S01 E05 Nevada: Prospecting For Voters In The Silver State

In this episode on Nevada, Dr. Joanne Goodwin, discusses the struggle for the women’s vote at sites on the NVWT.

We talk about the events and suffragists in the NV votes for women campaign:

• Three prominent men in business and politics organized the first women's suffrage convention in Nevada in 1870.
• Frances Slaven Williamson fully dedicated herself to fighting for women’s suffrage after losing her husband and five children. 
• Sarah Winnemucca was a political activist for the rights of her Northern Paiute tribe and the other indigenous peoples. These focused first on survival rather than the vote.
• Anne Martin traveled to England where she learned about militant tactics of the suffrage movement. She traveled extensively in Nevada to mining sites, ranches, and small towns. She and fellow suffragists descended into mines to speak to working miners.
• Bird Wilson was a lawyer and suffragist who distributed 20,000 copies of her booklet, Women Under Nevada Laws.  She was an innovative marketer and fundraiser for suffrage.

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Dr. Joanne Goodwin is Professor Emerita of History and Director Emerita of the Women’s Research Institute of Nevada at the Univ. of Nevada-Las Vegas and serves on the NCWHS board. Her interest is 20th century U.S. history with a specialization in women and gender history.

Links to People, Places, Publications

• Nevada and the 19th Amendment (here)
• Nevada Suffrage Centennial (here)
• Visit First Woman Suffrage Convention marker (here)
• Frances Slaven Williamson Biographical Sketch (here)
• Visit the Frances Slaven Williamson marker(here)
• Anne Martin Biographical Sketch (here)
• Felice Cohn Biographical Sketch (here)
• Visit the Felice Cohn historical marker (here)
• Bird Wilson Biographical Sketch (here)
• Visit the 1907 Esmeralda County Courthouse (here)
• Marjorie Moore Brown Biographical Sketch (here)
• Visit the Marjorie Moore Brown marker (here)
• Delphine Squires Biographical Sketch (here)
• Visit the Delphine Squires and the Mesquite Club marker (here)
• Sarah Winnemucca Biographical Sketch (here)
• Visit the Sarah Winnemucca historical marker (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

Transcript

SPEAKERS

Earth Mama, Joanne Goodwin, 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  00:36

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. 

Today we'll be talking about stories along The National Votes For Women Trail in Nevada. And I welcome Dr. Joanne Goodwin, Professor Emerita of history, and Director Emerita of The Women's Research Institute of Nevada, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and she is the state coordinator for the votes for women trail. 

Now the online trail map and database shows that at this point, Nevada has 68 sites that are linked to suffrage events. And if you look at the historical marker database, there are at least seven that referenced the suffrage movement. And we'll be talking about some of these sites today. Jo, could you start by giving us an overview of Nevada's role in the fight for votes for women? 

Joanne Goodwin  02:31

Yes, thank you. Nevada was a really sparsely populated state. People were centered in mining camps or remote ranches. Aside from the commercial center of Reno and the legislative center of Carson City. Compared to eastern and midwestern states, the population was heavily male. For instance, in the first census right after statehood 1870, The population of 42,000 had 76% men. 

By the time the suffrage campaign was in full swing. In 1910, there were about 81,000 residents. Of these 40,000 were men over 21 years of age, and they were spread over an area twice as large as the New England states. As Anne Martin wrote, There was about one voter for every five square miles. Because it was so sparse, there was very little transportation infrastructure. In the north, the railroad would connect major towns and the southern towns weren't even founded until the early 1900s. From Anne Martin's recollections, "the only other means of transportation was over very rough and at times, impassable dirt roads." 

Nevada became a state in 1864. And like other states, the Constitution limited the vote to white men. But shortly after the Civil War ended, the United States Congress passed the 15th amendment which granted black men the vote and sent it out to the states for ratification. Interestingly, Nevada was the first state to ratify the 15th Amendment in 1869. In that same legislative session, there was successful passage of a woman's suffrage amendment, but it took an additional 45 years for it to pass. In part, that's because Nevada requires a three step process for adopting new amendments to the Constitution. 

First of all, it meets only every other year. The amendment must pass in the legislature in two consecutive terms. And then a state referendum would be held, Nevada's suffrage activities were continuous. But it's mostly easily viewed in three phases of activity. The first between the 1860s and 1870s is when the state legislature first passed in 1869. But then the resolution failed in the next legislative session. 

