Time Line of Women's Suffrage in Virginia
July 1848 - The first women's rights convention is held in Seneca Falls, New York, to argue for women's right to vote.
1870 - Anna Whitehead Bodeker organizes the first Virginia State Woman Suffrage Association and serves as president.
November 1871 - Anna Whitehead Bodeker tries unsuccessfully to vote in a Virginia municipal election.
November 27, 1909 - A group of women, including Ellen Glasgow, Mary Johnston, Kate Langley Bosher, Adèle Clark, Nora Houston, Kate Waller Barrett, and Lila Meade Valentine, found the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia.
February 1910 - The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia joins the National American Woman Suffrage Organization.
1912 - Lila Meade Valentine persuades a group of Richmond businessmen to form the Men's Equal Suffrage League of Virginia.
1912 - Anti-suffragists in Virginia organize a counter organization to refute the arguments of suffragists.
1912 - Virginia suffragists bring a suffrage bill to the floor of the General Assembly three times between 1912 and 1916 but it is not passed.
1914 - The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia begins publishing a monthly newspaper called the Virginia Suffrage News.
1914 - The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia has forty-five local chapters.
1916 - The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia has 115 local chapters.
1919 - Membership in the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia reaches 32,000, making it most likely the largest state association in the South.
1919 - Despite pressure from the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia, the Virginia General Assembly rejects the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
June 1919 - The United States Congress passes the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote.
1920 - State archivist Morgan P. Robinson registers women to vote.
1920 - The newly founded Virginia League of Women Voters begins to sponsor registration drives and voter education programs.
1920 - Charlotte Woodward, at age nintey-one, becomes the only surviving member of the Seneca Fall meeting to legally vote under the Nineteenth Amendment.
1920 - Mary-Cooke Branch Munford is appointed to the Democratic National Committee.
August 1920 - Virginia women gain the right to vote after the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution becomes law.
September 1920 - The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia disbands.
October 1920 - Thirteen thousand Richmond women, 10,645 white and 2,410 black, register to vote.
November 6, 1923 - Sarah Lee Fain, of Norfolk, and Helen Timmons Henderson, of Buchanan County, become the first women elected to the Virginia General Assembly.
1924 - Kate Waller Barrett of Alexandria serves as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention.
1924 - Six women serve in the Virginia General Assembly, which allows a wider role for women in Virginia politics.
June 1948 - The town of Clintwood elects an all-female town government.
February 21, 1952 - The Virginia General Assembly ratifies the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, thirty-two years after it became law.
November 1953 - Kathryn H. Stone becomes the first woman elected to the Virginia General Assembly since 1933.
1961 - Hazel K. Barger receives the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor.
November 1979 - Eva F. Scott becomes the first woman elected to the Virginia state senate.
1984 - Edythe C. Harrison receives the Democratic nomination for United States senator.
November 1985 - Mary Sue Terry becomes the first woman elected attorney general of Virginia.
1989 - Elizabeth B. Lacy becomes the first woman elected to the Virginia Supreme Court.
November 1989 - Mary Sue Terry wins reelection as attorney general of Virginia.
November 1992 - Leslie Byrne becomes the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress from Virginia, beating Republican Henry N. Butler for the seat in the new Eleventh Congressional District.
November 1993 - Mary Sue Terry becomes the first woman to run for governor of Virginia but is defeated in the election.
2000 - Mary Margaret Whipple becomes the first woman chair of the Virginia Democratic Senate Caucus.
Further Reading...
Green, Elna C. Southern Strategies: Southern Women and the Woman Suffrage Question. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997.
Harper, Ida Husted. The History of Woman Suffrage. Vol. 6. Rochester, NY, 1922.
Lebsock, Suzanne. "Women Suffrage and White Supremacy: A Virginia Case Study." In Visible Women: New Essays on American Activism, edited by Nancy A. Hewitt and Suzanne Lebsock, 62–100. Urbana, IL: University of Illininois Press, 1993.
McDaid, Jennifer Davis. "All Kinds of Revolutionaries: Pauline Adams, Jessie Townsend and the Norfolk Equal Suffrage League." Virginia Cavalcade 49 (Spring 2000): 84–95.
Terborg-Penn, Rosalyn. African-American Women in the Struggle for the Vote, 1850–1920. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998.
Contributed by Jennifer Davis McDaid, Local Records Appraisal Archivist, Library of Virginia and Deputy Coordinator of the State Historical Records Advisory Board.
