Timeline of women's suffrage in New Mexico facts for kids

This is a timeline of women's suffrage in New Mexico. Women's suffrage means women getting the right to vote. In New Mexico, women first gained the right to vote in school board elections. This right was written into the state's main rulebook, the New Mexico State Constitution, in 1910. When New Mexico became a state in 1912, people who supported women's voting rights, called suffragists, worked to change the national laws. They wanted a federal amendment to let all women vote equally. Even after many women could vote in 1920, many Native Americans in New Mexico still could not.

Early Steps for Women's Voting Rights (1890s)

Starting Clubs for Suffrage

1893

• The Albuquerque Suffrage Club was formed. Its goal was to help women in New Mexico get the right to vote.

1899

• Carrie Chapman Catt, a famous leader for women's voting rights, visited Santa Fe. She helped organize people who supported suffrage there.

Working Towards the Vote (1900s-1910s)

Celebrating Leaders and Debating Rights

1905

• The Woman's Club of Albuquerque celebrated the 85th birthday of Susan B. Anthony. She was a very important leader in the women's suffrage movement.

1910

• August: The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in New Mexico held the first public discussion about women's voting rights in the state.
• November 21: The New Mexico State Constitution was officially approved. It first included some limited ways for women to vote, but these ideas were later removed.

New Mexico Becomes a State

1912

• New Mexico officially became a state. However, Native Americans were still not allowed to vote. Women could only vote in elections for school boards.

Organizing and Protesting for Change

1914

• The Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, a group working for women's voting rights, sent its first organizer, Mabel Vernon, to New Mexico.
• May: Jessie Hardy Stubbs led a protest for voting rights in Santa Fe. She also helped start the New Mexico Women's Suffrage League.

1915

• October 15: About 150 women marched in a suffrage parade through Santa Fe. They marched to the home of Senator Thomas Benton Catron to demand that women be allowed to vote.

1916

• October: Dr. Jessie A. Russell, a suffragist from California, traveled around New Mexico. She worked to gain support for women's voting rights through the Republican Party.
• Senator Andrieus A. Jones became the head of the Senate's Woman Suffrage Committee. This was an important role in the national effort for women's voting rights.

1917

• Adelina Otero Warren, a suffragist, was asked to lead the New Mexico branch of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage.
• April: The Santa Fe groups of the NAWSA and the National Women's Party (NWP) taught women about voting. They encouraged women to vote in the upcoming school board election.

Women Gain Full Voting Rights (1920s)

The 19th Amendment is Approved

1920

• January: The New Mexico Republican Party sent Nina Otero-Warren to a Republican meeting in Denver. She represented them on the Republican Women's Committee.
• February 21: New Mexico became the 32nd state to approve the 19th Amendment. This amendment gave women across the United States the right to vote.
• March: The Woman's Party created a list of only female candidates for elections.
• The New Mexico branch of NAWSA closed down and formed a new group called the League.

Continuing the Fight for All Citizens

1922

• Women who had worked for suffrage formed the New Mexico League of Women Voters. Ina Sizer Cassidy was the first president of this new group.

1924

• The Indian Citizenship Act was passed. This law allowed Native Americans who did not live on reservations in New Mexico to vote.

Voting Rights for All Native Americans (1940s)

A Major Court Case

1948

• All Native Americans in New Mexico finally gained the right to vote. This happened after a court case called Trujillo v. Garley. The case was brought by Michael Trujillo.