Before 1889 — 1889-1890 — 1891-1896 — 1897-1898 — 1899-1908 — 1909-1910
1911-1912 — 1913-1914 — 1915-1916 — 1917-1918 — After 1918
Key Players
Anna R. Simmons
Clare M. Williams
Philena Everett Johnson
Alice M.A. Pickler
Richard F. Pettigrew
Luella Ramsey
Lydia B. Johnson
Rose Bower
Jennie M. Taylor
Florence Jeffries
Laura A. Gregg (Kansas)
Anna Howard Shaw
1899
February: The Monthly South Dakotan published an article by Dr. A.E. Clough of Madison on “A Scientific View of Suffrage,” which claimed that natural evolution made women mothers and housewives while men were protectors and dominant outside the hearth—and that suffragists’ bodies lost their “graceful outline” by acting ‘unnaturally’ [Editorial: WTF!!!]. Responses by Della Robinson King of Scotland and Bessie W. Thomas of Perkins were printed in subsequent issues. Thomas rejected his premise that human evolution was at its height because “prejudice dies slowly. It has retarded every step of woman’s evolution” [McLaird, “Dakota Resources: The Monthly South Dakotan,” South Dakota History 11(1) (1981), 72, quoting the issues – 1(10) (Feb 1899), 163-65; 1(11), 180; and 1(12) (Apr 1899), 201-202].
September 6: The SDESA held a joint convention with the SD WCTU at the Presbyterian Church in Madison. According to a news item put out by Anna R. Simmons, the program included a parliament of methods led by Clare M. Williams, an address by Philena Everett Johnson on “Woman’s work among the Indians” [she had taught at several federal Indian schools], and an evening address by Rev. Edwin Brown of the Presbyterian church in Wolsey on “Woman in Bible Times and Bible Lands.” The convention planned petition work to bring to the next legislature [Mitchell Capital (SD), September 1, 1899; Madison Daily Leader (SD), September 5, 1899; Rachel Foster Avery, ed., Proceedings of the Thirty-second Annual Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, held at the Church of Our Father … Washington, D.C., February 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, and 14, 1900 (Philadelphia: Alfred J. Ferris, 1900), 89].
1900
January 15: Senator R.F. Pettigrew of Sioux Falls brought a petition from South Dakota for a 16th amendment for suffrage to the U.S. Senate [The Evening Post (New York NY), January 15, 1900; (Kingsbury says 1901) Kingsbury, History of Dakota Territory, vol. 3 (1915), 791].
April: The Ladies’ Aid of the Methodist Episcopal church in Custer held a blackface minstrel entertainment to raise funds for painting the church parsonage. Part of the program was a farce in which female senators in Congress in 1996 were debating male suffrage — “the ladies dressed as nearly like men, and the men as nearly like women as the conventionalities of a church affair would warrant” [Custer Weekly Chronicle (SD), April 21, 1900]
September 5: The South Dakota Equal Suffrage Association held its annual meeting in Brookings. Alice Pickler was elected president and Philena Everett Johnson vice-president [Anthony/Harper, History of Woman Suffrage vol. 4, 559].
“Highmore, S. D., Nov. 29, 1900. Editors Woman’s Journal:
… we are invoking the aid of the initiative and referendum law passed two years ago in order to put the question again before the voters of South Dakota. According to this law, if we present a suffrage petition to the Legislature containing five per cent, of the names of all the voters at the last general election, they must submit the question to the voters at the next general election. If carried, it becomes a law. I send you a copy of the petitions that are now being circulated throughout the State. The initiative and referendum law has not been tested here, and may fail us. If so, we shall try to have the question submitted on its merits.
Perhaps you will wonder why I do this suffrage work through the W. C. T. U. instead of the E. S. A. It is because the W. C. T. U. is well organized, and the E. S. A. is not. At our W. C. T. U. State Convention it was voted to send our State president, Mrs. Ramsey, and myself, to Pierre when the Legislature meets on the first of January, to work for this suffrage bill and other measures in which we are interested, and we expect to go. Philena Everett Johnson.”
The Woman’s Journal (Boston MA), December 8, 1900, p.391, Schlesinger Library, Harvard University.
1901
February 1: The SD WCTU sent Luella Ramsey and Philena Everett Johnson to the capitol to lobby for a suffrage amendment. A resolution for a suffrage amendment to the state constitution was introduced by Representative Williamson of Lake County. The S.D. Senate eventually adopted, by a vote of 26 to 17, the majority report of the committee against the amendment [The Woman’s Journal (Boston MA), December 8, 1900, p.391, Schlesinger Library, Harvard University; Black Hills Union (SD), February 8, 1901, February 22, 1901; Madison Daily Leader (SD), February 14, 1901].
