Texas Equal Suffrage Association

{{Infobox organization

| successor = Texas League of Women Voters

| formation = 1903

| dissolved = 1919

| type = Non-governmental organization

| purpose = Woman's suffrage

| affiliations = National American Woman Suffrage Association

| name = Texas Equal Suffrage Association

| abbreviation = TESA

| founding_location = Houston, Texas

}}

The Texas Equal Suffrage Association (TESA) was an organization founded in 1903 to support white women's suffrage in Texas. It was originally formed under the name of the Texas Woman Suffrage Association (TWSA) and later renamed in 1916. TESA did allow men to join.{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/vit01|title=Texas Equal Suffrage Association|last=Humphrey|first=Janet G.|date=15 June 2010|website=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association}} TESA did not allow black women as members, because at the time to do so would have been "political suicide."{{Sfn|McArthur |Smith|2010|p=135}} The El Paso Colored Woman's Club applied for TESA membership in 1918, but the issue was deflected and ended up going nowhere.{{Cite web|url=http://www.womenintexashistory.org/timeline/|title=Timeline|website=Women in Texas History|publisher=Ruthe Winegarten Memorial Foundation for Texas Women|access-date=27 May 2016}} TESA focused most of their efforts on securing the passage of the federal amendment for women's right to vote.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tsl.texas.gov/exhibits/suffrage/victory/page3.html|title=Taking it to the Voters|date=24 August 2011|website=The Battle Lost -- And Won|publisher=Texas State Library and Archives Commission|access-date=27 May 2016}} The organization also became the state chapter of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). After women earned the right to vote, TESA reformed as the Texas League of Women Voters.{{citation |url=https://www.lwv.org/local-leagues/find-local-league |accessdate=August 15, 2020 |work=Lwv.org |title= Local Leagues }}

History

File:Petition from Minnie Fisher Cunningham of the Texas Woman Suffrage Association.jpg

The predecessor of the Texas Equal Suffrage Association was the Texas Equal Rights Association (TERA) which was organized in Dallas in May 1893 by Rebecca Henry Hayes of Galveston. {{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/vit01|title=TEXAS EQUAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION|last=HUMPHREY|first=JANET G.|date=2010-06-15|website=tshaonline.org|language=en|access-date=2019-07-25}} TERA had auxiliaries in Beaumont, Belton, Dallas, Denison, Fort Worth, Granger, San Antonio, and Taylor. TERA was active until 1895.

Suffragists in Texas formed the Texas Woman Suffrage Association (TWSA) in 1903{{Cite web|url=https://www.tsl.texas.gov/exhibits/suffrage/victory/page3.html|title=Taking it to the Voters|date=24 August 2011|website=The Battle Lost -- And Won|publisher=Texas State Library and Archives Commission|access-date=27 May 2016}} and renamed it the Texas Equal Suffrage Association (TESA) in 1916. Annette Finnigan and her sisters, Elizabeth and Katharine, organized the Equal Suffrage League of Houston in February 1903 after Carrie Chapman Catt gave a lecture in the city.Dorothy Brown, “Sixty Five Going on Fifty: A History of the League of Women Voters of Texas, 1903-1969.” Manuscript. League of Women Voters files, Austin, 1969. Page 1. Accessed on www.my.lwv.org/texas/history 4.13.2019. Suffragists in Galveston soon established a similar organization.{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/vit01|title=Texas Equal Suffrage Association|last=Humphrey|first=Janet G.|date=15 June 2010|website=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association}} In December 1903, delegates from the two organizations met in Houston and organized the Texas Woman Suffrage Association with Annette Finnigan as the first president. During Finnigan’s presidency, the sisters attempted to organize women’s suffrage leagues in other cities but found little support. The organization also worked unsuccessfully to have a woman appointed to the Houston school board.{{Sfn|Scott|2014|p=7}} When the Finnigan sisters moved from Texas in 1905, the association became inactive. Between 1905 and 1912, there was little suffrage activity in Texas except for a local league that suffragists in Austin organized in 1908 but which never affiliated with the NAWSA. Seymour, James. “Fighting on the Homefront: The Rhetoric of Woman Suffrage in World War I.” in Debra A. Reid, ed. Seeking Inalienable Rights: Texans and Their Quests for Justice. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2009.

A resurgence of interest in women's suffrage took place when Anna Howard Shaw, the president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, toured Texas in 1912.{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/vit01|title=Texas Equal Suffrage Association|last=Humphrey|first=Janet G.|date=15 June 2010|website=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association}} In February 1912, suffragists in San Antonio formed an Equal Franchise Society with Mary Eleanor Brackenridge, a prominent clubwoman and civic leader, as president. The San Antonio organization was very active with frequent meetings, public lectures and the distribution of literature. Annette Finnigan, who had returned to Houston in 1909, also began to form local suffrage groups in 1912.{{Sfn|Scott|2014|p=7}} Brackenridge was responsible for reorganizing TWSA in 1913.{{Sfn|McArthur|Smith|2010|p=134-135}} In April of that year, 100 Texans met in San Antonio to reactivate TWSA{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/viw01|title=Woman Suffrage|last=Taylor|first=A. Elizabeth|date=31 August 2010|website=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=27 May 2016}} with seven local chapters sending delegates.{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/vit01|title=TEXAS EQUAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION|last=HUMPHREY|first=JANET G.|date=2010-06-15|website=tshaonline.org|language=en|access-date=2019-07-25}} The delegates elected Brackenridge as president. Annette Finnigan succeeded Brackenridge as president in 1914, followed by Minnie Fisher Cunningham from Galveston in 1915.

