Jessie Daniel Ames facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jessie Daniel Ames
Born	(1883-11-02)November 2, 1883 Palestine, Texas, U.S.
Died	February 21, 1972(1972-02-21) (aged 88) Austin, Texas, U.S.
Burial place	I.O.O.F. Cemetery, Georgetown, Texas
Alma mater	Southwestern University
Occupation	Suffragist and Civil Rights Activist
Known for	Founder of Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching

Jessie Daniel Ames (born November 2, 1883 – died February 21, 1972) was an important leader from Texas. She worked for women's right to vote and for civil rights. She helped start a movement in the American South to stop lynching, which was a terrible act of violence. She gathered 40,000 signatures from white women in the South who wanted to end lynching. Her efforts helped change people's minds and led to fewer of these violent acts in the 1930s and 1940s.

Who Was Jessie Daniel Ames?

Jessie Harriet Daniel was born in Palestine, Texas, on November 2, 1883. Her parents were Laura Maria Leonard and James Malcolm Daniel. In 1893, her family moved to Georgetown, Texas.

Jessie started attending the Ladies Annex of Southwestern University when she was 13. She earned her bachelor's degree in 1902. After graduating, she moved with her family to Laredo, Texas. Jessie joined the Methodist church, following her mother and sister. She had been involved in church activities since she was young.

In 1905, Jessie married Roger Post Ames. He was a surgeon in the United States Army. He had worked with Walter Reed in Cuba to prove that mosquitoes cause malaria. Their marriage was not happy. Roger Ames often lived in Central America, working as a doctor. He died in 1914 in Guatemala from a serious illness.

Jessie had a son and two daughters. Her youngest daughter was born after her husband passed away. After her father died in 1911, Jessie helped her mother manage their family's telephone company in Georgetown. She also became active in several Methodist women's groups. This led her to join the women's suffrage movement. This movement worked for women to gain the right to vote.

Fighting for Women's Right to Vote

In 1916, Jessie Daniel Ames started the Georgetown Equal Suffrage League. She became its first president. She also wrote a weekly article about women's suffrage for the Williamson County Sun newspaper. These articles were called "Woman Suffrage Notes."

Jessie became a close helper to Minnie Fisher Cunningham. Minnie was the president of the Texas Equal Suffrage Association (TESA). In 1918, Jessie was chosen as the treasurer for TESA.

Texas was the first Southern state to approve the Nineteenth Amendment. This amendment gave women the right to vote. It was approved in June 1919. In October 1919, Jessie founded the Texas League of Women Voters. She was its first president until 1923.

In 1923, she represented the national League of Women Voters at an important meeting called the Pan American Congress. She also attended the Democratic National Conventions in 1920, 1924, and 1928. Jessie was part of many other groups too. These included the Texas branch of the American Association of University Women and the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs. She was also an officer of the Joint Legislative Council in Texas, known as the Petticoat Lobby. She served on the Board of Education for the Women's Division of the Methodist Church.

In 1924, Jessie became the director of the Texas Commission on Interracial Cooperation (CIC). This group was based in Atlanta. In 1929, she moved to Atlanta to become the national director of the CIC Woman's Committee.

Helping Girls at Crockett State School

Jessie Daniel Ames also worked on a project to create a home and school for African American girls. These girls were considered "delinquent," meaning they had gotten into trouble. This project was one of the few times that white and Black women in Texas worked together.

From 1916 to 1945, the Texas Federation of Colored Women's Clubs (TACWC) pushed for this school. They even offered to donate land for it. In 1923, white women's groups, like the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs, supported the idea. That year, the TACWC raised $2,000 for a down payment on a home. They bought land in San Antonio and offered $5,500 for it.

In 1926, Jessie Ames traveled around Texas. She spoke to white women's groups about the project. The Texas state government passed a law in 1927 to create the home and school. However, they did not provide any money for it.

It took 18 more years for the Texas legislature to approve funding. In 1945, they finally set aside $60,000 to start the Brady State School for Negro Girls. It was located in a former prisoner of war camp near Brady, Texas. In 1950, the school moved to Crockett, Texas. It was then renamed the Crockett State School for Girls.

Fighting Against Lynching

In 1930, Jessie Ames started the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching (ASWPL). The CIC helped her with money. The ASWPL's main office was in Atlanta. This group did not include African American women. It focused on asking white Southern women to help stop lynching.

The ASWPL gathered 40,000 signatures from Southern women on its 'Pledge Against Lynching'. The women faced strong opposition and threats of violence. But they still collected petitions, talked to lawmakers, and raised money across the South to fight against lynching. By 1940, more than 100 women's groups had joined the movement to stop lynching.

Here is part of the pledge they signed:

• We believe lynching is a terrible crime. It goes against all rules of government, religion, and kindness. It harms everyone involved.
• People have too easily believed that lynchers act to protect women. This is not true. We will no longer let this claim go unchallenged. We will not let people commit violence in the name of women.
• We promise to create a new public opinion in the South. This opinion will not excuse violent mobs or lynchers for any reason.
• We will teach our children new ideas about law and religion at home, school, and church.
• We will help all officials do their jobs.
• We will work with ministers, editors, teachers, and good citizens to stop lynchings and mobs forever.

Jessie Ames did not support a federal law against lynching. Instead, she wanted individual states to pass their own laws. Senators from the South tried to stop a proposed federal law called the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill. This bill was supported by an African American women's group called the Anti-Lynching Crusaders. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had created the Anti-Lynching Crusaders in 1922 to get support for the Dyer Bill.

White Democrats from the "Solid South" had a lot of power in Congress. This was because many African Americans in the South were prevented from voting. Senator Tom Connally of Texas used a letter from Jessie Ames to show that many people in the South were against the federal bill. Jessie had meant for the letter to be private. She wanted to speak out against lynching if the federal bill failed.

Jessie Ames was the director of the ASWPL until 1942. By February 1937, 81 state, regional, and national groups had supported the ASWPL's plan to stop lynching. That year, the CIC was replaced by the Southern Regional Council. The number of lynchings went down as the Great Depression ended. However, some notable lynchings still happened after World War II, including of Black soldiers.

Later Life and Legacy

Jessie Ames moved to Tryon, North Carolina when she retired. In 1968, she returned to Texas to live with her younger daughter. Jessie Daniel Ames died from pneumonia on February 21, 1972, in Austin, Texas. She is buried in her family's plot in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery in Georgetown, Texas.

In 1985, the Jessie Daniel Ames Lecture Series began at Southwestern University. Her work as an activist for women's right to vote and against lynching was studied at Southwestern University in 1985 and 1986.

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  Jessie Daniel Ames