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Ratification of the 19th Amendment: Timeline and Story Map
Item 35 of 48

Arizona became a territory in 1863 and did not achieve statehood until 1912. During the territorial period, women did press for suffrage and several bills were introduced into the legislature in the 1880s but were defeated. In 1891 Arizona decided to apply for statehood and Josephine Brawley Hughes, Frances Willard Munds, and other suffragists organized the state’s first women’s suffrage organization to campaign for the inclusion of suffrage in the new state constitution. Arizona’s attempt at statehood failed. The Arizona Suffrage Association continued to campaign and got a suffrage bill passed through the legislature in 1903, but the governor vetoed it. Arizona faced difficulty getting Washington to accept their statehood, and the governor (and other politicians) feared that including women’s suffrage would further decrease their chances. Finally in 1910 Congress told Arizona to write a new state constitution and submit it for statehood. Suffragists appealed to the constitutional convention to include women’s suffrage in the new constitution, but the delegates did not include the issue because they were afraid it would cause the constitution to be rejected again. However, most Arizonians generally supported women’s suffrage. Arizona finally gained statehood on February 14, 1912 and just five months later suffrage qualified to be on the ballot for voters to decide. In November 1912 male voters overwhelmingly approved of women’s suffrage in Arizona. After the passage of the 19th Amendment, Arizona voted to ratify the amendment on February 12, 1920.


Poster in support of women's suffrage ahead of the 1912 vote

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Frances Willard Munds was a suffragist leader in Arizona and was the first female state senator in Arizona in 1914

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Josephine Brawley Hughes (1887) organized the first suffrage organization in Arizona

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Petition to place women's suffrage on the 1912 ballot, July 5, 1912

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"The Awakening." Arizona was the 10th western state to grant full suffrage to women while eastern states still had no or restricted suffrage for women. (Library of Congress)

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Arizona Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, 1909

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Madge Udall in a 1913 suffrage parade

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"Arizona and the 19th Amendment." National Park Service. August 29, 2019. Accessed July 14, 2021. https://www.nps.gov/articles/arizona-and-the-19th-amendment.htm.

Bommersbach, Jana. "How Arizona almost didn't become a state." The Arizona Republic. February 13, 2012. Accessed July 14, 2021. http://archive.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/20120130arizona-centennial-state-fight.html.

Crandall, Andrea. "Frances Munds and Women's Suffrage." Arizona Highways. Accessed July 14, 2021. https://www.arizonahighways.com/for-kids/history/frances-munds-and-women%E2%80%99s-suffrage.

"How Arizona women won the vote." Arizona PBS. Arizona State University. June 30, 2020. Accessed July 14, 2021. https://azpbs.org/2020/07/how-arizona-women-won-the-vote/.

"Women's Suffrage." Arizona State Library, Archives, & Public Records. Accessed July 14, 2021. https://azlibrary.gov/dazl/learners/research-topics/womens-suffrage.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

"Women's suffrage in Arizona." Wikipedia. Accessed July 14, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_Arizona.

"Arizona and the 19th Amendment." National Park Service. August 29, 2019. Accessed July 14, 2021. https://www.nps.gov/articles/arizona-and-the-19th-amendment.htm.

"Women's suffrage in Arizona." Wikipedia. Accessed July 14, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_Arizona.

"Timeline of women's suffrage in Arizona." Wikipedia. Accessed July 14, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_women%27s_suffrage_in_Arizona.

"How Arizona women won the vote." Arizona PBS. Arizona State University. June 30, 2020. Accessed July 14, 2021. https://azpbs.org/2020/07/how-arizona-women-won-the-vote/.

"Women's suffrage in Arizona." Wikipedia. Accessed July 14, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_Arizona.

"How Arizona women won the vote." Arizona PBS. Arizona State University. June 30, 2020. Accessed July 14, 2021. https://azpbs.org/2020/07/how-arizona-women-won-the-vote/.