Program

National Votes for Women Trail

Subject

People, Site

Location

Charlotte St at E Chestnut St, Asheville, NC 28801, USA

Lat/Long

35.6027917, -82.5466167

Grant Recipient

National Collaborative for Women's History Sites

In 1894, when asked why she was in favor of women’s suffrage, North Carolina suffrage leader Helen Morris Lewis (1852-1933) stated:

I want to vote because so long as women are prevented from legislation, so long will they be cramped and paralyzed by powers over which they have no control.

In November 1894, Helen Morris Lewis helped establish the North Carolina Equal Rights Association at the home of Asheville Mayor Thomas Patton, a fellow supporter of women’s suffrage. Helen Morris Lewis served as the president of the newly formed group, while Mayor Patton served as the group’s treasurer. Membership included both men and women.

In 1919, the U.S. Congress voted in favor of the Nineteenth Amendment which states, “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.” While North Carolina did not ratify the amendment, women’s right to vote across the United States was secured after the necessary 36 states ratified the amendment by August 1920.