Program

National Votes for Women Trail

Subject

Education, People

Location

1889 Central Ave NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106, USA

Lat/Long

35.081667, -106.625278

Grant Recipient

National Collaborative for Women's History Sites

Julia Brown Asplund (1875-1958) was a leader in the fight for women’s right to vote in New Mexico. Her suffrage activism began in 1911 and continued until women had secured equal suffrage after the passage and subsequent ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.

In 1903, Asplund accepted a position as the first professional librarian at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in Albuquerque. She served in this role until her marriage in 1905, when she resigned from her position. Shortly after this, she relocated with her husband to Santa Fe. Asplund would later serve as the first woman on the UNM Board of Regents from 1921 to 1923.

Asplund was active with the New Mexico Federation of Women’s Clubs starting in 1911. From 1914 to 1916, she served as president of the organization. During her presidency, Asplund led a delegation of Santa Fe suffragists in calling upon Senator Thomas B. Catron, who was against women’s suffrage, to change his position and support New Mexico women’s right to vote. The October 22, 1915 edition of the Santa Fe New Mexican reported on the event, quoting Asplund in her appeal to Senator Catron for equal suffrage:

“We are now asking simply that a restriction be taken off the franchise, that’s all. … We do not believe the question of suffrage is voted on fairly in various states when men are the only ones voting.”

After years of activism by suffragists like Asplund, on June 4, 1919, the United States Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment which reads, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” Asplund was part of the group of suffragists that lobbied the New Mexico state legislature to ratify the suffrage amendment. In February 1920, New Mexico ratified the Nineteenth Amendment and by August, the necessary 36 states had ratified the amendment, securing women’s right to vote across the United States.