Margaret Weissinger Castleman

Weissinger was born in 1880 in Louisville, Kentucky. She was the daughter of Colonel Harry Weissinger, a tobacco industry businessman,^[2] and Isabelle "Belle" Weissinger (née Muir).^[3] Her father was from an old Kentucky family. She had five siblings^[4] and was presented as a debutante in 1900.^[5]

Weissinger began giving speeches in support of votes for women in 1909.^[4] She rose to hold leadership positions in the suffrage movement, becoming president of the Louisville Woman Suffrage Association and second vice president of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association.^[6][7]

At an annual benefit event for the Louisville Business Women's Club, she attended in a dress which showed her support for the enfranchisement of women. As the Courier-Journal reported: "around the hem of her skirt were the twelve names of the Western States which have suffrage, and across the back was written, 'Votes for Women.'"^[5]

Weissinger became a member of Democratic Party and was elected to the Women's National Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee in 1920.^[5] In 1921, she was a speaker at a rally for W. Overton Harris, the Democratic candidate for Mayor,^[5] and an excerpt of her speech appeared in African-American newspaper The Louisville Leader.^[8]