Program

National Votes for Women Trail

Subject

Event, People

Location

6 Main St, Bisbee, AZ 85603, USA

Lat/Long

31.441558, -109.915293

Grant Recipient

National Collaborative for Women's History Sites

On September 26, 1912 the Arizona State Suffrage Association invited women’s suffrage advocate and orator, Laura G. Cannon, to speak here in the small mining community of Bisbee, Arizona.

An October 5, 1912 article in the Arizona Republic details the event:

It has been a banner week for the suffragists in “dear old Cochise.” Laura Gregg Cannon who in touring that county started the ball rolling with a meeting in Bisbee, that exceeded in attendance an enthusiasm any public gathering that has been held there in years….A permit was secured, and a platform was erected in front of the postoffice and here for more than an hour Mrs. Cannon discussed equal suffrage. A majority of the vast audience comprised working men and they demonstrated their belief in the doctrine by remaining for the collection and contributing generously. The funds to be used for the campaign.

In November of 1912 Arizona made history by becoming one of only a few states to pass a suffrage amendment to the state constitution. It reads as follows:

The rights of the United States to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged by the state, or any political division or municipality thereof, on account of sex, and the right to register, to vote and to hold office under any law now in effect, or which may hereafter be enacted, is hereby extended to, and conferred upon males and females alike.

This new amendment not only gave women the right to vote but also allowed them the run for public office. A short time later, women across the United States were give the right to right to vote with the passage and subsequent ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment on August 18, 1920. It was through the efforts of Laura G. Cannon and many others that helped make the dream of women graining the right to vote a reality.