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This article describes the Civil Actions Group’s Election Day initiatives in Springfield, as well as their long-term goals. Members of the group planned to raise “poll tax” money and babysit for voters—direct action that would impact the…

The Political Equality Series (alternatively Political Equality Leaflets) were single-page tracts published by the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) for public education on the topic of women’s suffrage. The tracts were often…

On July 27, 1919, prominent Massachusetts women, including Mount Holyoke President Mary Woolley, were published in the Boston Globe feature “Sister is Primping for the Ballot Box Party” to explain what they thought would happen when women secured…

Marietta Holley (1836-1926) was an American author well-known for her humorous depiction of political and social movements, including women’s rights. She often wrote under pen names including “Josiah Allen’s Wife,” but for this particular…

The class of 1897’s yearbook includes a record of events from March 1896 to February 1897. The pages for October and November chronicle the various events that occurred during the mock election for the “suffrage question,” which was introduced…

Adra Powers turned in these two assignments about suffrage for her English II class, showing that students were engaging in political topics through the curriculum. The first, a revision of a short paragraph, does not debate whether women should be…

In these excerpts from Tiffany McClain’s ‘01 oral history project, Barbara Smith ‘69 discusses what it was like being a Black student at Mount Holyoke in the 1960s. Smith describes racist assumptions from professors about her academic ability…

During the spring of 1911, Mount Holyoke students established a chapter of the National College Equal Suffrage League on campus. Slava Balanbanoff x’13, the first secretary-treasurer, hand-copied and signed the group’s constitution, which set up…

The week before she would cast her vote in the mock election, Edith wrote to her father that students “are all up in arms just now over the question of woman’s suffrage.” She explains the occasion for the mock election by saying “there is to…

This yearbook page gives a brief history of the Mount Holyoke chapter of the National College Equal Suffrage League and details its activities. Through its open meetings, the League brought many important suffragists to speak on campus. Mentioned on…

The yearbook page for the Fellowship of Faiths (FOF) also discusses the efforts of the Civil Actions Group, an unofficial sub-group of the large interfaith organization on campus at the time. Both groups worked together on a tutorial program in…

Handmade Votes for Women Sash, 1916 This sash belonged to Florence Tuttle ‘16, an active member of the National College Equal Suffrage League serving in multiple leadership roles. She and two classmates handcrafted their sashes for Suffrage Day and…

In April 1960, Louise DeCosta ‘62, Marion Fitch ‘62, Susan Heineman ‘60, Susan Higinbotham ‘62, and Anne Martin ‘62 wrote this letter to the administration of Mount Holyoke to declare the formation of the Mount Holyoke Committee on Civil…

Although she was unwilling to align herself with the suffragist cause, Hortense wrote home about Suffrage Day, which took place on April 24. She describes the event: “after chapel a girl dressed in white beat a drum and there were all sorts of…