Fighting for Voting Rights at Grand Canyon and Across Arizona

The fight for women’s suffrage was a long and arduous fight throughout United States history. With many important milestones and events, the Grand Canyon plays its own small role in the movement. As states throughout the west entered the union, there was opportunity to include suffrage in the state constitutions. Arizona began to bid for statehood in 1891. President Benjamin Harrison denied Arizona’s bid for statehood due to the fact that women’s suffrage was discussed at the Arizona Constitutional Convention. Arizona would have to wait another ten years to apply for statehood. Throughout this time activists continued to fight for suffrage in Arizona. The governor continued to veto bills until Arizona successfully became a state in 1912. In 1912 Frances Munds, who had a long history of suffrage work in Arizona, became chairman of the Arizona Women Suffrage Organization. She organized petitions to create a ballot initiative and formed coalitions with labor movements. By the end of that year the people of Arizona had voted to give women the right to vote in the state, joining nine other states which had previously established women’s voting rights. However, this was not the case for many other states across the country. While some organizations and activists continued to pressure individual states to grant this right, other activists wanted to see a constitutional amendment on the federal level. One of the most prominent of these activists was Alice Paul.

A map of the United States shows the tour route with a picture of Alice Paul in the corner. Text reads: Route of envoys sent from east by the Congressional Union for Woman’s Suffrage, to appeal to the voting women of the west.

Library of Congress, National Woman’s Party Records.

Dr. Alice Paul was an influential activist for women’s rights and suffrage. She planned and organized many protests and marches in favor of voting rights for women. Alice Paul cofounded the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage (CU) in 1913. Paul helped to organize the National Suffrage March in Washington DC in that same year. When Black suffragists and leaders like Ida B. Wells attempted to join the march, Paul and other organizers instructed Black suffragists to march in the back. Ida B Wells refused. She said, “Either I go with you or not at all. . . . I am not taking this stand because I personally wish for recognition. I am doing it for the future benefit of my whole race.” Wells marched with the delegation from her state, not in the back of the procession.

CU had radical and aggressive tactics, such as parades and protests, lobbing legislators, and doing speaking tours. Paul led a five-week train campaign across the west to gain support for suffrage on the federal level. On Tuesday, April 18, 1916, the group arrived in Williams, Arizona. They gave a speech to the gathered crowd on the importance of women’s voting rights nationwide. The famous suffragists then traveled to The Grand Canyon. They gathered at El Tovar Hotel in Grand Canyon Village. It was reported that, “A crowd of people from every part of the country made up their audience.” The activists utilized banners and speeches to rally the audience into support. After great success the women boarded their train. The Suffragist reported that, “The train pulled out with the purple, white and gold decorations fluttering from the windows, having carried message of unfranchised women of the east to the very rim of the canyon, a mile below sea level.” Soon after the train campaign Paul formed the National Women’s Party (NWP). One member of NWP who was very familiar with Grand Canyon was Mary Dean Powell.

Prominent women at equal rights conference at Woman’s Party. L to R: Mrs. Agnes Morey, Brookline, Mass.; Miss Katherine Morey, Brookline, Mass. & State Chairman of the Woman’s Party; Elsie Hill, Norwalk, Conn.; Mary Dean Powell, D.C.; Emma Wold, Portland, Oregon; Mabel Vernon, Wilmington.

National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress.

John Wesley Powell is known for his famous exhibition down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon. His wife Emma and sister Ellen were both engaged in the suffrage movement. This passion was passed down to John and Emma Powell’s daughter Mary. Mary Powell hosted events, participated in protests, and served on the district branch executive board for NWP. In 1917 NWP became the first group to picket in front of the White House using silence as a protest tactic. When WWI started, the suffragists continued to point out the hypocrisy of fighting for democracy in Europe while denying them their democratic right to vote. Police arrested over 500 women for “obstructing traffic.” Those arrested included Alice Paul and Mary Dean Powell. In October of the same year many of those arrested went on a hunger strike after the prison’s refusal to recognize them as political prisoners. Known as the Night of Terror, these women were force fed and subjected to incredible brutality. Activists continued to protest outside the White House until the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920.

While this was a monumental achievement for women across the country, this success truly only applied to White women. While Black women were technically allowed to vote after the passage of the 19th Amendment, it would not be until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 when these rights would be protected. This same Voting Rights Act would help to ensure the rights of other communities as well, including Native Americans.

The Snyder Act of 1924 gave Native Americans United States citizenship. This did not guarantee voting rights, since ultimately states made that choice. In 1928, Peter Porter and Rudolph Johnson of the Gila River Indian Community went to register to vote in Pinal County, Arizona. They were denied the right to vote by the county. In order to fight this discrimination, they filled a lawsuit in a case called Porter v. Hall, but their case was overturned. The court used a highly offensive article from the Constitution of Arizona. The article stated that Native Americans were “persons under guardianship” and therefore were ineligible to vote. After The Nationality Act of 1940 and after many Native Americans enlisted in WWII, the argument against allowing Native Americans the right to vote became weak.

Two members of the Yavapai Nation--Frank Harrison, a WWII veteran, and Harry Austin, the chairman of the tribe--challenged this outdated exclusion. When they registered to vote they were turned away. Harrison and Austin filed a lawsuit and won their case in the Arizona Supreme Court. In 1948 the Supreme Court overturned Porter v. Hall. Even with these victories, the same restrictions set against Black voters, such as literacy tests, were utilized against Native populations in a similar way. The 1965 Voting Rights Act would impact the voting rights of Native communities as well. However, this did not end the challenges of voting rights for people living on reservations. Insufficient polling locations, lack of translations into Native languages, and other challenges on rural communities still create obstacles for Native communities to participate in the political process.

Sources:

Stafford, Cindy, Suff’s Campaign Gains Steam at El Tovar. The Ol’ Pioneer Volume 31: Number 4. The Grand Canyon Historical Society, 2020.

Stafford, Cindy, Mary Dean Powell and Grand Canyon. The Ol’ Pioneer Volume 31: Number 3. The Grand Canyon Historical Society, 2020.

Rollings, W. "Citizenship and Suffrage: The Native American Struggle for Civil Rights in the American West, 1830-1965." Nevada Law Journal, 5. (2004) 126-140.

Fergeson-Bohnee, P. "The History of Indian Voting Rights in Arizona: Overcoming Decades of Voter Suppression." Arizona State Law Journal, 47, (2015).1099-1144.