The second phase is in the 1890s, when new leaders revived the suffrage movement, make connections with the national movement, helped special national speakers come to Nevada, and had many definitive legislative successes, but not the final passage. And then the third and final phase was the successful challenge with new leaders and a new population in the state. So those are some of the key generalizations about state suffrage.

CM Marihugh  06:09

It's so interesting to think about the western states and how they really started thinking about women's suffrage fairly early, particularly when they were- just became states. I mean, the fact that in Nevada, as early as the late 1860s, is really quite remarkable. 

Of course, it took about 45 years to achieve the goal. It- to me, it's another example of how persistent and heroic the suffragists were, even as their work passed on to new generations. I mean, decades and decades of getting successes, failures, successes, failures. That's what I thought of when we talk about that 45 years. 

And I'm glad you mentioned, the population numbers, and how people were distributed across the state because each state, of course, had its own challenges with regard to how they would reach those populations. And, you know, the Nevada suffragists had to find how they were going to reach those, those distant populations. So that's an important part of the setting of the state. So if we start on the journey, Joe, where are we going to go first on our tour?

Joanne Goodwin  07:36

We'll start in Battle Mountain, which is in the north central part of the state, and where the earliest suffrage conference took place. At the intersection of broad and front streets in battle mountain, there's a historical marker for the first known suffrage convention in 1870. That timing is significant as it came between the 1869 successful legislative session in 1871. 

After mining began in the area, the Central Pacific Railroad had created a station in Battle Mountain. The location provided access between points East and San Francisco, which was a major center at that time the Capitol Hotel, was situated across the tracks from the railroad station, and it was there on July 4 1870, that the first convention to create a suffrage organization took place. At that time Battle Mountain had about 260 residents. 

Nevada had a number of men who supported women's suffrage and the three that organize this conference, McKaskia S. Bonnifield, who was a local attorney and Nevada State Senator, mining magnate George W. Fox, and Thomas Julian, who was the Unionville newspaper editor and a former Assemblyman. Bonnifield chaired the event, but he secured two esteemed suffrage speakers from the neighboring state of California to convince the audience of the suffrage cause. 

Emily A Pitt Stevens was a publisher of the San Francisco Women's Rights Newspaper, and Laura de Force Gordon, a California lawyer and suffrage proponent. There's no record that we have found yet that an organization was founded. But the state legislature that had voted in 1869 to approve suffrage did not approve it in the second 1871 legislature. It lost by a narrow vote and Assemblyman Hillier, who had introduced it in 1869, was no longer in the legislature. 

But over the following years suffrage bills were resubmitted continuously, however, none passed twice consecutively as required by the constitution. So the second phase of the suffrage movement builds up into the 1890s. To move the suffrage cause forward.

CM Marihugh  10:29

I have to say that up the states we've covered so far in this podcast, this is the first example, I'm sure there are others, but this is the first example that noted how some prominent men actually organized a suffrage convention. 

And this was 1870. And the first in Nevada. One aspect that is so important about The National Votes For Women Trail, is that in collecting these 1000s of local stories, about suffrage work, we have a better understanding of the male support across the country. 

We tend to think all the men were against suffrage, but there were a lot that were active in promoting it. So it's very interesting that they formed this initial convention. Where are we going to next?

Joanne Goodwin  11:27

We're going to move south of Battle Mountain to the city of Austin, where the second phase of the campaign began. And at 87 main street, there's a historical marker for Frances Slaven Williamson, who was first known sustained organization. Frances was born in Canada, but she moved to Nevada in 1863 to teach school, and she married John Williamson, a state legislator. They had six children, while she continued to teach and became an author. But tragedy struck the family when five of their six children died. And her husband overcome with grief, committed suicide in 1894. 

So here was Frances Williamson, now widowed, with one child support, and she chose to pour all of her energies into the campaign for women's vote. So in November of the same year that she lost her husband, Williamson with two other women organized a meeting on equal suffrage in the Lander County Courthouse in Austin. About 125 men and women attended which was significant in a town of 700 persons. Williamson spoke about the movement and prominent suffragists, and at the end of the gathering supporters formed the Lucy Stone, Nonpartisan Equal Suffrage League. 

Although not the first meeting for women's suffrage, this one resulted in a sustained organization that fought for the women's vote. The members petitioned legislators spoke on the issue during sessions, wrote letters to newspaper editors and supportive suffrage, and did all the work required for this movement. A few months later, in early 1895, both legislative houses passed a bill supporting women's suffrage and the association then continued to work for its required second passage.

