“Suffs” kicks off an eight-show series at the Smith Center tomorrow night. The Tony-winning Broadway production was inspired by the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. That got us thinking — how did Nevada fare in the suffrage movement? 🤔
A Rough Start
As soon as Nevada was officially formed as a state in 1864, suffrage was a widely debated political topic. The Nevada Constitution barred women from voting or holding elective office, prompting Assemblymember Curtis J. Hillyer to give a floor speech in favor of women’s voting rights just four years later.
Before Women Could Vote …
- Women were allowed to run (but not vote) for school superintendent and trustee positions (1889)
- Women were allowed to be attorneys and counselors in law (1893)
- Women in the small Nevada town of Austin were allowed to vote in the local school election (1896)
- Women were allowed to be appointed as notaries public (1912)
How Long Did It Take?
Resolutions would pass, but the Legislature would fail to vote in favor of women receiving the right to vote in 1871 and 1887. Finally, the legislature approved a 1911 resolution in 1913 to allow women access to ballot boxes, sending the issue to voters. A year later, 12 of 16 counties (yes, Clark was one of them) approved an amendment to change Nevada’s constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote.
Women appeared on the ballot and in polling places for the first time in city elections in 1915. Then, in 1920, the Nevada Legislature gathered for a special session to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing all adult American women to vote.
Heroes of Nevada’s Suffrage Movement
- Laura de Force Gordon: Suffrage activist whose invitation to address the Nevada Assembly was rescinded, but spoke in the chambers when members were not in session — and was a featured speaker at the Nevada’s first suffrage convention
- Laura May Tilden: Nevada’s first female attorney
- Susan B. Anthony: Feminist icon who spoke in favor of women's rights in Reno in 1895 and 1896
- Frances Slaven Williamson: Founder of the Nevada Citizen, a pro-suffrage newspaper
- Margaret Stanislawsky and Anne Martin: Both served as president of the Nevada Equal Franchise Society
- Edna Baker: First Nevada women elected to statewide office (Board of Regents) in 1918
- Sadie Hurst: First woman elected to the Nevada Legislature, also in 1918
City Cast Las Vegas shares some thoughts on five women who deserve to be on a hypothetical Mt. Rushmore of movers and shakers in Las Vegas history. [City Cast Las Vegas 🎧]
