WOW Museum: The Struggle for Women's Suffrage

California | Colorado | Hawaii
Kansas | New Mexico | Oregon
Texas | Utah | Washington | Wyoming

Click on a star or a state name for a unique story of suffrage in the American West.

Click on a name to learn more about a personality who helped secure the vote for women in the American West.

1- Charlotta Spears Bass, California (1880-1969)
Leading Los Angeles African-American journalist, politician, civil rights activist, and women's rights advocate throughout the twentieth century.

2- Martha Hughes Cannon, Utah (1857-1932)
Physician and public health advocate, who was the first woman elected to the state senate in Utah and the nation in 1896.

3- Caroline Nichols Churchill, Colorado (1833-1926)
Spirited, eccentric editor of Denver's women's rights newspaper, The Queen Bee.

4- Minnie Fisher Cunningham, Texas (1882-1964)
No-nonsense leader of the Texas suffrage movement known by supporters and enemies alike as "Minnie Fish."

5- Emma Smith DeVoe, Washington (1848-1927)
Popular suffrage organizer, lecturer, and musician who led victorious campaigns throughout the northwest.

6- Annie Diggs, Kansas (1848-1916)
Political powerhouse during the heyday of Kansas Populism.

7- Abigail Scott Duniway, Oregon (1834-1915)
Journalist, lecturer, and tenacious suffrage leader in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and the nation.

8- Elizabeth Piper Ensley, Colorado (1848-1919)
Denver's leading African American suffragist, club leader, and political activist during and after Colorado's suffrage victory in 1893.

9- May Arkwright Hutton, Washington (1860-1915)
Waitress, mineowner, and one of the most flamboyant and eccentric suffrage leaders in the northwest.

10- Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii (1838-1917)
Head of state who fiercely defended the sovereignty of her own nation and people.

11- Esther Hobart Morris, Wyoming (1814-1902)
First female justice of the peace in South Pass City, Wyoming, the nation, and the world.

12- Emma Aima Nawahi, Hawaii (1854-1935)
Editor of Ke Aloha Aina (The Patriot), and defender of Hawaiian sovereignty, culture, history, and political rights for women.

13- Jeannette Rankin, Montana (1880-1973)
First woman elected to the U.S. Congress, and the nation's most celebrated female pacifist.

14- Nellie Davis Tayloe Ross, Wyoming (1876-1977)
The nation's first woman governor in the first state where women could vote.

15- Nina Otero-Warren, New Mexico (1881-1965)
Twentieth-century Santa Fe suffragist, educator, and businesswoman.

16- Emmeline Blanche Woodward Wells, Utah (1828-1921)
Mormon editor of a leading western women's rights newspaper, the Woman's Exponent.

17- Maud Younger, California (1870-1936)
San Francisco's "millionaire waitress" who organized labor unions and the victorious 1911 California suffrage campaign.