In May of that year, Williamson had joined with other suffrage supporters such as Hannah Clapp, a pioneering educator of Carson City, Dr. Eliza Cook of Carson Valley, and Mary Stoddard Doten of Reno to organize a suffrage event in Reno. And they invited national leaders Susan B. Anthony and Anna Howard Shaw to speak. It was reported to be well attended, and both speakers promised support for the Nevada campaign. 

This is really significant as was the name of The First Equal Suffrage League in that they are very aware of what's happening nationally. It's not like they're out in Nevada in the West, unaware of anything that's taking place. In October, that same group held a state convention at McKissicK Opera House in Reno. And at the convention attendees renamed their group, the Nevada Women's Suffrage Association. 

This was to indicate their affiliation with the national organization. That new association had 98 members, they elected Williamson president and she spent her first term traveling the state by stagecoach and rail, organizing local chapters in giving suffrage lectures in any of the places that were available through transportation. And remember, half the state isn't. 

Williamson is reputed to have spoken for suffrage in every existing city and town in Nevada at that time, with the support from the nav national organizations, Williamson had built the foundation for the second legislative session in 1897. But in the end, the suffrage resolution lost by two votes in the assembly. 

CM Marihugh  15:48

So often just a couple of votes. Unfortunate, I'm glad that you mentioned how the Nevada suffragists were so cognizant of what was going on nationally, and I think that deserves a reference to the network that the suffrage movement had nationally, and how even in states like Nevada that were building up their own program, they were offered so many resources, as far as ways to engage people, to get them to agree that women's suffrage is a good thing. 

It's great that Nevada tapped into that as well. And I also think it's important when you mentioned Frances Williamson's background because we see the suffragists as people. And not only the work they did, her story was so tragic. But again, in the context of the 19th century, losing family members prematurely was widespread, particularly children, but losing five of six children, and then her husband, was crushing. We certainly have heard about other suffragists who had personal tragedies and threw themselves into the cause very courageous actions. Joe, where are we heading to next?

Joanne Goodwin  17:23

I'd like to follow up on your last point by just noting that in this particular case in Nevada, Williamson was a widow. Hannah Clapp from Carson City, never married. Although she lived with a woman for a large part of her life. Dr. Eliza Cook never married, and Mary Stoddard Doten of Reno was married, but to an alcoholic who couldn't support the family. So all of these women were keenly aware of the need for women to have more rights than they currently had. Just wanted to add that as an exclamation point to your comments. 

Next, we're going to head into Reno and third phase of the suffrage movement. We're moving toward Reno where at 153 North Virginia street there is a historical marker that notes a building for the meeting place of the Nevada equal franchise society and its president Anne Martin. In January of 1911, attorney Felice Cohn and historian archivist Jeanne Weir held a meeting at the Odd Fellows Hall and co founded The Nevada Equal Franchise Society to secure women's rights to vote in the state. 

They had 47 male and female attendees. In 1912, that organization elected Anne Martin as president, and Martin had a very interesting background. She grew up in a prosperous Reno family. Her father served as a state senator, and later a business leader and her mother taught nursery school in the family home. Martin attended the University of Nevada, Reno and then Stanford University. And she traveled extensively in England between 1909 in 1911, where she learned about the English suffrage organizations and their new and militant tactics. She was arrested there with other protesters. 

Returning to the United States, she worked with the congressional union in the District of Columbia, often referred to as the radical branch of the American suffrage movement. Anne Martin took charge of the state's strategy. One action was to form a men's advisory aboard in 1912 that included men from all over the state. In 1914, Nevada men formed their own pro suffrage organizations including The Men's League For Women's Suffrage. The Suffrage Movement realized that success in the legislature in 1913 and the 1914 general election depended on building up the largest possible number of supporters in mining camps, rural districts and small towns. 

Anne Martin focused on the rural areas in her campaign and wrote, "there are enough broad minded and courageous women, enough just men who want fair play, to carry this amendment through in Nevada." In July of 1914, Martin and Mabel Vernon, a national organizer from Delaware, started on their final canvasses of the state in what they called Prospecting For Voters. They rented a Model T Ford and traveled 3000 miles around the state over dusty bumpy desert roads, often making only 12 miles an hour. As an example of the sparse population. To reach less than 100 voters in the town of Austin, required a two day's journey over desert. 

