Program

National Votes for Women Trail

Subject

Arts & Culture, Event

Location

1200 Court Tower Blvd, Pontiac, MI 48341, USA

Lat/Long

42.655069, -83.32722

Grant Recipient

National Collaborative for Women's History Sites

A meeting was held at a former courthouse in Pontiac, MI to form the Oakland County Equal Suffrage Association. The May 10, 1912 edition of The Detroit Times detailed the event:

The Oakland County Equal Suffrage association was organized here last night at a meeting held in the assembly rooms at the court house and plans were set on foot for an active campaign between now and the fall election when the women suffrage amendment to the state constitution will be put to a vote.

Also mentioned in the article was the association’s strategy to raise awareness and promote the cause of women suffrage:

Miss Baldwin said that the early organization of an Oakland county suffrage association was another evidence that this county is always foremost in good work. She urged an out-door speaking campaign and suggested automobile parties to tour the county. “At indoor meetings,” said Miss Baldwin, “you are likely to have an attendance of people who are already converts. But the out-door meetings reach new people.”

Over the next several years Michigan citizens actively campaigned for women suffrage. In 1918, an amendment granting women the right to vote was added to the state constitution. Shortly thereafter the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate and was subsequently sent to the states for ratification. Michigan ratified the amendment in 1919 and, on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment was successfully ratified and added to the U.S. Constitution, giving women across the United States the right to vote. Efforts of organizations like the Oakland County Equal Suffrage Association helped pave the way for future generations of women to have the right to vote.