Last updated: March 7, 2025
Article
The 1915 Suffrage Referendum in Massachusetts
Boston Herald, July 11, 1915.
On February 16, 1915, suffragists held their breaths as they stood in the chamber gallery of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Earlier that month, the Senate passed a suffrage amendment to the state constitution, 33 yeas to 3 nays.[1] Now, House members faced a similar vote. If passed in the House, the constitutional amendment would go to the voters in a November referendum.
At the end of the tally, the amendment won in a landslide, 196 to 33. Although not allowed to cheer, the now beaming suffragists poured hundreds of yellow jonquils (flowers) upon the legislators in celebration of their victory. They made their way out of the State House to begin a brief procession. Alice Stone Blackwell said of the moment:
As we came in triumph down the State House steps that we had so often descended in defeat, it seemed like a dream. At the foot waited the banners, the band and the procession, ready to start; and all the statues of the revolutionary and civil war heroes looking on seemed to belong to that procession. Col. Shaw on the Shaw monument was marching in it.[2]
Suffragists paraded down Park Street and along Tremont Street to Copley Square, carrying flags and banners. They announced the passage of the amendment and encouraged male voters to support the referendum. Ending at the headquarters of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association (MWSA) on Copley Square, suffragists celebrated their victory with a flag-raising and prepared for the road ahead. Blackwell wrote in the Woman’s Journal:
Now let us all turn in and work like beavers to win victory in November at the polls. The task is great and the time short. For the next eight months let us put every ounce of time and strength that we can spare from our absolutely necessary duties into this fight. The question is not whether Massachusetts shall get woman suffrage, but when. Let us make the date November, 1915! [3]
For the next year, Bay State suffragists worked tirelessly to acquire support for the referendum. Their hopes aligned with suffragists in three other states on the East Coast – New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey – which had similar referendums slated for November. After years of deadlock, women felt equal suffrage, at least at the state level, might just be within reach.
Additional Papers of Florence Luscomb. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
Campaigning in the Streets
For the 1915 campaign, suffrage organizations relied on new tactics implemented by a younger generation of suffragists who had breathed life into the decades-long movement. Learning from English militant suffragettes,* Boston women began to occupy public spaces – street corners, public squares, and parks – to generate interest and support for women’s suffrage. This approach of meeting citizens where they lived, gathered, and worked proved essential for the campaign.
With a November deadline quickly approaching, suffragists sought to reach as wide an audience as possible. Members of local and state suffrage organizations, such as the Boston Equal Suffrage Association for Good Government (BESAGG) and MWSA, led this charge. Seasoned veterans of the cause—including Margaret Foley, Florence Luscomb, and Jennie Loitman—reached people of varying class, racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. They visited factories, shops, churches, and public spaces. They held open-air rallies, went door-to-door canvasing, and drove across Boston and Massachusetts in auto-tours.
National Museum of American History
The Suffrage Bluebird
As part of the campaign, MWSA identified the "Suffrage Bluebird" as a new emblem. Although the exact reason for choosing a bluebird is unclear, the MWSA announced their bluebird as the "bluebird for suffrage and happiness."[4]
MWSA declared July 17 as "Suffrage Bluebird Day," when suffrage bluebirds "will be tacked to thousands of fences, barns, sheds, posts, dead trees, garages and in friendly indoor places of advantage so that all may read the slogan ‘Votes for Women, Nov. 2."[5]
Woman's Journal, Volume 46, no. 32 (August 7, 1915)
According to newspaper reports, about 30 young women met in downtown Boston on the morning of Bluebird Day. They split up into at least 12 decorated cars before driving around the city and the greater Boston area to post the bluebirds everywhere they could, meeting groups of children dressed as bluebirds at various locations.[6]
Suffrage Bluebird Day received wide media attention and cleverly used a form of "guerrilla-style" marketing to make the suffrage cause plainly visible for all to see. In reporting its success, the MWSA said: "No bird, since the time when Noah sent the dove from the Ark, has ever carried a message so fraught with the cause of humanity."[7]
The Crisis & Black Bostonian Women’s Support
In August 1915, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) dedicated their monthly publication, The Crisis, to the topic of women’s suffrage, likely to align with the upcoming referendums on the East Coast. Black leaders from across the country contributed to the edition, and editor W.E.B. DuBois called the submissions "one of the strongest cumulative attacks on sex and race discrimination in politics ever written."[8]
New York Public Library
Among the contributors were Bostonians Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin and Maria Baldwin. An active clubwoman and longtime supporter of women’s suffrage, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin reflected on her experience in the Massachusetts suffrage movement. She recalled early leaders, such as Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe, "were broad enough to include ‘no distinction because of race’ with ‘no distinction because of sex.’"[9] Ruffin praised the "farsightedness" of suffragists, declaring,
We are justified in believing that the success of this movement for equality of the sexes means more progress toward equality of the races.[10]
As a school principal, Maria Baldwin approached her support for women’s suffrage from a slightly different perspective. She claimed teachers have a strong sense of conviction, and they are "devoted and unselfish." With these qualities, Baldwin argued, "One is warranted in thinking that teachers will transfer to their use of the ballot this habit of fidelity to ideals."[11]
Men’s Role in the Campaign
While most of the advocacy for the 1915 suffrage referendum came from women themselves, men also contributed to the campaign as allies. Political leaders, including Massachusetts Governor David Walsh and Boston Mayor James Curley, publicly expressed their support for the amendment. Others donated time, efforts, and resources to the campaign.
