Madeline McDowell Breckinridge: Orator on the National Stage
Madeline McDowell Breckinridge (1872-1920) of Lexington was a prominent social reformer and women's suffrage advocate in Kentucky. She served as president of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association (KERA) from 1912 to 1915 and from 1919 to 1920.
Breckinridge was a great-granddaughter of Henry Clay and a cousin of fellow Kentucky suffragist Laura Clay. Her early reform efforts were focused on the needs of children. She advocated for child labor laws, schools, playgrounds, and hospitals and first became involved in the suffrage movement as a way to fight more directly for these causes.
Breckinridge was one of the key figures in Kentucky to fight for "school suffrage," the right to vote for non-partisan school boards and on other matters that affected public education. This was seen as a stepping stone to public acceptance of women in the political arena.
After being elected president of the KERA, Breckinridge became influential in the national conversation on women’s rights. She traveled across the country using her renowned oratorical skills to lecture about suffrage, eventually helping turn the tide of public opinion. Her efforts were critical to the ratification of the 19th amendment by the Kentucky legislature. Breckinridge died in November of 1920, only months after the 19th amendment at last gave women the right to vote in the United States.