The Texas Woman Suffrage Association had three objectives: 1) support the national agenda as defined by NAWSA, 2) lobby for a state suffrage amendment, and 3) assist local groups in promoting the cause of women’s suffrage. Texas suffragists, like those in other southern states, were conflicted between fighting for an amendment to the state constitution or advocating for the Susan B. Anthony amendment to the U.S. constitution.Brannon-Wranosky, Jessica S. “Southern Promise and Necessity: Texas, Regional Identity, and the National Woman Suffrage Movement, 1868-1920.” Unpublished dissertation. University of North Texas, August 2010. Page 177. When Brackenridge became president of the TWSA in 1913, she began to correspond with Texas legislators about amending the Texas constitution to grant women the vote.{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ffi35|title=Finnigan, Annette|last=Brandenstein|first=Sherilyn|date=12 June 2010|website=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=1 June 2016}} In 1915, Finnigan and others continued this effort by lobbying state legislators for a state constitutional amendment and came within two votes of achieving the vote for women that year.{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/vit01|title=Texas Equal Suffrage Association|last=Humphrey|first=Janet G.|date=15 June 2010|website=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association}} After that, TWSA leadership increasingly followed the lead of the NAWSA and focused on achieving the passage of the federal amendment. Brannon-Wranosky, Jessica S. “Southern Promise and Necessity: Texas, Regional Identity, and the National Woman Suffrage Movement, 1868-1920.” Unpublished dissertation. University of North Texas, August 2010. Page 179.

In April 1915, Minnie Fisher Cunningham was elected president of the TWSA at the state convention in Galveston.{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/vit01|title=TEXAS EQUAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION|last=HUMPHREY|first=JANET G.|date=2010-06-15|website=tshaonline.org|language=en|access-date=2019-07-25}} Cunningham was reelected each year until TESA evolved into the Texas League of Women Voters in October 1919.Dorothy Brown, “Sixty Five Going on Fifty: A History of the League of Women Voters of Texas, 1903-1969.” Manuscript. League of Women Voters files, Austin, 1969. Page 1. Accessed on www.my.lwv.org/texas/history 4.13.2019.{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/viw01|title=Woman Suffrage|last=Taylor|first=A. Elizabeth|date=31 August 2010|website=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=27 May 2016}} When Cunningham became president, there were 21 local chapters of the TWSA and about 2,500 members. By 1917, there were 98 local chapters.{{Cite web|url=http://www.austinlibrary.com/ahc/suffrage/early.htm|title=The Early Years|website=Jane McCallum and the Suffrage Movement|publisher=Austin Public Library|access-date=27 May 2016}} Cunningham led the TWSA in adopting the precinct-by-precinct organizing strategy developed by New York City suffragists.{{Sfn|Hall|1993|p=25}} Under her tenure, TWSA received support from the Federation of Women's Clubs, the Texas Farm Women, Texas Press Women and the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).{{Sfn|McArthur|Smith|2010|p=135}} In 1915, the Texas Association of Women's Clubs, which was the umbrella organization of African American women's clubs in Texas, endorsed women's suffrage.“Texas Association of Women’s Clubs,” Texas Woman’s University: Woman’s Collection. www.twudigital.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p16283coll10. Accessed April 19, 2019. The endorsement of women’s suffrage by the Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs especially helped make the movement respectable to many middle-class women.Seymour, James. “Fighting on the Homefront: The Rhetoric of Woman Suffrage in World War I.” in Debra A. Reid, ed. Seeking Inalienable Rights: Texans and Their Quests for Justice. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2009.

