Diversity and Exclusion

Working Women, Immigrants, and Religious Minorities

Across the United States, the suffrage movement—and the progressive moment that preceded it—was criticized for excluding working women and women of color. While the movement in Kentucky as a whole may have remained the domain of white, Protestant, upper- and middle-class women, the movement in Louisville was more diverse.

Women in Louisville reflected a variety of occupations, ethnicities, religions, economic statuses, and education levels. The Woman Suffrage Association of Louisville (LWSA) seems to have embraced this diversity. While a few LWSA members were from prominent, wealthy families, most probably weren't rich. Many members were single women professionals—including teachers, journalists, social workers, and physicians—who on average were underpaid.

LWSA also included both Catholics and Protestants, as well as a large number of Jews, almost all of whom were first- or second-generation immigrants. In 1912, Jews only made up 3 percent of Louisville’s population, yet at least 9 percent of LWSA members were Jewish women.

African American Women Fight on Two Fronts

This inclusiveness did not extend to African American women. The LWSA and its sister organization, the Woman's Club of Louisville, had been racially segregated since their founding. And this wasn't just a local practice: the General Federation of Women’s Clubs made segregation official in 1901.

Like other white suffragists across the country, LWSA members segregated their conferences, avoided discussing racial issues, and accepted literacy requirements designed to limit Black voters. In Louisville, however, there were also some signs of interracial cooperation. White women welcomed African American partners in the kindergarten and settlement-house movements and enlisted them as fellow voters in the school elections of 1912. However, this was little consolation to the African American women eager make their voices heard.

An influential group of African American women decided to supported progressive reform and the suffrage movement on their own. In 1910, African Americans made up 18 percent of Louisville’s population. Although they still faced daily discrimination and hardship, a small group of African Americans had become successful professionals and business owners.

Highly educated women from this elite group led their own social reform and suffrage organizations. These included the Kentucky Association of Colored Women’s Clubs and the Woman’s Improvement Club, both affiliates of the National Association of Colored Women’s (NACW) Clubs, which supported women’s suffrage.