Woman's Journal, Volume 46, no. 37 (September 11, 1915).
Members of the Massachusetts Men’s League for Woman Suffrage also campaigned in support of women’s suffrage. They organized auto-tours and hosted rallies that spanned the state. In September, they arranged for horse-drawn carriages covered with pro-suffrage posters to traverse the streets of Boston and nearby cities. Some posters said:
Do you believe in government of the people, by the people, for the people? Why not live up to your ideals? Give women votes.
Why Should Women Vote? Why Shouldn’t They? Think it Over
Give your girl the chance that you give your boy! Give her the vote.[12]
Massachusetts Historical Society
The Anti-Suffrage Campaign
During the 1915 campaign, suffragists not only encountered an uninformed or disinterested public, they also faced a highly coordinated and well-funded anti-suffrage movement. Massachusetts had one of the most vocal anti-suffrage organizations, known as the Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women (MAOFESW). MAOFESW recruited powerful supporters across the city and state, giving them the means to put forward a powerful counter-campaign.
For the 1915 campaign, MAOFESW changed its name to the Women’s Anti-Suffrage Association of Massachusetts. Despite arguing against women taking an active role in politics and civic engagement, some anti-suffragists (or "antis") reluctantly stepped into public spaces in order to advocate for their cause. Antis distributed pamphlets and flyers, as well as hosted public events across the state.[13]
Boston Globe, October 17, 1915.
The Victory Parade
October marked the final push to garner support for the referendum. With only a month left to convince male voters, suffragists ramped up advocacy to generate greater awareness for the cause.
Perhaps nothing did more to draw attention to the cause of women’s suffrage than the victory parade, held on October 16. By the thousands, women suffragists and male allies descended on Boston for an elaborate spectacle. Composed of 25 bands and 12 floats, and with representation across cities, counties, colleges, and professions, the victory parade brought Boston to a standstill.[14]
Antis once more showed their opposition, selling red roses (the symbol of the antisuffrage movement) and releasing red balloons. They decorated houses along the parade route in Back Bay and on Beacon Street with red. Yet when suffragists marched on, a downtown Boston gleaming in the suffrage colors of yellow and gold welcomed them.[15]
Boston Globe, October 16, 1915.
The parade finished at Mechanics Hall on Huntington Avenue for a mass meeting of 10,000, with an overflow rally on Boston Common. Reports indicated anywhere from 200-500,000 people saw the event. Mayor Curley commented: "I feel privileged to have witnessed today the greatest demonstration Boston has ever known."[16]
These parades showed the joy and enthusiasm, as well as the determination and resolve, of Bay State suffragists. Florence Luscomb recalled of the power of suffrage parades:
Just why seeing women walk down the street in a parade should convince men to vote for suffrage is a mystery, but it did so by the thousands, probably because it gave them visual proof that the women who wanted the suffrage were ordinary, representative women -- homemakers, mothers, daughters, teachers, working women -- not the ‘unsexed’ freaks the antis declared they were.[17]
Woman's Journal, Volume 46, no. 44 (October 30, 1915).
Election Day
On November 2, Massachusetts suffragists brimmed with excitement and anticipation as men went to vote on the suffrage referendum. Some women held silent vigils outside of polling stations, quietly holding signs as a final effort to convince voters.[18]
"This Woman was told 'You deserve the vote,'" Boston Globe, November 2, 1915.
A group of suffragists gathered at the MWSA headquarters to await the election returns that night. While hoping for victory, they instead found defeat. Early reports indicated the suffrage referendum failed by a margin of two to one.
Upon hearing the news, MWSA Chair of the Executive Board Gertrude Halladay Leonard immediately called for the approval of a resolution:
We, suffrage workers, assembled at headquarters on election night, having now on record one voter in every three in our State in favor of equal suffrage, and in full confidence that our victory, though postponed, cannot be long delayed, hereby pledge ourselves to work cheerfully and unremittingly, until our cause shall win and equal political rights for men and women shall be a fact in Massachusetts.[19]
Of the margin, Leonard said, "The returns from Massachusetts indicate a defeat for the suffrage amendment by a vote of 2 to 1. This means that we have one man out of every three in Massachusetts who believes at the present time in equal suffrage. We have only to convince half as many more to complete our majority."[20]
Suffrage referendums in all four East Coast states – Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts – lost by a substantial margin. For now, equal suffrage at the state level remained out of reach.
