Program

National Votes for Women Trail

Subject

Event, Site

Location

912 Selma Ave, Selma, AL 36701, USA

Lat/Long

32.40821, -87.021829

Grant Recipient

National Collaborative for Women's History Sites

On March 29, 1910, Selma women met at the Carnegie Library on Selma Avenue in response to a call sent out by Mary Partridge to form a suffrage organization. The resulting Selma Suffrage Association worked for women’s suffrage, with members publishing articles in support of suffrage in local papers, distributing suffrage literature, and hosting lectures on suffrage related topics.

On October 9, 1912, the Selma Suffrage Association and the Birmingham Equal Suffrage League formed a statewide organization, the Alabama Equal Suffrage Association, with the first annual convention being held in Selma on January 29, 1913. The Selma Suffrage Association continued to be active and by 1914 had 111 members.

In 1919, the U.S. Congress voted in favor of the Nineteenth Amendment, which would give women the right to vote once ratified by the necessary 36 states. Despite efforts of Alabama suffragists, the state rejected the amendment. However, by August 1920, 36 states had ratified the amendment, securing women’s right to vote across the United States, including in Alabama.