In May 1916, the organization changed its name to the Texas Equal Suffrage Association (TESA).{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/viw01|title=Woman Suffrage|last=Taylor|first=A. Elizabeth|date=31 August 2010|website=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=27 May 2016}} In 1917, the headquarters of TESA was moved from Houston to Austin.{{Cite web|url=http://www.austinlibrary.com/ahc/suffrage/early.htm|title=The Early Years|website=Jane McCallum and the Suffrage Movement|publisher=Austin Public Library|access-date=27 May 2016}} When Texas Governor James E. Ferguson, an opponent of women's suffrage, was indicted on various charges including embezzlement in 1917, TESA supported his impeachment.{{Cite web|url=http://www.humanitiestexas.org/news/articles/remembering-texas-suffragist|title=Remembering a Texas Suffragist|last=Bates|first=Steph|date=March 2009|website=Humanities Texas|access-date=27 May 2016}} When the United States entered World War I in 1917, TESA used the momentum of patriotism to point out how women contributed to the war effort.{{Sfn|Seymour|2009|p=65-66}} During the war, TESA urged members to contribute to the war effort including creating victory gardens, purchasing thrift stamps and selling war bonds.{{Sfn|Seymour|2009|p=66-67}} As the president of TESA, Cunningham was quick to point out that immigrants, especially German Americans, were allowed to vote, but Texas men at war were disenfranchised and their mothers and wives were not able to represent them at the polls through the ballot.{{Sfn|Seymour|2009|p=69-70}}

In 1918, TESA led the effort to get women the vote in state primary elections.{{Cite news|url=http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Women-s-suffrage-Texas-style-4757141.php|title=Women's Suffrage Texas-Style|last=Gregory|first=Elizabeth|date=25 August 2013|work=The Houston Chronicle|access-date=27 May 2016}} In seventeen days, TESA and other suffrage organizations registered approximately 386,000 Texas women to vote. After Texas women were granted the primary vote in March 1918, TESA turned its attention to lobbying its federal representatives to support the Susan B. Anthony amendment to the federal constitution. In June 1919, Texas became the first state in the South to ratify the federal suffrage amendment. Both Texas senators and ten of eighteen U.S. representatives from Texas voted for the federal amendment.

On October 10, 1919, TESA reorganized as the Texas League of Women Voters with Jessie Daniel Ames as the first president.{{Sfn|Hall|1993|p=44}}

Austin Women Suffrage Association

The Austin Women Suffrage Association (AWSA) was founded on December 4, 1908 and served as an auxiliary of TESA.{{Cite web|url=http://www.austinlibrary.com/ahc/suffrage/|title=Jane McCallum and the Suffrage Movement|website=Austin History Center|language=EN-US|access-date=2017-10-31}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/00844/cah-00844.html|title=A Guide to the Austin Women's Suffrage Association Records, 1908-1915|website=Texas Archival Resources Online|language=en|others=Austin Women’s Suffrage Association|access-date=2017-10-31}} Jane Y. McCallum served as president of AWSA starting in 1915.{{cite web|url=http://www.humanitiestexas.org/programs/tx-originals/list/jane-y-mccallum|title=Texas Originals - Jane Y. McCallum|website=Humanities Texas|accessdate=13 September 2017}}

Notable members

Jessie Daniel Ames
Carrie Chapman Catt
Mary Eleanor Brackenridge, president in 1913.
Minnie Fisher Cunningham, president in 1915
Jane Y. McCallum{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/texaswomentheirh0000turn|url-access=registration|quote=jane y mccallum.|title=Texas Women: Their Histories, Their Lives|last1=Turner|first1=Elizabeth Hayes|last2=Cole|first2=Stephanie|last3=Sharpless|first3=Rebecca|date=2015|publisher=University of Georgia Press|isbn=9780820337449|pages=[https://archive.org/details/texaswomentheirh0000turn/page/264 264]|language=en}}

References

=Citations=

=Sources=

{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KqgUh-TxVjoC&q=%22texas+equal+suffrage+association%22&pg=PA44|title=Revolt Against Chivalry|last=Hall|first=Jacquelyn Dowd|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0231082839}}
{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/creatingnewwoman0000mcar|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/creatingnewwoman0000mcar/page/197 197]|quote=texas equal rights association.|title=Creating the New Woman: The Rise of Southern Women's Progressive Culture in Texas, 1893-1918|last=McArthur|first=Judith N.|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=1998|isbn=9780252066795}}
{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AZNEAqTauREC&q=+%22Eleanor+Brackenridge%22&pg=PA134|title=The Texas Left: The Radical Roots of Lone Star Liberalism|last1=McArthur|first1=Judith N.|last2=Smith|first2=Harold L.|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|year=2010|isbn=9781603441896|editor-last=Cullen|editor-first=David O'Donald|chapter=Not Whistling Dixie: Women's Movements and Feminist Politics|editor-last2=Wilkinson|editor-first2=Kyle G.}}
{{Cite journal|last=Scott|first=Janelle D.|date=June 2014|title=Local Leadership in the Woman Suffrage Movement: Houston's Campaign for the Vote 1917-1918|url=https://houstonhistorymagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/local-leadership-HR-12.1.pdf|journal=The Houston Review|pages=3–22|access-date=1 June 2016}}
{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zZ4DHbE34nIC&q=%22annette+finnigan%22&pg=PA66|title=Seeking Inalienable Rights: Texans and Their Quests for Justice|last=Seymour|first=James|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|year=2009|isbn=9781603443630|editor-last=Reid|editor-first=Debra Ann|chapter=Fighting on the Home Front: The Rhetoric of Woman Suffrage in World War I}}