In the spring, the SDESA decided to organize small Political Equality Clubs “to form a nucleus for the distribution of literature” and organize counties from central committees like political parties did [Alice Stone Blackwell, ed., Proceedings of the Thirty-third Annual Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, held at First Baptist Church … Minneapolis, Minn., May 30 and 31, June 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, 1901 (Warren OH, 1901), 94].
1902
At the 1902 NAWSA Annual Convention, SDESA president’s report by Alice Pickler included information that a number of women in the state were serving as county school superintendents, five were editors or assistant editors of county papers, that women were also telegraphers in railroad offices, stenographers in county offices and courts, treasurers of school money, clerks, and insurance agents.
Proceedings of the Thirty-fourth Annual Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and First International Woman Suffrage Conference, held in the First Presbyterian Church … Washington, D.C., February 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18, 1902 (Washington DC, 1902), 89.
Suffrage advocates tried to gather a petition for putting a suffrage bill forward for a vote in 1904 under the new Initiative clause, but the effort failed because the Secretary of State O.C. Berg, on states’ attorney’s advice, determined that Initiative could not be used for constitutional amendments [Harriet Taylor Upton, ed., Proceedings of the Thirty-fifth Annual Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, held at New Orleans, La., March 19th to 25th, inclusive, 1903 (Warren OH, 1903), 92; Harriet Taylor Upton and Elizabeth J. Hauser, eds., Proceedings of the Thirty-sixth Annual Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, held at Washington, D.C., February 11th to 17th, inclusive, 1904 (Warren OH, 1904), 99; Kingsbury, History of Dakota Territory, vol. 3 (1915), 791].
Alice Pickler reported to NAWSA that, when they brought the petitions to Pierre: “A great surprise awaited us when the Secretary of State himself not able to plainly speak the English language, refused to even file the petitions or receive them at all for transmission to the Legislature…. The labor and cost of petition, expenses of legislative committee, and anxiety about the same, mark another milestone in our suffrage history. The unjust refusal of one man to the request of four thousand petitioners has made sentiment for us.”
Upton, ed., Proceedings (1903), 92.
In September, the SD WCTU convention in Mitchell “thoroughly discussed” taking a suffrage petition to the state legislature, and by December, the Mitchell WCTU had had “fair success” in circulating petitions [Mitchell Capital (SD), December 5, 1902; Madison Daily Leader (SD), December 10, 1902]. Philena Johnson of Highmore offered $5 in gold to the woman who sent in the most petition names [Madison Daily Leader (SD), December 22, 1902].
December: In Mitchell, the local WCTU held a suffrage debate entertainment on a Friday evening at the courthouse on the question of whether “the Indians and negroes of the state were more eligible to vote than the woman.” The article cited included a detailed report of the speakers and their arguments, many of which would be interesting for a study of prejudice and racism. Several suffragists were enlisted to speak for the affirmative and sounded sarcastic. The negative of the question won by a vote of 31 to 8. The speakers did not have a large audience and the one-and-a-half hour debate had “a great deal of fun mixed in. The question was not debated in a serious manner in hardly any instance…. It was a very enjoyable affair” [Mitchell Capital (SD), December 12, 1902].
1903
“The woman suffrage advocates are already on the ground and have been working strenuously in the interest of woman suffrage, while other interests have lobbies working for them.”
Weekly Pioneer-Times (Deadwood, SD), January 15, 1903
January: A resolution for a suffrage amendment was introduced in the state legislature, and suffragists may have used the petitions from the stalled initiative effort in order to promote the bill at the legislature. The House committee returned the bill without recommendation and “the equal suffrage amendment after several flowery speeches in favor of it, went down by a vote of 47 to 35” [Saint Paul Globe (MN), January 16, 1903; Turner County Herald (Hurley SD), January 22, 1903, March 5, 1903; Black Hills Union (SD), January 23, 1903; Vermillion Plain Talk (SD), February 26, 1903; Mitchell Capital (SD), February 27, 1903, March 6, 1903].
“…we have no intention of giving up the fight until we have won.”
Philena Johnson in state report to NAWSA, in Upton and Hauser, eds., Proceedings (1904), 99.
1904
The South Dakota Prohibition party adopted a platform saying: “Believing in equal rights for all and special privileges to none, we favor equal suffrage and regardless of sex.” [Kingsbury County Independent (DeSmet SD), June 17, 1904].
