Timeline of women's suffrage in Rhode Island
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This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Rhode Island. Women's suffrage in Rhode Island started with women's rights activities, such as convention planning and publications of women's rights journals. The first women's suffrage group in Rhode Island was founded in 1868. A women's suffrage amendment was decided by referendum on April 6, 1887, but it failed by a large amount. Finally, in 1917, Rhode Island women gained the right to vote in presidential elections. On January 6, 1920, Rhode Island became the twenty-fourth state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment.
1850s
1850
- Paulina Wright Davis is the chair of the National Women's Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts.[1]
1852
- Anna W. Spencer publishes The Pioneer and Woman's Advocate.[2]
1853
1860s
1868
- October 23: Elizabeth Buffum Chace and Paulina Wright Davis attend the founding meeting of the New England Women's Suffrage Association.[3]
- December 11: The Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association (RIWSA) is formed by Chace and Davis.[4][3]
1869
- RIWSA petitions the Rhode Island General Assembly for a women's suffrage amendment.[5]
1870s
1873
- Three women run unsuccessfully for school committee office: Elizabeth Churchill, Sarah Doyle, and Rhoda Peckham.[2]
1874
- Three women are elected to the Providence School Committee: Anna E. Aldrich, Elizabeth C. Hicks and Abby D. Slocum.[2]
1880s
1884
- RIWSA held their annual meeting at the Old Statehouse with Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass in attendance.[1]
1885
- A women's suffrage amendment bill is introduced by Representative Edward L. Freeman in the General Assembly.[5]
1886
- The women's suffrage amendment passes both houses of the General Assembly. It has to pass one more time to be valid.[5]
1887
- The women's suffrage amendment again passes both houses and will now go out for a voter referendum.[5]
- April 6: The election for the amendment is held, but it fails.[6]
- August 11: The New England Woman Suffrage Association (NEWSA) held a conference in the Casino Theatre in Newport.[7]
1890s
1892
- A "special appeal" goes before the general assembly for women in Rhode Island to vote in presidential elections.[8]
1895
- Jeanette S. French speaks at a hearing in the senate of the general assembly.[8]
1897
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