Program

National Votes for Women Trail

Subject

People

Location

1323 Military St, Port Huron, MI 48060, USA

Lat/Long

42.970073, -82.424423

Grant Recipient

National Collaborative for Women's History Sites

In 1892, Bina M. West founded the Woman’s Benefit Association (WBA) of the Maccabees, a fraternal insurance organization that provided insurance policies for women. She served as the Supreme President (Commander) until her retirement in 1948. Although she started this enterprise with no members, by the time of her death in 1954, the WBA comprised of more than 218,000 members.

Community service was a vital part of the WBA’s ethos. Bina’s personal support of woman suffrage was quickly adopted as a cause by the WBA and its membership. In a statement printed in the June 3, 1917 issue of The Miami Herald, Bina asserted that:

It now seems to me that the time has come for women to stand shoulder to shoulder and appeal congress for the immediate submission of the federal amendment extending full suffrage to women. Women are now being called to the aid of the government in the prosecution of the war. Without their aid and patriotism this war could not be conducted. Women of our association have, by their business ability and acknowledged success in the business world, proved their ability to think and act in matters of public importance. As an insurance association, our business interests are affected, legislation and amendments to state constitution are being annually proposed, upon which, for our self protection, we ought to have a direct voice. In view of the present crisis it is eminently proper that congress take action on the federal amendment, thus placing all women in this greatest democracy on an equal footing.

In 1918, The Woman Citizen credited Bina and the WBA with leading a “co-operative” suffrage campaign in Michigan. The WBA collaborated with numerous organizations and businesses to promote suffrage, including the Michigan Equal Suffrage Association, Women’s Temperance Union, Anti-Saloon League, Woman’s Committee of the Council of National Defense, Grange, Federation of Labor, politicians, clergy, and newspapers.

After women gained the right to vote in Michigan and the U.S., Bina remained active in state and national politics. Throughout her career, she served as the Vice Chairman of the Michigan Republican State Central Committee, a member of the Republican Women’s Executive Committee of the Republican National Committee, a member of President Hoover’s Planning Committee on Child Health and Protection, and as the President of the National Fraternal Congress of America. Additionally, she received an honorary Master of Arts degree in 1924 from the University of Michigan for her “courage in pioneering a woman’s institution to unparalleled success.”

As of 2021, the marker commemorating Bina M. West stood outside the Woman’s Benefit Association of the Maccabees building, which was constructed in 1917 and celebrated with a parade and speeches. The organization remained in this building and was known as Woman’s Life Insurance Society.