1905
According to some accounts, Alice Pickler, Emma Cranmer, and Luella Ramsey led “equal suffrage forces [who] are getting greedy to push their resolution for a constitutional amendment allowing equal suffrage and expect to have it ready for introduction immediately after the reconvening of the session next week” [Madison Daily Leader (SD), January 16, 1905; Pierre Weekly Free Press (SD), January 26, 1905; Hot Springs Weekly Star (SD), January 27, 1905]. Yet, Pickler, who stayed at the Riverview Hotel, gave an interview that they had decided not to push a suffrage amendment but focus on temperance [Pierre Weekly Free Press (SD), January 26, 1905].
1906
June: The State Prohibition Party adopted a suffrage plank at their state convention in Redfield [Black Hills Union and Western Stock Review (Rapid City SD), June 15, 1906].
October: The SD WCTU held its convention at Parker and they decide to “press” suffrage and local option prohibition at the following legislature [Omaha Daily Bee (NE), September 23, 1906; Dakota Farmers’ Leader (Canton SD), October 5, 1906; Hot Springs Weekly Star (SD), October 5, 1906].
December: The SDESA planned to coordinate petitions for the 1907 legislature [Madison Daily Leader (SD), December 28, 1906].
1907
January-February: Alice Pickler (Faulkton), Luella Ramsey (Woonsocket), and Lydia B. Johnson (Fort Pierre) led the lobbying effort at the legislature “under the advice of able lawyers,” but their priority was temperance. Suffrage passed the Senate quietly but was then defeated in House [Kingsbury, History of Dakota Territory, vol. 3 (1915), 792; Charles Mix New Era (Wagner SD), January 25, 1907, February 1, 1907; Hot Springs Weekly Star (SD), February 1, 1907; February 22, 1907]. Philena Johnson later claimed that thirty of the forty-nine representatives who voted against the suffrage bill were “foreigners” and asked women to work to get new legislators elected [Hot Springs Weekly Star (SD), May 3, 1907].
When the suffrage bill in the House “came up for third reading and passage, the papers reported ‘a sensation in the House when the pages bore up the aisle 36 yards of canvas with the names of men and women who believe that women should vote on equal terms with men.'”
Proceedings of the Thirty-ninth Annual Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, held at Chicago, February 14th to 19th, inclusive, 1907 (Warren OH: Wm. Ritezel & Co., 1907), 92.“The representatives of the Equal Rights association were out in force. They were backed by petitions containing many thousands of names. These petitions were mounted on long strips of muslin and as the resolution was under consideration the pages festooned the petitions about the bar of the house and extended it along the aisles. A vigorous debate ensued, but upon final roll call the measure was lost…”
The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), February 22, 1907.
March: The South Dakota Equal Suffrage Association’s business committee met in Highmore. They organized a state central committee under chair Rose Bower and planned a fundraising campaign to solicit donations of livestock or other sell-able items that they could auction at the state convention in Huron (during the State Fair) and around the state [Pierre Weekly Free Press (SD), March 14, 1907; Forest City Press (SD), March 21, 1907].
September 17-18: The South Dakota Equal Suffrage Association met in Pierre in the chambers of the House of Representatives. Laura A. Gregg of Kansas was scheduled to be the primary speaker. The meeting coincided with the Gas Belt Exposition so there were reduced train fares available. They elected officers: Alice Pickler (Faulkton) president, Rose Bower (Rapid City) secretary, Jennie M. Taylor (Sioux Falls) treasurer, and Florence Jeffries (Fort Pierre) corresponding secretary [Forest City Press (SD), September 5, 1907; Pierre Weekly Free Press (SD), September 12, 1907, September 19, 1907; Aberdeen Democrat (SD), September 20, 1907; Charles Mix New Era (Wagner SD), September 27, 1907; Black Hills Union and Western Stock Review (Rapid City SD), September 27, 1907]. While in Pierre, Bower gave whistling solos and Gregg also spoke a few minutes during the opening exercises at the high school [Pierre Weekly Free Press (SD), September 26, 1907].
1908
The South Dakota Equal Suffrage Association sent “out gummed slips of cardboard a foot in length” asking for a line of pennies to be stuck to the line and mailed back. “A mile of cents” would give them $844.80 for their campaign [Harriet Taylor Upton, Fortieth annual report of the National American Woman Suffrage Association [Convention], held at Buffalo, October 15th to 21st, inclusive, 1908 (Warren OH, 1908), 98; Evening Journal (Wilmington DE), September 29, 1908; Fargo Forum and Daily Republican (ND), October 3, 1908; Rushville Chronicle (NY), October 16, 1908].
November: Anna Howard Shaw went on a speaking tour in South Dakota that was organized by Perle Penfield [Kingsbury, History of Dakota Territory, vol. 3 (1915), 792].
Before 1889 — 1889-1890 — 1891-1896 — 1897-1898 — 1899-1908 — 1909-1910
1911-1912 — 1913-1914 — 1915-1916 — 1917-1918 — After 1918
History in South Dakota 