Votes for Women

Isabella Beecher Hooker (1822-1907), half-sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe, circa 1901

Opinions were radically divided about a woman’s right to vote in Connecticut. A January 12, 1918, article in the Yale Daily News (central column on the front page) reported on the general characterization by members of the faculty that the “suffrage amendment” was “ill-timed and unfortunate.” The state was canvassed heavily by national and state suffragists for the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as it was considered a state that could be turned to support the amendment. Ultimately, on September 14, 1920, Connecticut became the thirty-seventh state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment.

In 1869, Frances Ellen Burr and Isabella Beecher Hooker (pictured at right) formed the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association (CWSA), the first official organization in Connecticut to fight for women’s suffrage. There were 288 members in 1871, and by 1917 it had grown to over 32,000 members. The CWSA, along with other groups, continually organized local and national events, submitted bills, and testified at hearings demanding equal rights. The organization’s influence aided the passage of the Married Women's Property Bill in 1887. The CWSA also helped Connecticut women gain the right to vote for school officials in 1893, and to vote on library issues in 1909.

Emma Ferdon Winner Rogers (1855-1922), circa 1890-1910

In the Connecticut capitol rotunda in Hartford, a brass wall plaque commemorates the women leaders who fought for women’s right to vote in the state. One CWSA member noted on that plaque is Emma Winner Rogers, a social activist and the wife of a dean of Yale Law School.

Rogers' pamphlet was published ca. 1912.

Rogers, who graduated from the University of Michigan in 1891 with a Bachelor of Law degree, was politically active and interested in social reform her entire life. As a writer on political and social issues, she contributed to numerous publications and authored a circa-1912 pamphlet for the New Haven Equal Franchise League, of which she served as president, titled “Why Not Complete the Enfranchisement of Women.” She was a member of the American Economic Association from 1893 to 1919 at a time when social interests, such as economic independence for women, were prominent in the organization. When her husband, Henry Rogers, became dean of Yale Law School in 1903, Emma continued to work on social and economic issues, including women’s right to vote.

Emily Pierson handing out leaflets in a NY State suffrage campaign, circa 1915

Pierson's obituary in the NYT

Emily Miller Pierson, who earned her M.D. from Yale in 1924 and practiced medicine for more than forty years, is another Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association member included on the commemorative plaque in the Connecticut State Capitol. Pierson, a Connecticut native, graduated from Vassar in 1907 and earned a master’s degree from Columbia in 1908. She joined the CWSA after being inspired by a speech, and traveled the state making speeches and rallying for the cause. She served as chief organizer for CWSA’s events through 1917, employing new campaign tactics, especially the combination of activism and education. As part of the national movement, Pierson helped organize the May 2, 1914, Hartford Suffrage Parade, which attracted over 1,000 participants, and in 1922 worked to revive the National Women’s Party in Connecticut.

Beatrice Chandler Gesell's memorial stone in Grove Street Cemetery.

Beatrice Gesell (1874-1965), with her husband Arnold, co-authored the book The Normal Child and Primary Education, which was published in 1912 and redefined child psychology. Arnold Gesell, a Yale University professor, co-founded the esteemed research institute now known as the Gesell Institute of Child Development. Beatrice Gesell’s interests in women’s suffrage and child welfare continued throughout her life.