"375 WOMEN NOW HOLD ELECTIVE TOWN OFFICE IN STATE"

WOMEN SEEKING ELECTIVE OFFICE IN CONNECTICUT TOWNS

New Haven, Connecticut (JFK+50) On September 21, 1923, the League of Women Voters* issued an official statement which says that "women are going after every office in sight in the October town elections" to be held here in Connecticut.

According to the LWV, 375 women "already hold elective town office in the state and three 'discreet and learned ladies'  hold the position of town health officer.  Also, one woman is an assessor in West Haven.

*League of Women Voters, founded in 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt, is a non-profit,non-partisan organization which focuses on political education & advocates for voting rights.

SOURCE

"Women Lining Up For Every Office In Gift of Towns," The Evening Star, September 21, 1923, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

Get Out The Vote

1924

National Photo Company

Library of Congress

"I BELIEVE IN MY AMERICA. SHE HAS NEVER FAILED TO RISE TO HER FULL MEASURE OF GREATNESS"

CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT PROPOSES A LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS

St. Louis, Missouri (JFK+50) On March 24, 1919, Carrie Chapman Catt*, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, spoke at the group's convention here in St. Louis where the NAWSA celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding.

President Catt said...

"I propose a memorial whose benefits will bless our entire nation and bring happiness to the humblest of our citizens...a League of Women Voters to "Finish the Fight" and to aid in the reconstruction of the nation.

Let us raise up a League of Women Voters...that shall be non-partisan and non-sectarian and consecrated to...

1. secure the final enfranchisement of the women of every state & to reach across the seas in aid of the women's struggle...in every land

2. remove legal discrimination against women

3. make our democracy safe for the nation and the world

All things worth having are possible.  I believe in my America.  I believe in her ideals, her common sense, her responsiveness to duty.  When she understands, she has never proved false to a single appeal to justice.  She has never failed to rise to her full measure of greatness when the call has been made.  She will not fail now."

*Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) was born in Ripon, WI & educated at Iowa State University.  She was the only woman in her graduating class.  CCC was a teacher & school superintendent and was founder of the League of Women Voters & the International Alliance of Women.

SOURCE

"The Nation Calls--March 24, 1919," Iowa State University, Archives of Women's Political Communication, www.awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/

Carrie Chapman Catt & 

Anna Howard Shaw

Bain Photo (1917)

Library of Congress Image