“Dese a la Mujer de California El Derecho de Votar.”
“Dese a la Mujer de California El Derecho de Votar,” 1911. Women’s Suffrage and Equal Rights Collection, Ella Strong Denison Library, Scripps College, Claremont, CA.
“Dese a la Mujer de California El Derecho de Votar.”
“Dese a la Mujer de California El Derecho de Votar,” 1911. Women’s Suffrage and Equal Rights Collection, Ella Strong Denison Library, Scripps College, Claremont, CA.
Background
In the 1870s suffragists started working at the state level to get women’s suffrage laws passed. After years of intense campaigning, a women’s suffrage referendum was added to the state ballot in California in 1896. The referendum failed, but the California suffragists did not give up. In 1911 they convinced state legislators to add a suffrage referendum to the ballot once more.
The months leading to Election Day were intense. Many California men opposed the referendum. They argued that women had no place in politics and should focus on raising children. But suffragists mounted a massive campaign. Women came from all over the US to join the effort. The referendum’s supporters wrote editorials and spoke at meetings wherever they were welcomed. They flooded the state with campaign buttons, posters, banners, and over three million pieces of literature.
More than 146,000 men voted on the women’s suffrage referendum, which passed by only 3,500 votes. As a result, an amendment was added to the state constitution, giving California women the right to vote in state and federal elections. The victory thrilled and energized suffragists across the country. It demonstrated how organization, effort, and an army of supporters could lead to victory.
About the Resources
In 1911 California’s Spanish-speaking population was only about five percent of the state’s total population. But in the campaign for women’s suffrage, just a few votes could make all the difference. Los Angeles suffragist María Guadalupe Evangelina de Lopéz translated fliers like this one to reach California’s Spanish-speaking voters. She also traveled the state giving speeches. She was the first suffragist to give an entire speech in Spanish.
Vocabulary
- referendum: A vote that asks the people to make a decision about a single political question.
Discussion Questions
- Why did Maria de Lopéz translate this flyer into Spanish? What does this reveal about the campaign for women’s suffrage in California?
- What arguments does the author use to convince voters to support women’s suffrage? Are they persuasive? Why or why not?
- Why is it important to acknowledge the contributions of Latinx and Hispanic suffragists?
Suggested Activities
- Use this document to discuss how the written word can be used to convince people of a particular idea. Have students consider how this is done in the contemporary world as well.
- To learn more about the opinions and contributions of suffragists of color, see:
- California senator J. B. Sanford was one of the major opponents of this referendum. Read his argument here. What are his main reasons for resisting women’s suffrage? What audience do you think he was addressing? Compare Sanford’s position to the one presented in the flyer. How did pro-suffrage forces address Sanford’s argument?
- Consider the value of these ideas being shared via a flyer. Pair this resource with other fliers and broadsides like Reflections from the Home Front, Commandments to California Wives, Women of the Ku Klux Klan, and Punk Feminists to explore how and why the printed word is so valuable for sharing a political message.
Themes
POWER AND POLITICS; ACTIVISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE; AMERICAN IDENTITY AND CITIZENSHIP
