S02 E09 Oregon: Diverse Support Overcomes Fierce Opposition

In this episode on Oregon, Janice Dilg, consulting historian and principal of HistoryBuilt, talks about the struggle for votes for women on the NVWT. 

We talk about the events and fighters in OR suffrage campaign:

• Dr. Pesie Chan, a Chinese immigrant, met with a collegiate suffrage group in 1912 at the Portland Hotel and gave a speech supporting women's suffrage.
• Esther Pohl Lovejoy created Everybody’s Equal Suffrage League that offered a lifetime membership for 25 cents.
• Hattie Redmond served as president of the Colored Women’s Equal Suffrage Association which spread “equal suffrage ideas among those of the race.”
• Katherine and Edith Gray–an African American mother-daughter team– organized voter registration and political education drives for Black voters.
• Sara Bard Field Ehrgott joined Frances Jolliffe in 1915 on a cross-country car trek to deliver a petition demanding a federal suffrage amendment to President Wilson.
• The annual Pendleton Round-up rodeo was on the suffragist speaking tour where they were regularly cheered by crowds.

 ABOUT OUR GUEST

Janice Dilg is principal and consulting historian of HistoryBuilt. She is a founding member of the Oregon Women’s History Consortium and was part of the 19th Amendment centennial celebration in 2020. She is the State Coordinator for the NVWT.

Links to People, Places, Publications

• Oregon and the 19th Amendment (here)
• Women’s Suffrage in Oregon (here)
• Visit the State Capitol and the Votes for Women Trail marker (here)
• Abigail Scott Duniway Biographical Sketch (here)
• Esther Pohl Lovejoy Biographical Sketch (here)
• Chinese American Woman Suffrage in 1912 Portland (here)
• Harriet “Hattie” Redmond Biographical Sketch (here)
• Katherine Gray Biographical Sketch (here)
• Edith Gray Biographical Sketch (here)
• Sara Bard Field Biographical Sketch (here)
• Sylvia Thompson Biographical Sketch (here</

CM Marihugh is a public history consultant and currently conducting independent research for a book on commemoration of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. She has an M.A. in Public History from State University of New York, and an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College.

Learn more about:

• National Votes for Women Trail (here)
• National Votes for Women Trail - William G. Pomeroy historical markers (here)
• National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (here)

Do you have a question, comment, or suggestion? Get in touch! Send an e-mail to NVWTpodcast@ncwhs.org