Saturday, June 22, 2019

Iowans and a Woman's Right to Vote

Carrie Lane Chapman Catt
(1859-1947)

Iowans and a Woman's Right to Vote

Amelia Bloomer
(1818-1894)
Carrie Lane Chapman Catt lead the way to women's rights.  The road was paved by a fellow Iowan that came decades earlier.
Amelia Bloomer (1818-1894) was for years a resident of Council Bluffs, IA and very involved in the the suffrage movement - even though she was born 102 years before the 19th amendment was finally ratified, 26 years after her death.  More about her life and involvement can be found on this blog in a post titled: Amelia Bloomer - An Early Suffragette.  But it was Amelia Bloomer and her work with Susan B. Anthony that paved the way for Carrie Lane Chapman Catt's work four decades later.
And it is Catt's work that lead us all straight toward rights for women and resulted in the passage and ratification of the 19th amendment.

"If historians are asked who are the most significant of Iowa State University’s alumni, three names surface: George Washington Carver, Henry A. Wallace, and Carrie Chapman Catt.”  —Marsha Readhead, 1989 (president Ames League of Women Voters -1989-1990)

Carrie Lane Chapman Catt

Carrie Lane Chapman Catt dedicated 25 years of her life to leading the women's movement which culminated in the passage and ratification of the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution.

Women's Suffrage Involvement Timeline

Carrie Lane Chapman Catt was born January 9, 1859 in Ripon, WI.  That was just eleven years after the Seneca Falls Conference on the rights of women (1848), organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott.  Amelia Bloomer was at the Seneca Falls Conference but arrived late so she sat in the balcony and did not sign the resolution. Susan B. Anthony become involved in the women's rights movement in 1851.  Three decades later Carrie Chapman Catt became actively involved when she joined the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association.

Growing Up Years

When Catt was just 7-years-old her family moved to rural Charles City, IA where her father continued farming.  During her teen years she became aware that her mother did not have the same rights to vote as her father. She graduated from the Charles City schools and decided to continue her education at the Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University) in Ames, Iowa.  Her father was not supportive and provided no financial help so she washed dishes, worked in the library and taught to earn money to attend.  In 1880 she was the only woman in her graduating class at the college*, where she graduated with a degree in general science.

Beginning a Career

Her career path took her back, first, to Charles City where she was a law clerk, and later to Mason City where she was a teacher and principal - and eventually was appointed superintendent of the Mason City Schools.  She was the first woman to hold that position.  She met and married Leo Chapman, the Mason City Republican's publisher in 1885.  A political ruckus in Mason City regarding an election was instrumental in Leo Chapman deciding to seek employment in San Francisco.  Before Carrie could get there Leo Chapman caught Typhoid fever and died in 1886, leaving Carrie Lane Chapman a widow.  She stayed in San Francisco for a time, working for a newspaper.  But eventually, in 1887, she returned to Iowa. She joined the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association and became very active in efforts to win the vote.  Her advocacy for women's rights was becoming well-known throughout Iowa (and eventually nationally) as thirteen years she worked throughout Iowa as a professional speaker.

Becoming an Advocate for Suffrage and Peace

In 1890 she married George Catt** - a wealthy engineer she had met in San Francisco.  He was also an alumni of the Iowa College of Agriculture.  They moved to Seattle, Washington. He was very supportive of her work and actually committed to supporting her work for four months of each year.  That support allowed her to travel nationally, and she was invited by Susan B. Anthony to speak at the national convention's 1890 conference in Washington, D. C.   She succeeded Susan B. Anthony as the president of the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1900 and became a full-time advocate for suffrage.  During this time she became aware of the international dimensions of suffrage for women, and founded the International Women's Suffrage Alliance (1902).  However, she resigned her posts in 1904 to care for her ill husband.  George Catt died in 1905.
Now twice-widowed, Catt devoted the remainder of her life to continuing to advocate for women's right to vote.  She became founded and was involved with the International Woman Suffrage Movement, and once again assumed the position of president of  the National Woman Suffrage Association and continued to focus on getting the 19th amendment passed.  The amendment passed by Congress (June 4, 1919) and completed the ratification process on August 18, 1920.  Iowa ratified the amendment on July 2, 1919, the 10th state of the needed 36 states to do so.
Six months before the amendment was passed, Carrie Lane Chapman Catt established the League of Woman Voters (Feb. 14, 1920).  The following year she became the first woman to give the commencement address at the Iowa State University (ISU-her alma mater).  She returned in 1930 to address the ISU graduates at their commencement. Catt died on March 9, 1947 in New York. She donated her estate to ISU.
She is a member of the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame (1975) and the National Women's Hall of Fame (1982).  Her alma mater has honored her with The Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics (1992) and with a central campus building - Carrie Chapman Catt Hall (1995).  She was also honored as one of four women selected for the Iowa Woman Achievement Bridge in Des Moines, IA.
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*The Iowa Agriculture college was renamed Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1898 and became Iowa State University of Science and Technology in 1959.  When Carrie Lane attended the college was the Iowa Agricultural College.
**George W. Catt (born in Davenport, IA in 1860) graduated from Iowa Agricultural College (now the Iowa State University) with a B.S. (1882) in civil engineering. He helped design bridges for the King Bridge Company of Cleveland and the San Francisco Bridge Company. In 1893, Catt formed his own company, the New York Dredging Company. Catt married Carrie Lane Chapman in 1890. His papers and several images of his bridges are part of the Iowa State University's Special Collections in the University Library.

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