Moving Forward
Two days after the election, on November 4, suffragists had planned on hosting a victory rally at Faneuil Hall to celebrate the ratification of the suffrage amendment. Instead, the rally turned into a recommitment to the suffrage campaign. Newspapers reported on the unfailing high spirits of suffragists during the event, with the Boston Journal remarking, "The suffragists were so beaming with courage and smiles and confidence that there was no doubting their sincerity."[21]
The rally began with an entrance of the US flag and suffrage banner, followed by a brass band. Suffrage leaders gave speeches expressing dedication to the suffrage cause and hope for the future. Maud Wood Park declared, "There is something greater than getting the vote, and that is devotion to an ideal."[22]
Alice Stone Blackwell explained the suffragist sentiment:
No experienced suffragist is ever discouraged. Why, suffrage for women has been defeated every year since I can remember and this year it was been harder to defeat than ever before. In the words of Wendell Phillips, ‘There is no such thing as a permanent defeat for liberty: in chains or laurels, liberty knows nothing but victory.’[23]
The rally ended with the passage of several resolutions to confirm the continued work for the Massachusetts suffrage campaign, to express support for the national amendment, and to dedicate resources to an upcoming suffrage campaign in Iowa.[24]
Although temporarily defeated, Bay State suffragists refused to relent on their campaign for equal political rights. Four years later their efforts paid off. When the 19th Amendment went to the states in June 1919, Massachusetts became the eighth state to vote in favor of its ratification.
Bushnell, 1920. Library of Congress
Note
*While many consider the terms "suffragette" and "suffragist" interchangeable, there are clear distinctions. In the early 1900s, British journalists used the term "suffragette" as a means to mock advocates of the movement. While most found this term belittling, the militant, radical section of the English movement reclaimed this term, calling themselves suffragettes. In the US, most advocates found the term offensive and only considered themselves suffragists. Today, "suffragette" should only be used when referring to the English militant group, and "suffragist" should be used when referring to other advocates for the cause of women’s suffrage.
Footnotes
[1] "Senate Favors in Bay-State," Woman's Journal vol. 46, no. 7 (February 13, 1915); "Double Victory Won in Eastern States," Woman’s Journal vol. 46, no. 8 (February 20, 1915); Alice Stone Blackwell, "Triumph in Massachusetts," Woman's Journal vol. 46, no. 8 (February 20, 1915).
[2] Blackwell, "Triumph in Massachusetts."
[3] Blackwell "Triumph in Massachusetts."
[4] "Suffragists Draw Crowd to Common," Boston Herald, May 16, 1915.
[5] "Bluebird Day in Bay State," Woman's Journal vol. 46, no. 29 (July 17, 1915).
[6] "Tour City with Bluebirds," Boston Globe, July 17, 1915; "Flight of Suffrage Bluebirds," Boston Evening Transcript, July 17, 1915; "Start Posting Bluebirds," Boston Globe, July 18, 1915.
[7] "Bluebird Day in Bay State."
[8] W.E.B. DuBois, "Votes for Women," The Crisis, vol. 10, no. 4 (August 1915).
[9] Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, "Trust the Women!" The Crisis, vol. 10, no. 4 (August 1915).
[10] Ruffin, "Trust the Women!"
[11] Maria Baldwin, "Votes for Teachers," The Crisis, vol. 10, no. 4 (August 1915).
[12] "The Bay State Answer on Liquor," Woman’s Journal, vol. 46, no. 38 (September 18, 1915); "Bay State Men Start Wagons to Help Women," Woman’s Journal, vol. 46, no. 37 (September 11, 1915).
[13] Louise Stevenson, "Women Anti-Suffragists in the 1915 Massachusetts Campaign," The New England Quarterly vol. 52, no. 1 (March 1979); "Busy Week for Suffrage Workers," Boston Globe, July 11, 1915. See Anti-Suffrage in Massachusetts article for more information.
[14] "16,000 Will March in Boston Parade," Woman‘s Journal vol. 46 no. 42 (October 16, 1915); "Boston’s Great Parade," Woman’s Journal, vol. 46, no. 43 (October 23, 1915); "Suffrage Victory Parade Sets a Record for Enthusiasm," Boston Globe, Oct 17, 1915.
[15] "Suffrage Victory Parade Sets a Record for Enthusiasm," Boston Globe, October 17, 1915.
[16] "Boston Sees Greatest Suffrage Demonstration," Woman’s Journal, vol. 46, no.43 (October 23, 1915).
[17] "Suffrage-writings by FHL, including reminiscences," Papers of Florence Luscomb, SERIES III: SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ACTIVISM, MC 394. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
[18] "Women Volunteer Workers," Boston Globe, November 2, 1915.
[19] "Million Votes Cast for Women in First Eastern Campaign," Woman‘s Journal, vol. 46 no. 44 (November 6, 1915).
[20] "Million Votes Cast for Women in First Eastern Campaign."
[21] "Suffragists Undismayed Hold Rally," Boston Journal, November 5, 1915; "Suffragists to Renew Battle," Boston Globe, November 5, 1915.
[22] "Suffragists Undismayed Hold Rally."
[23] "Suffragists Undismayed Hold Rally."
[24] "Bay State Starts Again," Woman's Journal vol. 46, no. 46 (November 13, 1915).