July 1848 - The first women's rights convention is held in Seneca Falls, New York, to argue for women's right to vote.
1870 - Anna Whitehead Bodeker organizes the first Virginia State Woman Suffrage Association and serves as president.
November 1871 - Anna Whitehead Bodeker tries unsuccessfully to vote in a Virginia municipal election.
November 27, 1909 - A group of women, including Ellen Glasgow, Mary Johnston, Kate Langley Bosher, Adèle Clark, Nora Houston, Kate Waller Barrett, and Lila Meade Valentine, found the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia.
February 1910 - The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia joins the National American Woman Suffrage Organization.
1912 - Lila Meade Valentine persuades a group of Richmond businessmen to form the Men's Equal Suffrage League of Virginia.
1912 - Anti-suffragists in Virginia organize a counter organization to refute the arguments of suffragists.
1912 - Virginia suffragists bring a suffrage bill to the floor of the General Assembly three times between 1912 and 1916 but it is not passed.
1914 - The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia begins publishing a monthly newspaper called the Virginia Suffrage News.
1914 - The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia has forty-five local chapters.
1916 - The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia has 115 local chapters.
1919 - Membership in the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia reaches 32,000, making it most likely the largest state association in the South.
1919 - Despite pressure from the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia, the Virginia General Assembly rejects the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
June 1919 - The United States Congress passes the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote.
1920 - State archivist Morgan P. Robinson registers women to vote.
1920 - The newly founded Virginia League of Women Voters begins to sponsor registration drives and voter education programs.
1920 - Charlotte Woodward, at age nintey-one, becomes the only surviving member of the Seneca Fall meeting to legally vote under the Nineteenth Amendment.
1920 - Mary-Cooke Branch Munford is appointed to the Democratic National Committee.
August 1920 - Virginia women gain the right to vote after the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution becomes law.
September 1920 - The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia disbands.
October 1920 - Thirteen thousand Richmond women, 10,645 white and 2,410 black, register to vote.
November 6, 1923 - Sarah Lee Fain, of Norfolk, and Helen Timmons Henderson, of Buchanan County, become the first women elected to the Virginia General Assembly.
1924 - Kate Waller Barrett of Alexandria serves as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention.
1924 - Six women serve in the Virginia General Assembly, which allows a wider role for women in Virginia politics.
June 1948 - The town of Clintwood elects an all-female town government.
February 21, 1952 - The Virginia General Assembly ratifies the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, thirty-two years after it became law.
November 1953 - Kathryn H. Stone becomes the first woman elected to the Virginia General Assembly since 1933.
1961 - Hazel K. Barger receives the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor.
November 1979 - Eva F. Scott becomes the first woman elected to the Virginia state senate.
1984 - Edythe C. Harrison receives the Democratic nomination for United States senator.
November 1985 - Mary Sue Terry becomes the first woman elected attorney general of Virginia.
1989 - Elizabeth B. Lacy becomes the first woman elected to the Virginia Supreme Court.
November 1989 - Mary Sue Terry wins reelection as attorney general of Virginia.
November 1992 - Leslie Byrne becomes the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress from Virginia, beating Republican Henry N. Butler for the seat in the new Eleventh Congressional District.
November 1993 - Mary Sue Terry becomes the first woman to run for governor of Virginia but is defeated in the election.
2000 - Mary Margaret Whipple becomes the first woman chair of the Virginia Democratic Senate Caucus.
Further Reading...
Green, Elna C. Southern Strategies: Southern Women and the Woman Suffrage Question. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997.
Harper, Ida Husted. The History of Woman Suffrage. Vol. 6. Rochester, NY, 1922.
Lebsock, Suzanne. "Women Suffrage and White Supremacy: A Virginia Case Study." In Visible Women: New Essays on American Activism, edited by Nancy A. Hewitt and Suzanne Lebsock, 62–100. Urbana, IL: University of Illininois Press, 1993.
McDaid, Jennifer Davis. "All Kinds of Revolutionaries: Pauline Adams, Jessie Townsend and the Norfolk Equal Suffrage League." Virginia Cavalcade 49 (Spring 2000): 84–95.
Terborg-Penn, Rosalyn. African-American Women in the Struggle for the Vote, 1850–1920. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998.
Contributed by Jennifer Davis McDaid, Local Records Appraisal Archivist, Library of Virginia and Deputy Coordinator of the State Historical Records Advisory Board.