page_title: Women's suffrage in Virginia
section_title: Equal Suffrage League of Virginia
hierarchical_section_title: Women's suffrage in Virginia / Equal Suffrage League of Virginia
caption_attribution_description: The Crenshaw House in Richmond, Virginia; on the National Register of Historic Places
context_page_description: Women's suffrage in Virginia was granted in 1920, with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. The General Assembly, Virginia's governing legislative body, did not ratify the Nineteenth Amendment until 1952. The argument for women's suffrage in Virginia began in 1870, but it did not gain traction until 1909 with the founding of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia. Between 1912 and 1916, Virginia's suffragists would bring the issue of women's voting rights to the floor of the General Assembly three times, petitioning for an amendment to the state constitution giving women the right to vote; they were defeated each time. During this period, the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia and its fellow Virginia suffragists fought against a strong anti-suffragist movement that tapped into conservative, post-Civil War values on the role of women, as well as racial fears. After achieving suffrage in August 1920, over 13,000 women registered within one month to vote for the first time in the 1920 United States presidential election.
context_section_description: In November 1909, a group of about 20 activists formed the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia in Richmond. The first meetings took place at Anne Clay Crenshaw's home, located at 919 West Franklin Street, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  Lila Meade Valentine served as the league's first president. Other founding members included Kate Waller Barrett, one of Virginia's first female physicians; artists Adele Goodman Clark and Nora Houston; and writers Kate Langley Bosher, Ellen Glasgow, and Mary Johnston. The league joined NAWSA a few months after its founding.
  
  While NAWSA favored organizing by electoral districts and putting pressure on politicians, the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia had to take different approach. Aware of the widespread apathy towards the issue of suffrage in Virginia, the league's leaders knew that educating the public on suffrage was the only way to give the cause legislative traction. The Equal Suffrage League focused their legislative efforts on winning support in the General Assembly for a voting rights amendment to the state constitution.
  The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia began educating the public about suffrage and drawing more women into the cause. Members canvassed house to house; distributed leaflets and "Votes for Women" buttons; and made speeches across the state. The league began publishing Virginia Suffrage News in 1914.
  The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia's membership grew from about 100 members in its first year to more than 15,000 by 1917. By 1919, with 32,000 members, it was the largest political organization in the state of Virginia, and perhaps the largest state association in the South.
  Meanwhile, some Virginia suffragists grew impatient with the painstaking process of petitioning the General Assembly for an women's suffrage amendment to the state constitution and educating the public on the value of giving women the vote. Some women left their local chapters of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia to join the more militant National Women's Party, joining efforts in pressuring the United States Congress and President Woodrow Wilson for a federal amendment giving women the right to vote.
caption: Crenshaw's home, the site of the first meetings of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia
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