The women might travel 150 miles over the desert all day to speak to a camp, often in the street, or in a hall. To reach the men who couldn't attend meetings. The women went down into mines by elevator tunnel ladder or in buckets to talk to miners who were on shift. They also went from ranch to Ranch, which could be many miles apart. And while they were heckled by some they also got support from miners and cowboys as well as women who cooked cleaned and did laundry. They would try to reach a settlement or ranch house for the night but if not, they slept on blankets in hay fields or on the desert ground. 

They would get up at sunrise have coffee and a doughnut and take off for their next meeting. The campaign heavily used slogans, "Every vote counts" and "Give Nevada women a square deal." It wasn't only the speaking that spread the message however, as suffagists distributed massive amounts of educational materials. They sent out news about campaigns in all the states to inform voters about the progress of their neighboring states. 

Every voter on a county registration list received suffrage literature. Some of that was from The Women's Journal, a suffrage paper out of Boston then included local suffrage news. Some of it came out of the offices in Reno from the franchise society. Dr. Anna Howard Shaw gave Anne Martin 17 sets of The Official History of Women's Suffrage to give to the 16 County Libraries and the University Library. Anne Martin believed that the most important part of the campaign was personal contact with the voter. 

During the last year of the campaign, anti suffrage forces became more active. George Wingfield, a notable Nevada mining and banker magnate and major political boss founded anti suffrage newspaper articles and brought in speakers to denounce votes for women. He threatened that he would leave Nevada and take all of his business interests away if the state passed women's suffrage, big industry owners in liquor and gambling also feared that women could vote in prohibition and restrictions on child labor. 

So the movement of Mabel Vernon and Anne Martin in the last year of the campaign is a very colorful account of the ends that suffered just would go to and there was another part of the campaign, the part to build up county suffrage leaks and supporters. That also became a crucial element of passing suffrage in the state.

CM Marihugh  24:43

It is wonderful to hear these colorful stories, such as the suffragists went down into the mines. Talk about meeting people where they are. So often we hear generalizations they publicized they spoke but we don't often hear how they did it or what they distributed, you know, across the country in different states. It wasn't just putting on lectures and meetings. They were organizing baseball games, they were speaking at rodeos and state fairs, they were holding dances and balls. 

These were not only to get the word out, but fundraising could be a part of them. I think it's so important to make sure we talk about how exactly they did that. I do love the fact that these two women were driving 1000s of miles and sleeping on the ground when necessary. And then there were still men that said women didn't have the stamina for politics. Joe, where's our next stop?

Joanne Goodwin  25:50

We're going south into the southern part of the state. Much of it wasn't developed during the early years that we've talked about suffrage campaigns beginning and it's been overlooked in suffrage history. Yet these areas needed to be organized in order to win in the legislature and in the suffrage vote of 1914. Martin's county by county strategy succeeds, because local leaders capable of building support for the vote in their communities brought Tonopah Goldfield and Las Vegas into Nevada's campaign. The first city that we will go to is Tonopah, where a marker exists at 100 North Main Street outside the Mizpah hotel. 

The discovery of silver in the early 20th century created a mining boom town named Tonopah midway between Reno and Las Vegas, on today's US 95. The population at its peak in 1906 was 20,000. And it began to decline in the early years of the suffrage campaign, but it still held the distinction of being the state's second most populous city in 1910. In 1912, the Nye County branch of the Nevada Equal Franchise Society organized and elected Marjorie Moore Brown to promote the cause as its press secretary. The Tonopah Daily Bonanza, opposed women's suffrage and never missed a chance to dismiss the suffrage campaign and those who supported it. 

But Browns reputation and her work kept the movement in the press. By 1913 A division had occurred in the state organization. With those opposed to a Martin's leadership. It threatened to destabilize progress at a crucial time in the campaign. Brown who was then the second vice president of The Franchise Society supported Martin's leadership, and was able to maintain the county branch as well as the cohesion of the state organization. And in 1914, the final year of the campaign, Brown was elected third vice president of The Nevada Equal Franchise Society. That fall, 70% of Nye County's male voters passed women's suffrage. Pretty remarkable. 

Further south, a gold discovery in the early 1900s quickly led to the establishment of mines and a town called Goldfield. It grew rapidly with those seeking fortunes and willing to capitalize on the discovery. Bird Wilson joined those adventures. Wilson played a critical role in developing support for suffrage by assisting local leaders to establish county leagues in all the southern parts of the state and to build suffrage support among men and more conservative club women. She is very interesting. She graduated from Hastings Law School in California, came to Nevada in 1906 to provide legal services during the mining boom. In June of that year, she became the seventh woman admitted to practice law in the state and the first female stockbroker in the state. 

