EALD awarded grant to produce presentation on women's suffrage in Adams County

With the 2020 centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment drawing closer, the East Adams Library District announced on July 19 that they have been awarded a grant to create a presentation on women winning the right to vote in Adams County.

The presentation, titled “Rural Suffrage: Winning the Vote for Women in Adams County,” will celebrate local women as well as state and national figures that shaped the movement in Washington. The presentation will highlight the engagement of women in civic live.

“We are very excited to offer a presentation to the community that studies such an important point in time from the perspective of the rural women that worked to become enfranchised citizens,” said Kylie Fulmer, East Adams Library Director, in a press release.

EALD was awarded a Votes for Women Centennial Grant, which funds the presentation that will be offered to local schools and organizations. Votes for Women Centennial Grants are provided by the Washington State Women’s Commission and the Washington State Historical Society.

Washington was ahead of the curve in regards to giving women the right to vote, but nevertheless there were still some obstacles. Washington nearly became the first state or territory to give women the right to vote in 1854, but the proposal was defeated by a single vote. The Territorial Legislature soon after mandated that “no female shall have the right of ballot or vote,” according to the Washington Secretary of State office.

Most women in the Washington Territory won the right to vote in 1883, thanks to heavy lobbying from women suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Abigail Scott Duniway, who helped to form the Washington Woman Suffrage Association.

However, in 1887, the Territorial Supreme Court overturned that law, and another that was passed in 1888. The courts overturned the law because women voters were making liquor sales more difficult, and as a result the state’s liquor lobby set their sights on eliminating their right to vote.

In 1910, 10 years before the 19th Amendment was adopted in the U.S. Constitution, the Washington State Constitution was permanently amended to grant women the right to vote. This came after activists chose to emphasize the contributions of women workers to the state’s communities.

To find out more about EALD’s project, visit ritzvillelibrary.com. For more information about Votes for Women Centennial events across the state, visit suffrage100wa.com.