During the women’s suffrage movement, it was not uncommon to see nurses take a large part in the movement and protests. Sarah Tarleton Colvin is only one example of a female nurse who was also heavily involved in the women’s suffrage movement. For her participation, she was arrested twice and served short sentences in jail.
Originally from Alabama, Sarah moved with her family to Baltimore, Maryland where she entered a training school for nurses at Johns Hopkins Hospital. After graduating from the training school, she worked at the hospital and later worked at The Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. Sarah also helped in the founding of the Minnesota State Graduate Nurses Association and served as the association’s president from 1905-1910. In 1897, Sarah married Dr. Alexander Colvin who served as a major in the army and as the acting surgical chief at Fort McHenry during World War I. During the war, Sarah also helped to serve the government by working as a Red Cross nurse in Baltimore.
Sarah became very active in the suffrage movement and served as chair in the Minnesota branch of what became the National Woman’s Party from 1915-1919. In 1916, she also participated in the “Suffrage Special” trip around the country by train. During the war, while volunteering as a Red Cross nurse, Colvin was able to participate in protests in the nation's capital due to the proximity of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Sarah said in her memoir that in January 1919, she “left Fort McHenry on an early morning train to go to Washington…. My plan was to go immediately on the picket line.” Sarah Colvin was first arrested in 1919 during a watch fire demonstration and sentenced to five days in jail. Less than a month later she was arrested at another demonstration, and once again sentenced to five days in jail. After this second arrest, Colvin, along with twenty-five other suffragists that were recently released from jail, began a train tour named the “Prison Special.” During this train tour they discussed their arrests and explained the need for women’s suffrage.
The story of Sarah Tarleton Colvin is just one of the many stories that show how nurses at the time often played large roles in the women’s suffrage movement. After the 19th Amendment was passed, Colvin remained active in local and state politics. Upon moving back to St. Paul in the 1920’s, she took a focus on the education system and served on the Minnesota State Board of Education from 1935 to 1941. Her activism inspired the creation of the Sarah Tarleton Colvin Political Activist Award by the Minnesota Nurses Association. The award goes to a nurse or group of nurses who have taken action in furthering the political presence of nursing, or have accomplished changes in policies that benefit the profession.
