You've come a long way ladies....
Given that it is the 90th anniversary of the day that women across the nation got the vote, I guess it seemed only appropriate that many of the records and stuff I was looking at today dealt with woman's suffrage.
Like this resolution by the Tulsa County (Oklahoma) Woman's Christian Temperance Union, from 1913:
"That we urge our women to study the Constitution of Okla. in order to inform themselves as to their legal status in regard to property rights, and extent of sufferage [sic] rights under our present laws, preparatory to an intelligent use of the right of full sufferage [sic]-we hope-the not distant future."
Or in 1915 when one member, Mrs. Kennedy, read a report on women's club work around the country and said "She looks for the day when men and women working together will do great things for the betterment of humanity."
Then in 1916 when "Mrs. Sutton gave an excellent address on 'The Influence of Woman's Vote on Reform.'"
Or, the following year, when the same group passed another resolution:
We re-affirm our stand for state and National sufferage [sic] for women and will lend our organized efforts to carry the State for Sufferage [sic] in 1918.
Oklahoma did ratify state suffrage in 1918, granting women the right to vote. The Oklahoma suffragists then went on to work on establishing national suffrage. That passed Congress as the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in May 1919 but still had to be ratified by the state legislatures. The last of those, in Tennessee, ratified the amendment on August 26, 1920.
I haven't yet gotten to that date in my research, but I'm pretty sure the ladies of the W.C.T.U. celebrated.
Like this resolution by the Tulsa County (Oklahoma) Woman's Christian Temperance Union, from 1913:
"That we urge our women to study the Constitution of Okla. in order to inform themselves as to their legal status in regard to property rights, and extent of sufferage [sic] rights under our present laws, preparatory to an intelligent use of the right of full sufferage [sic]-we hope-the not distant future."
Or in 1915 when one member, Mrs. Kennedy, read a report on women's club work around the country and said "She looks for the day when men and women working together will do great things for the betterment of humanity."
Then in 1916 when "Mrs. Sutton gave an excellent address on 'The Influence of Woman's Vote on Reform.'"
Or, the following year, when the same group passed another resolution:
We re-affirm our stand for state and National sufferage [sic] for women and will lend our organized efforts to carry the State for Sufferage [sic] in 1918.
Oklahoma did ratify state suffrage in 1918, granting women the right to vote. The Oklahoma suffragists then went on to work on establishing national suffrage. That passed Congress as the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in May 1919 but still had to be ratified by the state legislatures. The last of those, in Tennessee, ratified the amendment on August 26, 1920.
I haven't yet gotten to that date in my research, but I'm pretty sure the ladies of the W.C.T.U. celebrated.