Honor these Kansas and Missouri women’s rights pioneers by voting in November

When the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote was ratified 100 years ago this month, it was due to in part to the women and men of Kansas and Missouri who fought for equal voting rights.

Not only did suffrage marches, meetings, and events in our two states in the late 19th century raise the overall consciousness of the public, individuals too made an impact.

In 1859, Kansan Clarina Nichols presented a petition calling for equal political and civil rights for Kansas women at the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention.

It was because of this interest in equal voting rights in Kansas that national suffrage leaders believed that western territories and states would be excellent battlegrounds for women’s rights in America. Indeed, Kansas women gained the right to vote in school district elections in 1861 and municipal elections in 1887.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the state line, Missourian Virginia Minor was challenging voting restrictions by suing her voting district when she was prevented from registering to vote in the presidential election because she was a woman.

Minor believed women already had the right to vote because of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which states “nowhere gives (states) the power to prevent” a citizen from voting.

Consequently, Minor brought suit (through her husband Francis as married women could not sue in Missouri courts until after the passage of the Married Women’s Act of 1889) in a civil action against the registrar when he would not allow her to register to vote in her St. Louis district.

The lawsuit made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the justices ruled that it was up to the states to confer voting rights. So although Virginia and Francis Minor did not accomplish what they had hoped, they made national headlines and in so doing also redirected the suffrage movement to concentrate on state laws rather than taking the judicial route.

Finally, in 1912, Kansas became the eighth state in the country to provide equal voting rights to women. In 1919, Missouri women gained the right in their state to vote, but for president only.

These historical events are among many that pushed our country to finally ratify the 19th Amendment. An entirely male Congress passed the 19th Amendment.

Today, 100 years later, there are 127 women members in Congress. And one of those Congresswomen will be nominated by a major political party later this month to be vice president of the United States.

Now is not the time to take our foot off the gas pedal when it comes to voting rights. To honor those Kansans and Missourians who came before us to fight for the rights of all citizens to vote in our elections, cast your vote this Nov. 3.

Prairie Village, Kan., resident Christine Adams is co-founder of 100yearsofthevote.org, celebrating the centennial anniversary of the 19th Amendment. She teaches citizenship classes to immigrants in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 5:00 AM.