As we’ve been celebrating the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, I wondered how my female ancestors received the news? Did they eagerly register and vote? My grandmother lived in rural Gadsden County and was 23 years old in 1920. I never spoke to her about it but I do remember her casting her ballot in local and national elections. She was an FDR Democrat all the way!
The 19th Amendment became law in 1920 when Tennessee became the 36th State to ratify it (though Florida wouldn’t ratify the 19th Amendment until 1969 
).
I love reading old newspapers so I decided to see how women’s new voting rights were covered in Tallahassee. Here’s how it was reported on September 27, 1920 in the Daily Democrat (now the Tallahassee Democrat). While this was 100 years ago and the Civil War had ended just a little over fifty years before, it is still jarring to read “. . . with some counties showing a much larger percentage of negro women than white women qualifying, nothing should be taken for granted and every democratic voter in Florida, women and men, should help roll up a majority in November that will insure white supremacy in Florida for years to come.”
Voter suppression was more overt in those days. Many State officials did everything they could to discourage Black women from voting as evidenced by these news clippings.
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| September 29, 1920, Daily Democrat |
Then this patronizing piece after the vote took place reporting negro women and men were first in line at the polls but “. . . to their credit there was not an unpleasant demonstration seen or remark heard from a single negro . . .”
As the saying goes “History may not repeat itself but it often rhymes.” Seems to be a bad rhyme lately.
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