Audio
New Mexico and the Suffrage Movement
Transcript
Hi, my name is Robin and I am a park ranger at White Sands National Park. Welcome to part one of our three part audio series on the 19th amendment. Today we are going to focus on New Mexico and the role the state played in the passing of the 19th amendment. To be honest New Mexico was late to the suffrage movement. Since becoming a state in 1912, New Mexico was the only western state to not give women suffrage. The senator appointed when NM became a state, Thomas Catron, did not support women’s suffrage. It would take the election of a new senator for women’s suffrage to become a possibility in the state. That brings us to Andrieus Jones. Andrieus Jones was elected to the US senate in 1917. While in office he was named chair to the committee on women's suffrage. He scheduled two landmark votes on the women's suffrage movement. The first in 1918 and the second a year later. Both votes failed to get the required two-thirds vote for the amendment to pass. When the vote came up again on June 4, 1919, Andrieus was no longer the chair of the committee but he voted in favor of the amendment. Lets take a look at this - the committee on women's suffrage was created in 1882. So why after so many years, and 11 other senators, was it finally Andrieus to put the amendment on the senate floor? Because he saw how important it was to the suffragists who were tasked to speak with him. There were many different women that were tasked with speaking to the senators. These suffragists would investigate every aspect of a senators life. Who they were friends with, when they went on vacation, and if it was even worth talking about suffrage with them. They did all this with NO INTERNET. Once the research was done they would then task a suffragist who would have the best background that would be able to connect to the senator. It was one of these suffragists that broke down in tears in front of Andrieus that showed him how important suffrage was. Tears were seen as a sign of weakness to many suffragists. They had to change how they acted to be deemed acceptable and to gain allies. But it was one woman who was herself. She was passionate about suffrage and her tears showed Andrieus Jones that this was a matter that was important. What can we learn from her?
Description
New Mexico played a lesser known, but very critical role, in the passing of the 19th Amendment.
Duration
2 minutes, 52 seconds
Credit
White Sands/NPS
Date Created
08/15/2020
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