She had mining interests across the state of Nevada. She moved to Goldfield in 1909 and began to be involved in civic activities, including those of the Goldfield Women's Club. She understood the need to establish support from large numbers of men and women who held firm to the ideal of the traditional women's role as homemaker. She used her position as vice president in the state suffrage organization, and also in the state organization of women's clubs to convince members of the importance of the vote. She also used her legal skills to write the pamphlet Women Under Nevada Laws. This outlined in simple language the legal inequities that the state's women faced. 20,000 copies were distributed across the state during the final push in 1914. 

Suffragists also used entertainment, as you've mentioned before, Wilson put on a play at the Goldfield Opera House called How The Vote Was Won, a 1909 British play that used humor to convey why women should have the vote. Suffragists also created a float for the Fourth of July parade that won 4 prizes. Street meetings, dances, balls were also used by the suffragists to meet as many people as possible. There's no historical marker in Goldfield but the town does still have a 1907 County Courthouse building, where she probably often visited for work. The Courthouse has been well preserved with many of the original fixtures and is still in use today. 

The last southern county that was important to the suffrage campaign is Clark County with its primary city of Las Vegas and hear Bird Wilson helped the Las Vegas Mesquite Club, bring suffrage speakers into town. The historical marker sits at 401 South Fourth Street and recognizes the work of Delphine Squires and The Mesquite Club. Well the town of Las Vegas didn't exist in the early decades of suffrage campaign. It was founded in 1905 with the sale of town lots, but by 1911 women had organized The Mesquite Club and viewed its mission as offering services to the new town. 

Many of the town's community builders joined the membership to coordinate speakers in the southern part of the state suffrage headquarters in Reno reached out to Delphine Squires, a founding member and president of The Mesquite Club during 1913 and 1914. And one of the first families in the small desert town. Her husband, Charles P. Squires published and edited The Las Vegas Age, a paper that ran numerous items on national and state suffrage news. He also was the county representative in The Men's League that Anne Martin had created. In the final vote in 1914. Clark County voters approved suffrage by three to one.

CM Marihugh  33:25

These are some amazing outcomes, the impact of all their work. As we've said, they used so many different ways to reach people. I find it so inspiring in the states that we have talked about in this podcast and then all throughout The National Votes For Women Trail, how many couples husband and wife couples were both dedicated to the cause and contributed to it in their own way. So the Squires were another one of those couples. Joe, where's the next stop on our tour?

Joanne Goodwin  34:03

The next stop on our tour is Carson City, the site of the Nevada State Capitol and the State Legislative Building where so much activity took place. That's where a marker noting the work of Felice Cohn and the suffrage campaign sits at 314 South Carson Street. Also within the state capitol, there's a museum on the second floor called Battle Born Hall, which does take visitors through a tour of Nevada history and includes a photo exhibit with mentions of the suffrage campaign. 

Felice Cohn was a Carson City native, an attorney and a key suffragist in the Nevada movement. She co founded the 1911 Nevada Equal Franchise Cociety, chaired its legislative committee during the 1911 session and drafted the resolution that formed the basis of the law introduced in February into the legislative session. On February 20 1911, about a dozen suffrage supporters took a special train of the V&T railroad, called the State House Limited for Reno to Carson City. To help introduce the suffrage resolution, several women including Cohn addressed the legislators directly. 

On March 6, the Assembly passed the resolution. A week later the Senate passed it. So it was adopted just before the session ended. But as in the past, the suffragists knew that it would need to pass a second time. So they began working on the 1913 session immediately. At that legislative session, Nevada Governor Oddie supported the suffrage amendment observing that Nevada was "entirely surrounded by states, which have marked their advance by giving women the same right to vote as men." That amendment passed overwhelmingly by the Senate and Assembly and was scheduled for the ballot in November 1914. 

It was that summer when Anne Martin took her tour of the rural areas of mines and farms, to encourage the men to vote in the November 1914 election. On November 3, the general vote was held. And while it took several days to tally the votes, the amendment passed with a margin of victory coming from rural regions. Women in Nevada would vote for the first time in 1915. In local races, and statewide races in 1916.

