Volume 12 , Issue 7

Oklahoma Woman's Suffrage Association

According to Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture, "The women's suffrage movement began in Oklahoma Territory (O.T.) when the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) formed in 1890. Prohibitionist women wanted the vote so that they could be more effective in their temperance work.

"However, by 1893 Oklahoma women had achieved the franchise in school elections only. The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) joined forces with the WCTU in 1895 and sent Laura Gregg of Garnett, Kansas, to organize local suffrage clubs in El Reno, Perry, Perkins, Enid, Kingfisher, and Oklahoma City, creating the Woman Suffrage Association of Oklahoma, headquartered in Guthrie. Margaret Rees of Guthrie, known as "the Mother of Equal Suffrage," served as the first president."

The 1906 Oklahoma Constitutional Convention delegates voted against women's suffrage, thus classifying women with illiterates, felons, insane persons, and others denied the right to vote. The association moved to Oklahoma City and changed its name to the Oklahoma Woman's Suffrage Association.

See also: Chronology of Woman Suffrage Movement Events -- vintage postcards: Social History: Women's Suffrage.
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