100 years ago: Female Suffrage in Ginter Park

This is the first in what I hope to be a continuing series on events and news that happened 100 years ago in our area. All the newspaper clippings are pulled from the excellent Library of Congress’s Chronicling America website. This story comes from the Wednesday December 8, 1909 issue of the Richmond Times Dispatch, eleven […]

December 17, 2009; 6:30 AM • by North Richmond News

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This story comes from the Wednesday December 8, 1909 issue of the Richmond Times Dispatch, eleven years before the 19th Amendment was ratified.

Several weeks before this article ran the Ginter Park Citizens’ Association had passed bylaws reading “All male and female whites, over twenty-one years of age, owning property and living in Ginter Park and subscribing to the constitution and by-laws, have a right to vote.” This brought national attention to the area from important suffragette leaders like Emmeline Pankhust and Anna Howard Shaw. Ginter Park was being used as an example amongst the women’s rights movement:

Militant suffragettes [and] female orators, predict that Virginia, the Mother of Presidents, will also hold the title of Mother of Suffragettes …

But the article goes on to assure the reader that:

… while as a matter of fact it is understood that the women of Ginter Park have but small desire to exercise the rights of suffrage in the general sense of the term.

Then president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (which, after the passage of the 19th Amendment, became the League of Women Voters), Anna Howard Shaw, wrote to the Ginter Park Citizens’ Assocation looking for a prominent suffragette involved in the passage of the bylaws. The president of the GPCA “confesses ignorance of any female in Ginter Park desiring to take a man’s part in politics.”

What then follows is the GPCA’s letter in response to Shaw, in which he explains women were given the right to vote on tax disbursements because they would “be especially valuable to the community in the matter of proposing measures for beautifying the park and for the improvement of the school system.”

The article ends, saying:

The fact remains, however, that the women voters of Ginter Park have no legal status except that they are legally bound to pay their assessments.

The whole article is a really interesting look at women’s right 100 years ago and is re-typed for you after the jump.

You can download a PDF of the article here.

Widespread publicity given a recent clause in the constitution of the Ginter Park Citizens’ Association reading, “All male and female whites, over twenty-one years of age, owning property and living in Ginter Park and subscribing to the constitution and by-laws, have a right to vote.” has brought that suburb, through no fault of the female dwellers therein, into the limelight as the pioneer suffragette community east of the Mississippi.

Mother of Suffragettes

The result is that among militant suffragettes the little town, which is not yet incorporated, has been exploited in various parts of the country by female orators, who predict that Virginia, the Mother of Presidents, will also hold the title of Mother of Suffragettes, while as a matter of fact it is understood that the women of Ginter Park have but small desire to exercise the rights of suffrage in the general sense of the term. It is said that even Mrs. Pankhurst has often referred to them with no little pride.

To show that all eyes are being turned in this direction, John Garland Pollard, president of the association, has just received a letter from Dr. Anna H. Shaw, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, quote the passage from the constitution and asking if she has been correctly informed. She is evidently under the impression that the point was gained only after a characteristic fight, and ask the name of a prominent suffragette. Mr. Pollard informs her that there was no opposition on the part of male members, and confesses ignorance of any female in Ginter Park desiring to take a man’s part in politics.

Mr. Pollards’s Reply

His letter, which will doubtless prove a sore disappointment to Dr. Shaw, follows:

“Yours of November 26th, addressed to the postmaster of Ginter Park, has ben[sic.] turned over to me as president of the Citizens’ Association. Your quotation from the constitution for the government of our community is correct. Some weeks ago the residents of Ginter Park, by conract, submitted themselves to a special tax for public improvements, and women are given the same voice as men in the expenditure of the funds arising from the tax. Our organization, however, is purely voluntary, and the rights of women to participate in the affairs of the community is not in pursuance of any legal enactment.

“The newspaper clipping to which you refer is erroneous in representing that our women were elated at their victory, for this implies that their right to vote was given them in response to a demand upon their part, while as a matter of fact quite the contrary is true. The provision was proposed by a committee of men and was adopted by the men without a dissenting voice. The proposition provoked no discussion, but I believe it was the general sentiment among the men that the women would be especially valuable to the community in the matter of proposing measure for beautifying the park and for the improvement of the school system.

“I am unable to comply with your request for the name of some prominent woman in Ginter Park who is especially interested in woman suffrage. I do not happen to know the views of our women on the subject.

“Any further inquiries will gladly be answered.”

How Matters Stand.

As the matter stands, every man or woman living in the park may become a member by signing the contract to pay a tax of 50 cents on $100 worth of property, as assessed at the county courthouse, or by payment of $1.50 annually. The amount thus raised reaches annually between $3,000 and $5,000, which is expended for the improvement of the community. The women have an equal voice with the men in disbursing this amount. As Mr. Pollard said yesterday, they are more regular in attendance and show more interest than the men, taking a “modest part” in all questions. There are now 150 male members and not quite so many women, but they seem to be increasing. The fact remains, however, that the women voters of Ginter Park have no legal status except that they are legally bound to pay their assessments.