Women in El Paso had been speaking about women’s enfranchisement for years before the creation of the El Paso Equal Franchise League (EPEFL) in early 1915. The moment was right for the formation of an organized suffrage effort in El Paso. The city’s population had reached a critical mass, there was a network of reform-minded […]
Author: EPCHS
Alice Merchant: An El Paso Suffragist by Joseph Longo
Another founding mother of the El Paso Equal Franchise League was Dr. Alice Merchant, who was the first woman doctor in El Paso. She came to El Paso in 1895. Alice Blackadder was born in Nova Scotia, Canada. She graduated from New York Medical College. Merchant practiced in Ysleta and Dallas before coming to El […]
Grace Logan: An El Paso Suffragist. by Joseph Longo
Grace Virginia Logan was the first corresponding secretary of the El Paso’s first suffrage league, the El Paso Equal Franchise League. Logan was a leader in the League’s War relief work during WWI and led a campaign to provide magazines and other published materials to soldiers. She represented the El Paso Equal Franchise League at […]
Traces of Stardom in El Paso: Bessie Love.
Bessie Love(1898-1986)was a famous and successful actress during the silent and early sound film era. She was nominated for her performance in “Broadway Melody” in 1929 for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Love’s career in film, radio, and television lasted for eight decades. Love also had an El Paso Connection. Bessie Love was born […]
Belle Critchett: An El Paso Suffragist
Belle Critchett: An El Paso Suffragist by Abbie Weiser During the early twentieth century, Belle Christie Ferguson Critchett (March 9, 1867 – January 6, 1956) was one of El Paso’s most important suffrage leaders. In addition to her work advocating for the women’s suffrage, Critchett supported many other progressive era-issues of […]
The El Paso Equal Franchise League, 1915-1920.
The El Paso Equal Franchise League, 1915-1920 By Joseph Longo El Paso’s first women’s suffrage group, the Equal Franchise League, was organized at the Hotel Orndorff on January 12, 1915.[1] One of the early members, Helen Freudenthal explained that she became interested in the cause after attending a suffrage meeting in New York and that […]
Mildred Baker: An El Paso Suffragist
Mildred Baker: An El Paso Suffragist […]
El Paso Strong Archival Initiative
The El Paso County Historical Society remembers and grieves for the victims of the horrific attack that took place in El Paso on August 3, 2019. El Paso was targeted that day, but we emerged stronger than ever before.
Annie Jane Berry: An El Paso Suffragist.
Annie Jane Berry died in El Paso in 1925 at her home at 411 S. Kansas St. She ran a saloon in the 1890s in the tenderloin district. She was a cook at the city jail. Annie was active and was considered a leader in the El Paso African-American community. She was a contact person […]
Here’s how Texas women received right to vote and what role El Paso had
Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution of the United States of America says that the “…Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof: but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations…” Amendment X strengthens state control […]