CM Marihugh  37:01

The question that I had, Joe, when hearing the success of all the rural prospecting for votes was, what was the reason for rural working class men to support women's suffrage? And I found comments from two historians one said that miners were interested because they thought it could support their unionization efforts. And others felt that there was a mutual dependence of men and women in running the various homesteads farms, small businesses, would you agree with that? 

Joanne Goodwin  37:44

Yes, and in particular, the third party influence that happens in so many western states. There were several parties in western state elections and a coalition that the argument that suffrage became a vital combining factor with farm labor unions, miners unions, socialists, in California, in particular, is the most compelling argument that I have found. And of course, yeah, the partnerships of those ranchers and farmers families would certainly be one would hope, a good argument for support from those men.

CM Marihugh  38:31

So where are we going to next?

Joanne Goodwin  38:34

We're going to McDermitt which is on the northern border of Nevada, at 112 North Road, where there's a state historical marker honoring Northern Paiute activist Sarah Winnemucca. It's not a suffrage marker, but it's important to include her story and the story of her people when talking about citizenship and equal rights. When you look at the landscape of Nevada, indigenous people inhabited the lands for 1000s of years, including the Northern Paiute, Southern Paiute, Washoe, Western Shoshone and Mojave. 

The victorious women's suffrage campaign in 1914 did not include these indigenous tribes. They were not considered American citizens at the time. In 1924, the United States granted citizenship through the Indian Citizenship Act. However, the right to vote was a right retained by states. So whether or not states enabled native peoples to vote really depended on a state by state level. And we know there was tremendous prejudice. 

Winnemucca did not work directly for women's suffrage, but her cause overlaps with the movement because she was advocating for the rights of her people. And in her advocacy, she traveled and gave hundreds of speeches to groups, including those on the East Coast. And many of her listeners supported other progressive causes such as women's suffrage. Winnemucca's words echo what suffragists were working towards, she wrote, "I have worked for freedom, I have labored to give my race of voice in the affairs of the nation." 

The concerns of Winnemucca's tribes and those of other r- races focused on survival first, in one of my graduate classes, the students went on a research project on women's rights in Nevada during the suffrage campaigns. One of those students focused on Indigenous women. He pointed to the challenging situation of economic and territorial displacement of tribes during the era, and Indigenous women's need to concentrate on the survival of their communities, on the rights of men and women. Thus, while an overlap existed, the context in which they struggled, radically changed the paths they took.

CM Marihugh  41:16

I am so glad you brought up that story. It's a critical piece, when we're looking at this period where a lot of activism was taking place. People of color were fighting for so many rights beyond the right to vote very often it affected their own survival, the survival of their communities. Just to close, Joe, could you give us an overview of what happened during the ratification of the 19th amendment. And then what happened after 1920 In Nevada?

Joanne Goodwin  41:56

It's important to remember that Nevada women if they had citizenship rights, could vote in 1914, 15, 16, but that it was still not ratified as a 19th amendment. So some of those who were active in the campaigns, people like Marjorie Moore Brown of Tonopah went into other states to help those states achieve suffrage on a state by state basis. 

Nevada ratified the 19th amendment on February 7, and it was the 28th state to ratify. The majority of women who stayed started voter education programs to teach women about political processes. Some ran for office as soon as they became eligible, and that included Anne Martin, who ran unsuccessfully. Others with legal training continued to work on issues of significance to women and children. 

That includes Felice Cohn, who continued her legal practice and pursued cases on child labor issues, foster homes, adoption and divorce all issues crucial to family and mother's welfare. In 1918, she became the first woman to be appointed as a hearing attorney for the US Land Office. An early 20th century supporter of the suffrage and rights of women she continued that work throughout her life. 

It's interesting that when The National Women's Party of whom there were members in Nevada, began its campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment. There is no evidence that we are aware of yet that it gained much traction among women voters. And as mentioned before, indigenous women did not receive access to the vote. And even after 1924 When Native Americans acquired US citizenship, the population as a whole repeatedly had problems with access even after gaining the right to vote. 

Other citizens of color did not participate equally until passage of the Voting Rights Act as implemented in Nevada. Equal access to participate in voting, sadly, continues to be an issue in the 21st century.

CM Marihugh  44:28

Sadly, it is also a situation across many states. Joe, I want to thank you so much for being with us today. You have shared some amazing stories. We have got a much deeper insight into what the suffragists were doing in Nevada, to help achieve votes for women in America. And so thank you for sharing the stories along The National Votes For Women Trail. 

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  45:38

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!