." And they were still registered to vote. And then there's another one where African American citizens who said "no", and they answered everything else the same way, were denied. And that's the hard part about it is that people sometimes can remember some of these tests, and, "oh, it was just doing this or it's just doing that." But the thing is, is that it was all in the eyes of the beholder of who was grading it. And they got to ultimately decide who passed and failed, there was no set answers.
And in 1965 Robinson helped organize the Selma to Montgomery march, and was present at the first attempt to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7 1965. Today, this is known as Bloody Sunday. This infamous moment in which Alabama State Troopers attacked the marchers with billy clubs and tear gas. Robinson was one of 17 martyrs who was seriously injured, and hospitalized. photos of her being slumped over and carried by friends made national and international news. So marchers attempted to walk again, an event called Turnaround Tuesday, when they stopped on the bridge to pray before turning around. And the third attempt of March, they finally made it from Selma to Montgomery on March 25 1965.
Now, of course, Robinson was not the only woman to join in on the march, there are so many women and men who are present. And when the Alabama Department of Archives and History hosted its exhibition, "Justice, Not Favor: Alabama Women and the Vote. We had on display, this Converse sneaker, just very normal looking sneaker. But on the bottom, there was a hole in it. Now this sneaker had been worn by a woman named Betty Anderson of Camden, which is in Wilcox County. And she had been 16 When she chose to join the Selma to Montgomery march and she wore the sneakers on that March. And she wore a hole in the soul of it and at one point, she stopped at a rest area. She didn't know what to do. She was with her brother, "what should we do, you know, I have this hole on my shoe, how can I keep walking on?"
An older woman stopped and gave her a crackerjack box, said put it in the bottom of your shoe and keep walking. So she did. Whenever I see the bottom of that shoe, it really speaks to me of you know, you can say over and over and over again "Selma to Montgomery, Selma to Montgomery, Selma to Montgomery" But seeing that shoe, you saw the distance and the struggle, and how much it took to walk all the way between those two cities. It wasn't just one day, it wasn't easy, was really hard. But it was worth preserving. It was worth getting to Montgomery to make the statement.
And that just shows me how sometimes these everyday objects that we have around us, we may not think of them as super special, but how they can tell a story. Amelia Boynton Robinson would later remember the march. And she said "Our objective was to let the governor know that we were demanding that we become registered voters being American citizens.
One of the greatest things in the world was when we were able to show to the governor that we were solidified that we were together. And if he didn't do something, we were going to go over him and we were going to get our rights regardless of what happened. Our theme song We Shall Overcome became a prayer to us. And that song to this day is sung throughout the entire world. I do believe that we as Americans, black and white together shall overcome."
CM Marihugh 19:53
Thank you so much for being here, Alex and sharing these both disappointing and yet so inspiring stories along The National Votes for Women Trail in Alabama. Really appreciate it.
Thank you for joining us this week. We hope you'll contact us with comments or questions. The National Votes for Women Trail Project is a work in progress. Please click on the support the project link to contribute to our ongoing work. The Trail is a Project of the National Collaborative for Women's History Sites. A nonprofit organization dedicated to putting women's history on the map.
Our theme is Standing On the Shoulders by Joyce Johnson Rouse and recorded by Earth Mama, be sure to join us next time.
Earth Mama 19:54
I'm standing on the shoulders
Of the ones who came before me.
I am honored by their passion
For our liberty.
I will stand a little taller.
I will work a little longer.
And my shoulders will be there to hold
The ones who follow me.
My shoulders will be there to hold
The ones who follow me!